The Law Enslaves the Believer - Page 1 of 3 (series: Lessons on Galatians)

by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

November 27, 2013
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians
Tom Lowe


Chapter IV.A.1: The Law Enslaves the Believer (5:1-2)


Galatians 5.1-2 (KJV)

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.


Introduction

The fifth chapter of Galatians begins the application of the doctrinal truths given to us in the first four chapters. Paul had gone to great lengths as he tried to show these Galatians the foolishness of being swayed by these false teachers, who asserted that while we are saved by grace, we are still obligated to keep the Law of God perfectly or we would lose our salvation. They were told that they must keep the ordinances, become circumcised, observe legal restrictions, keep the Sabbath days, and place themselves under the Law of commandments given to Israel. With unassailable logic Paul had asserted that the believer is saved by grace. The believer is saved by grace, and in the end will be justified by grace. The believer is free from the Law (Rom. 8.2 ), dead to the Law (Gal. 2.19 ), and delivered from the Law (Rom. 7.6 ), for—“Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Rom. 10.4).

He concludes his argument in the doctrinal section with these verses: “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Gal. 4.30, 31).

Notice the final word of the doctrinal section of Galatians, FREE! FREE! The believer is free, set at liberty, delivered. Salvation by grace means deliverance and freedom. There is no bondage for those who are in Christ. Now as we shall see, liberty does not mean license to sin; freedom does not mean we are not accountable for our conduct. Paul makes this clear in Galatians 5.13 . We are free indeed—not free to sin—but free to serve the Lord without fear and compulsion. This we have seen in Galatians 2.19ii, where we are saved to be DEAD to the Law, but ALIVE unto God. Someone asked a certain preacher of grace, “Do you mean to say that if I am saved by grace, I can do as I want to?” The servant of God replied, “Yes, if you are saved you can do as you want to, but remember, if you are saved, I mean really saved, God gave you a different ‘want to’—you WANT TO serve God.
Now notice how Chapter 5 begins, after closing Chapter 4 with the word FREE.


Commentary

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Paul has used two comparisons to show his readers what the law is really like: a schoolmaster or guardian (Gal. 3.24 ; 4.2 ), and a bondwoman (Gal. 4.22 ). Now he compares it to a yoke of slavery. You will recall that Peter used this same image at the great conference in Jerusalem (Acts 15.10 ). The image of the yoke is not difficult to understand. It usually represents slavery, service, and control by someone else over your life; it may also represent willing service and submission to someone else. When God delivered Israel from Egyptian servitude, it was the breaking of a yoke (Lev. 26.13 ).The farmer uses the yoke to control and guide his oxen, because they would not willingly serve if they were free. The Jews referred to the “yoke of the law” as a good thing and the essence of true religion. But Paul argued that for those who pursued it as a way of salvation, the Law was a yoke of slavery.

When the believers in Galatia trusted Christ, they lost the yoke of servitude to sin, and put on the yoke of Christ (Matt. 11.28-30 ).The yoke of religion is hard, and the burdens heavy; Christ’s yoke is “easy” and His burden is “light.” That word in Greek means “kind, gracious.” The yoke of Christ frees us to fulfil His will, while the yoke of the Law enslaves us. The unsaved person wears a yoke of sin (Lam. 1.14); the religious legalist wears the toke of bondage; but the Christian who depends on God’s grace wears the liberating yoke of Christ.
It is Christ who has made us free from the bondage of the Law. He freed us from the curse of the Law by dying for us on the tree (Gal. 3.13). The believer is no longer under Law, he is under grace (Rom. 6.14). This does not mean that we are outlaws and rebels. It simply means that we no longer need the external force of the Law to keep us in God’s will, because we have the internal leading of the Holy Spirit of God (Rom. 8.1-4). Christ died to set us free, not to make us slaves. To go back into the Law is to become entangled in a maze of “do’s and don’ts” and to abandon spiritual adulthood for a “second childhood.” The word rendered here as “entangled” means “to be burdened by,” “to be oppressed by,” or “to be subject to.”

Sad to say, there are some people who feel very insecure with liberty. They would rather be under the tyranny of some leader than to freely make their own decisions. There are some believers who are frightened by the liberty they have in God’s grace; so they seek out a fellowship that is legalistic and dictatorial, where they can let others make their decisions for them. This is comparable to an adult climbing back into the crib. The way of Christian liberty is the way of fulfillment in Christ. No wonder Paul issues that ultimatum: “Do not be entangled again in the yoke of bondage. Take your stand for liberty.”

The admonition to “stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” was sorely needed, because the temptation to go back under the Law in order to avoid persecution and the loss of friends was very great. They would be accused of being anti-nomian and lawless, and guilty of making the grace of God an occasion for license to sin. It was because he espoused the doctrine of Christian liberty that Paul faced the worse misunderstanding of all: that of antinomianism, the idea that freedom from the Law, was freedom to disregard its precepts, and therefore to sin at will. But in spite of all this Paul says, “Stand Fast!” To go back is to take again the yolk of bondage from which Christ had set them free. Even the apostles in Jerusalem admitted that the Law was a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear (Acts 15.10vii).

He is saying here that not only are we saved by faith rather than by Law, but Law is not to be the rule of life for the believer. The Law principle is not the rule for Christian living. Paul is saying that since we have been saved by grace we are to continue on in this way of living. Grace supplies the indwelling and filling of the Spirit to enable us to live on a higher plane than the Law demanded. All this is our portion when we trust Christ as Savior. It is in Christ that we receive everything—salvation and sanctification. Don’t tell me I need to seek a second blessing. When I came to Christ, I got everything I needed. Paul tells me that I have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Let’s believe Him and start trusting. Let’s stop trying some legal system or memorization of rules.

We have a liberty in Christ. He does not put us under some legal system. We do not use the Ten Commandments as a law of life. I don’t mean we are to break the Ten Commandments—I think we all understand that breaking most of them (i.e., thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, etc.) would lead to our arrest by the authorities. Certainly Christians do not break the Commandments, but we are called to live at a higher level. That level is where there is liberty in Christ. I have a liberty in Christ, and that liberty is not a rule, but a principle. It is that I am to please Him. My conduct should please Jesus Christ—it should not focus on pleasing you or some organization, but it should only aim to please him. That is the liberty we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”