Galatians 5:1-6 Easy-to-Read Version
Keep Your Freedom
5 We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong in that freedom. Don’t go back into slavery again. 2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you start following the law by being circumcised, then Christ cannot help you. 3 Again, I warn everyone: If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, then you must follow the whole law. 4 If you try to be made right with God through the law, your life with Christ is finished—you have left God’s grace. 5 I say this because our hope of being right with God comes through faith. And the Spirit helps us feel sure as we wait for that hope. 6 When someone belongs to Christ Jesus, it is not important if they are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Many of the apostle Paul’s letters to the early churches describe the difficulties that the 1st century church was struggling with. In his letter to the Galatian churches, Paul rebukes them for getting caught up in rules and regulations.
They were so concerned with following the letter of the law that their legalistic attitudes and their judgmentalism overtook their desire to live by the Gospel and share in the love of Jesus. Paul wrote this letter to sternly say it was not the way of life he taught to them, the way of life in the church was supposed to be.
Living and modelling and teaching a life of obligation and requirements and trying to live into the strict expectations of others is a heavy burden to bear—even if those requirements and those expectations have very good intentions.
The joy of the resurrection life in Christ frees us to live with love for God and neighbor without the burden of legalistic expectations. No one will ever get it right all of the time. But with the Spirit of Christ guiding us, we aim to live our ministries, missions, by grace and love in Jesus’ name, following his example.
Do a biblical study reflect on what it looks like to live in the freedom of Jesus Christ. In this freedom we are released from the effects of sin and death so that we can live as God intends us to: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
Freedom is difficult to describe. Poets use images to communicate its essence. Freedom is a new butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, and flitting among the flowers in full bloom. It is a wild mountain river roaring over the rocks. It is a bird uncaged. Freedom feels like flying over cities over mountains – no plane.
Many commentators have said the book of Galatians is at its heart “a call to Christian freedom.” And chapter 5 verse 1 is its central theological thesis.
In chapter 1, Paul wrote of the power of Christ’s sacrifice to free the Galatians from evil. In chapter 2, he addressed the false teachers who were trying to enslave the Gentile converts. And in chapter 4, Paul contrasted the sons of the slave woman with the sons of the free.
Try it for yourselves …
For example, using biblegatway.com, do a word search using the word freedom.
Use several different versions and translations and make your observations.
How is the word ‘freedom’ used in both the Old and New biblical Testaments?
How does Jesus model, use, teach, reveal, the word ‘freedom’ in the Gospels?
How does Paul model, use, teach, reveal, the word ‘freedom’ in his letters?
How do Luke, Peter, John, James, Jude incorporate ‘freedom’ in their writings?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 118:24-29 Amplified Bible
24
This [day in which God has saved me] is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25
O Lord, save now, we beseech You;
O Lord, we beseech You, send now prosperity and give us success!
26
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord [you who come into His sanctuary under His guardianship].
27
The Lord is God, and He has given us light [illuminating us with His grace and freedom and joy].
Bind the festival sacrifices with [a]cords to the horns of the altar.
28
You are my God, and I give thanks to You;
[You are] my God, I extol You.
29
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness endures forever.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 