Stand Fast for Freedom (Galatians 5:1-6)

Imagine standing on a battlefield with the enemy closing in and hearing your commander shout, “Stand fast!” You hear this command and you prepare yourself for the battle before you. You remember your training. You remember your assignment. You refuse to surrender or flee. Thus far in Galatians, Paul has defended and explained the gospel of grace against its attackers and now in Galatians 5 and 6 he shows how the gospel applies to everyday life. Christ has died to set us free and this freedom/liberty is under attack. In Galatians, the attack comes from those who believe one is justified by the law and one must keep the law in order to be right with God. With circumcision as his battlefield, Paul shows how the grace of God delivers us from the yoke of bondage by faith and this faith works through love. 

Law is a Yoke of Bondage (5:1-4)

Those who attempt to be justified by law are under a yoke of bondage. Any reliance on law (e.g., circumcision) undermines grace. Paul exhorted the Galatians to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (5:1). Christ has died “that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Gal 1:4). Therefore, Christ died to liberate us from the bondage of the world (4:3) and the bondage of the law (3:23). Paul’s exhortation to stand fast is a call for Christians, like soldiers on the battlefield, to hold their ground in battle. 

Paul continues: “Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law” (5:2-3). Why is Paul speaking so harshly against circumcision? It cannot be because circumcision is bad. It was prescribed in the law (Lev 12:3) and predated the law (Gen 17:12). With this being true, how would circumcision cause Christ to profit nothing? Remember that Paul is speaking in the context of men from Judea claiming, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). Furthermore, some in Galatia “desire to be under the law” (4:21). Paul wrote in Galatians 3:11, “no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith” (3:11). Paul wrote to those who seek to be justified by the law through circumcision, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (5:4). If you want to be under the law, you are not under Christ; and you have no assurance of salvation. The law is holy (Rom 7:12), but it cannot save you. If you want to be under the law you must keep the whole law and the law will at the Day of Judgment condemn you as a lawbreaker (James 2:9-11). The law does not provide righteousness, but a yoke of bondage.

Bondage is Broken by Faith (5:5)

This yoke of bondage is only broken through the righteousness of faith. Paul wrote, “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” (5:5). The law reveals sin (Rom 7:7), restrains sin (Deut 13:11), and convicts everyone as a sinner (Rom 3:23). It keeps everyone confined under sin “that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (3:22). Hope is found in Jesus who said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden light” (Matt 11:28-30). The yoke of the world and the yoke of the law are heavy, but Jesus provides forgiveness of sin and spiritual rest (Heb 4:9). 

Christians eagerly wait for the day in which we will be glorified and completely freed from sin and death. This is our hope! We have a confident expectation that Jesus will return for us and with our glorified bodies we will dwell on a new earth with our Lord. It is not only us who await this glorious day, but even creation itself “will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). The law does not bring freedom but bondage. Freedom is found in Jesus.  

Faith Works through Love (5:6)

Those who receive righteousness by faith demonstrate their faith in their love. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” Earlier Paul wrote that if a man is circumcised as an attempt to be justified by law, “Christ will profit you nothing” (5:2), “he is a debtor to keep the whole law” (5:3), and “you have fallen from grace” (5:4); so why does he now say that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything? After making a strong case that circumcision avails nothing, why does he seem to undercut his argument by saying that uncircumcision avails nothing as well? Paul is not undercutting his argument, but being consistent. In other words, putting your confidence in not being circumcised is just as problematic as those who put their confidence in circumcision. Paul says, it isn’t whether or not you are circumcised, but whether or not you are made righteous by faith in Christ. The fruit of the gospel is love for God and others (Matt 22:37-40). Paul says that the only thing that matters is “faith working through love.” What does love prove about our faith? Love proves the genuineness of our faith. This echoes John: 

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother…we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death (1 John 3:10,14). Genuine faith produces good works, a faith that does not produce good works is not genuine. James wrote, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14). James is not asking if genuine faith can save, but can a faith without works (i.e., “that faith”) save. Faith without works is not genuine faith. Peter Davids adds, “works are not an ‘added extra’ to faith, but are an essential expression of it.” Christians demonstrate our faith in our love for God and others.