Down-to-Earth Spirituality: Freedom Constrained By Love (Gal.14)                                      2008.07.27    Pastor Richard Yu  

In chapters 3 and 4, Paul has defended his gospel as that which comes to the believers by grace through grace alone, and it’s entirely apart from works of the Law. And now in chapters 5 and 6 Paul indicates that the goal of the gospel is to give believers true freedom – not only freedom from the Law but also from the bondage of sin. In this passage, Paul tells us what freedom amounts to in the Christian life and how it should be used.

I. Freedom in Christ came to us at a great price (v. 1a). The expression “for freedom” indicates the goal of the redemptive work of Christ. Christ freed us in order that we might be free. It didn’t cost us anything to gain this freedom; but it cost Christ dearly - He gave up everything – even His life. (cf. Phil. 2:6-8)  It was Christ who, by His self-sacrificial act, set us free from the enslaving power of the Law.

II. Freedom in Christ must be preserved vigorously (1b, 7-12) “Stand firm” indicates the diligence and commitment required to maintain our freedom. We have seen that man has this natural tendency to fall into the bondage of sin (cf. 3:10-11, 22-23; 4:3, 8-9, 21-31). Unless we diligently guard our freedom, we will be drawn back into bondage.

“Do not let yourselves be burdened” implies that there is personal accountability for falling back into bondage. It is neither entirely an unconscious choice, nor is it due to the fault of others. We fall back into bondage because we allow ourselves to do so.

III. Freedom in Christ is exercised in love (vv. 6, 13-14) Central to any discussion of freedom is the tension between freedom and authority. The paradox of freedom is that it is experienced as freedom from something, and yet it is fundamentally unstable as such. It is experienced as freedom from constraint, from rule, from law; and yet without constraint, without rule, without law it cannot survive.  A freeway is truly “free” when all the drives on the road observe certain traffic rules. Paul knew that, of course. And the constraint he placed upon Christian freedom is love. Love is the only thing that can harness the power of freedom and enable its expression to the fullest extent.

In other words, since Christians are no longer to live by the Mosaic codes, how, then, are they to live? And his answer is a resounding one: To live by faith expressed through love!! Christ has set us freed from the impossible demand and burden of the Law, but this freedom is not license to do as we please. This freedom needs to be expressed through love; it is to be used to serve others.

What makes Paul think that if we’re not careful we would use our freedom to indulge the sinful nature? The answer to this question lies in Paul’s understanding of the flesh, upon which this sinful nature is still exerting powerful influence on the believer’s mind and heart.

Flesh simply refers to human belongingness to this world – flesh is that which belongs to this world – not just physically; but most obviously played out in a physical way. The flesh signifies human weakness and mortality. It signifies human dependence on the world for identity and recognition, and for satisfaction of its creaturely instincts. And so it also comes to signify a life focused in upon itself, the life of the flesh as a life of anxious self-seeking. It is this weakness and dependence which enables sin to exert its power through the flesh.

We know that the Corinthians were pretty creative in their use of freedom; to the point where they were constantly pushing the limits – and in some cases it became blatant indulgence. What was Paul’s remedy for this kind of mind-set and behavior? He tells them that

“Everything is permissible for me – but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me – but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Cor. 6:12) “Everything is permissible for me – but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others” (1 Cor. 10:23b-24). The key idea of this is that the exercise of our personal freedom must take into consideration the good of the others.

Martin Luther, in his essay, “The Freedom of a Christian,” makes this paradoxical claim:

“A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” This is a claim befitting to Paul’s teaching on freedom constrained by love. Let us refresh our appreciation of the freedom we were given in Christ; let us guard against any corruption to this freedom; and let us live out this freedom in Christ serving others. True Christian spirituality is living Spirit-empowered Christ-likeness, as loving servanthood in the community.