Galatians 5
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
These verses were taken from the NKJV translation. At the beginning of verse 13, the KJV and NKJV say that we have been “called to liberty”. That certainly does correctly get the point across. Many other translations say “called to freedom” or “called to be free”, which I suppose is a bit closer to how we generally express this type of sentiment today. However you say it, freedom is something we all love. It’s something we enjoy more of in this country than in many others. It is something that is very important to us and it should be. However, to some of us, I think it has become a bit too important. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that the expression of it has become a bit too important, perhaps to the point of becoming an idol to some of us and causing our desire for liberty to outweigh our willingness to love others for Christ. Let’s look at how this pertains to the life of a Christian.
Let’s camp out for a bit here in Galatians chapter 5. Later in verse 13, Paul warns us “do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh”. What does “the flesh” mean here? It refers to the desires of the flesh, the things that we desire to do when we are not actively being lead by the Spirit. Paul refers to these as the “works of the flesh” and he lists them in verses 19 through 21. The works of the flesh are the antithesis of the fruit of the Spirit, which are found in verses 22 and 23 and are the traits that we exhibit when we are actively being lead by the Spirit. The works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, at any given time, are mutually exclusive. As Christians seek to become more and more Christ like, as they walk closer and closer with Him, they will exhibit more and more of the fruit of the Spirit and so will necessarily exhibit less and less of the works of the flesh. Verse 24 tells us that those who are Christ’s (Christians) have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (have mostly mastered their un-Christ like desires). If this is really true of us then we will live out this truth in our day to day life and this will be reflected in our actions, as we are told in verse 25. In short, if we have truly submitted to Christ as master then there will be evidence of this in the way we live our life and the way we treat others.
As you look at this, it becomes clear what Paul meant, in verse 13, when he warned “do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh”. Freedom in Christ means freedom from justification through the law but it certainly does not mean freedom from all constraint and it does not mean freedom to do whatever you want. Rather, Paul says “through love serve one another”.
Remember what Jesus said here.
Mark 12
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
God tells us that His greatest commandment is to love Him with everything we have and that His second greatest commandment is to truly love one-another. Love God. Love one another. The most fundamental principle that defines God and should also define us is love.
It is love that should define us but not love of freedom. In fact, our love of freedom can easily get in the way of our love for God and love for others. That’s what Paul was warning against in Galatians 5:13. It is very easy to let this happen and I think we see it happening a lot now. We are not loving our neighbor as ourself (verse 14) but instead are biting and devouring each-other (verse 15) and are destroying our witness for Christ in the process.
Many people today, including many professing Christians, seem to be obsessed with rights and resent anything that could be remotely construed as an infringement on any sort of freedom. Many people resent the government telling them they have to do something or that they can’t do something. They resent the government even suggesting that they should or shouldn’t do something. They say that this is a free country and they can do what they want. That is only true to a point, as we are clearly commanded to respect and submit to government except where that government directly contradicts God’s law (Romans 13:1-2 and Acts 5:27-29). If anyone disagrees with these people’s prospective, they can get really ugly really quickly and, if anyone says anything about their quick temper, they defend themselves by saying that this is a free country and they can say what they want but the Word tells us that we should be slow to speak and slow to anger (James 1:19). These people love worldly freedom way too much. They make an idol of it and they justify that by saying that we have God given rights. It is true that we have God given freedom, freedom in Christ, but freedom in Christ is not that kind of freedom, and absolutely nowhere does Scripture promise that kind of freedom. In fact, when we truly submit to Christ as Lord and Savior, we exchange much of our worldly freedom for the freedom that we find in Him.
1 Corinthians 6
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
So, you see, Christ purchased our freedom. In so doing, He purchased us. As Christians, we are free but we are free in Him. We are not free to just do our own thing. We are supposed to follow Him, to apply to our lives the standards which are found in His word. Following those standards requires us to give up the love of worldly freedom mentality that so many of us seem to embrace.
We are called to be free, not for the love of freedom but for the love of Christ and the love of His people. That, in a nut shell, is what Galatians 5:13-15 is saying. Freedom is a wonderful thing, especially freedom in Christ. But, remember, your freedom is for His edification, not yours. Please don’t let your liberty get in the way of His love.
