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. In 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.
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 later refers to these as the “works of the flesh”. The works of the flesh are the antithesis of the fruit of the Spirit, which 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.
I will come back to verses 13 through 15 and look more at the idea of liberty getting in the way of love, but first, to get ready for that, let’s look more at the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in verses 16 through 25.
Galatians 5
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
We see in verses 16 and 17 that the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are, in fact, contrary to one another. You cannot do both at once. You can struggle with sin and still be a Christian but, at any given time, you cannot be simultaneously exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit while also exhibiting the works of the flesh. You can do one or the other but not both. Therefore, the more of one you exhibit, the less of the other you will exhibit. Everyone will always have struggles, including Christians. However, 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.
We see in verse 18 that if we are lead by the Spirit then we are not under the law. In other words, if Christ is our master then our justification is through Him, not through fulfilling the law. He did that. We can’t.
However, although we cannot be good enough to earn our salvation, there clearly are ways that we are to live and ways that we are not to live, if Christ is truly to be our master. The things that should not define us, the works of the flesh, are listed in verses 19 through 21. The fruit of the Spirit, the traits which should define us, are listed in verses 22 and 23. 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.
Now, let’s come back up to verse 13. It is now clear what Paul meant 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 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”.
It is no accident that the elements of the fruit of the Spirit are listed the way that they are. The elements of the fruit of the Spirit build on one another. Each one is necessary to exhibit those that are listed after it. The first one listed is love. This should come as no surprise. Verse 14 tells us to love our neighbor as much as we love ourself. This is reiterating what Jesus Himself said.
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. Obedience to the second is an indication of our obedience to the first and if we are not obedient to the second then it will interfere with our ability to be obedient to the first. Love God. Love one another. The most fundamental principle that defines God and should also define us is love. If we are truly defined by love then, in time, we will also come to be defined by joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness,, gentleness, and self-control. Do these things define you?
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 see this with regard to both the COVID-19 situation and with the race relation situation.
We see this a lot on social media, most recently with regard to declining race relations, with the attitude of “We live in a free country with free speech and so I can say whatever I want”. Yes, you can legally say basically whatever you want but should you? Certainly not, especially if you are a Christian. We all hear people say things and see posts on social media and we think to ourselves “what are they thinking” or “have they lost their mind” or “they have totally lost touch with reality” or something equally unflattering. We all have thoughts like that but it’s one thing to think it and it’s quite another to actually say it. Others sometimes think the same thing about things we say. I’m sure that God often thinks it about all of us but He doesn’t zap us. He lovingly guides us. We should do the same.
We see this with the COVID 19 situation with people refusing to obey mandates and recommendations. People will say things like “I can go to that gathering if I want” or “I am not going to wear a mask” because “this is a free country so I can do what I want. Depending on where you live and exactly what it is you are talking about doing, it very well may be that you can legally do what it is that you want to do because this is a free country. However, even though you perhaps can do it, the question remains, should you do it?
I keep asking the question of should we do the things we want to do. Perhaps we should start with the question of why do we want to do it and that will go a long way toward answering whether or not we should do it. All too often, if we are honest about why we want to do something, it’s “because we can”. and that, in itself, is never a good reason. Or it’s because we don’t want someone telling us that we cannot do it. That’s an even worse reason. When we think that way, we are exercising freedom simply for the sake of freedom, for the love of freedom. 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.
So, before you make that post or take off that mask, which you are certainly free to do, first ask yourself why you are doing it. If it shows the love of Christ, please, go ahead. If it reflects the love of you, or if you aren’t sure, please think before you do it. 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.
