Study of Galatians Part 16 - Galatians 5:13

Last week, we heard how relevant Paul’s words in Galatians are to our own day, because so many groups, including churches and other religious groups, still erroneously teach that we are saved by good works that we must do to merit our salvation, along with trust in what the Lord has done. In that view, Jesus has not done enough for us to rescue us, and we are left without the “freedom” and confidence we are meant to have through simple faith in His completed work for us. We are left with uncertainly about whether we have done enough ourselves to be totally acceptable to God and to reach eternal life.

Paul said it again in Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brothers.” As Jesus had said about Himself in John 8:31-36, “If the Son set you free, you will be free indeed” - free from “the slavery to sin” and “its condemnation.” As Paul also wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). At the same time, Paul wanted to make it clear that this freedom is not now a license to do whoever we want in our lives.

Paul wrote, “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law of God is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13-14). Once we are brought to faith in Christ through our baptism and the Word of God, God is able to do genuine good in and through our lives, for His honor and to help other people.

Remember how Paul wrote, earlier in Galatians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20) and Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith; for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26). Paul also spoke of believers as people “born according to the Spirit,” as Isaac was, who are “children of promise” (Galatians 4:29). (See also the words of Jesus, who said, speaking of baptism, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:2-7).)

Christians are therefore people in whom both God the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit are at work, under the blessings of God the Father. Paul wrote about this also in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us a ministry of reconciliation.”

As Christians, there is therefore a part of us that is “new” in Christ and really wants to do the right things that God wants, in love for God and for our neighbor, and in gratefulness for all that Jesus has done for us as our Savior. Jesus describes the “good fruit” that comes as we abide in Him by faith, in John 15:3-5. We will bear some “fruit for Him,” not to gain favor from Him by following laws and rules, but just because we are connected to Him as our Lord. One of our Lutheran writings says, “Good works are not necessary for our salvation; but they are necessary.” They will be there in each of us and through each of us in some way.

We want to do good works, but not because we must in order to earn God’s favor and gain salvation. The motivation is different. It is in thankfulness to God for what He has already done for us and promised us; and God is working in us to strengthen us and help us, and motivating us through His Word. It is motivation by the Gospel, above all, and not by laws and rules we must keep. See how Paul describes this life in thankfulness to God in Colossians 3:15-17. We live by faith in our merciful Lord, not by fear. And we live in daily repentance for our sins, as our Lord taught us through John. (See 1 John 1:7-10.)

The problem is that we also still have our old sinful nature within us, with which we were born. There is a battle that goes on then, within us, even as Christians, between what we want to do as believers and what our sinful nature still pulls us to want to do. Paul described that in Romans 7:15-25. He had “the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out,” all the time. He said, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” He called himself a “wretched man” and knew that only in Jesus Christ his Savior, did he have forgiveness and “no condemnation,” even in his struggles. (See Romans 8:1-4.) He thanks God that he will have victory through the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 7:25) and not by his own efforts.

Next week, we will see how Paul described walking by the Spirit, in contrast with living in the desires of the sinful human flesh. That struggle is part of our life, too, as Christians, but we have hope in Christ and in His Holy Spirit, living in us.