It is not news that people love freedom. But, sadly, people often abuse their newly found freedom and end up hurting others, as we have just recently seen in the news. For those who learn the message of grace there may be the tendency to “sin that grace may abound” and flaunt freedom at the expense of others (Galatians 5:17-21; Romans 6:1ff.).
So what was Paul talking about in Galatians 5:1 where he declared, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free”? He was talking about freedom from slavery to the law. The false teaching that many of the believers of Galatia (now central Turkey) had bought into had brought them back into slavery to rules and regulations because it set forth that they had to keep on obeying certain rules and regulations to know or prove that they were secure in their eternal relationship with Christ. After presenting the illustration that compared the son of the slave woman (Hagar) with the son of the free woman (Sarah), Paul declares what God had done for them and drew attention to the freedom that He had planned for them in Galatians 5:1. God wants us to experience freedom from slavery to a set of rules that can keep us in bondage.
The apostle then explained in what follows in Galatians 5 that believers are free to walk by the Spirit and show the fruit of the Spirit in their life. Far from flaunting freedom, believers should reveal that they are of Christ Jesus by putting to death the old sin nature (5:24). They are now truly free to glorify the Lord in their life in the power of the Spirit. In another place Paul declared by the Spirit, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” Therefore, believers are free to be transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Praise God! By His grace we are free to please and honor the One who has set us free, the Savior. When we know we are absolutely secure in our eternal relationship with Christ Jesus because of His promise (John 6:47), we are truly free to love others out of love for the Lord. May we keep on trusting in Him for the grace that is necessary so that our “faith [is] working through love” for the benefit of those around us that are in need.
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