Aug. 28, 2024

Dear Friends,

I hope that you can join us tonight for Bible study, as we continue in Paul's letter to the Galatians. The Scripture is Galatians 5:1-13. Notes are attached.

LIVING THE CHRISTLIFE

WAYNE BARRETT

HILLTOP LAKES CHAPEL

AUGUST 28, 2024

Galatians 5:1-13

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I

testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You

are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For

through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus

neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him

who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will

take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I,

brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross

has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the

flesh, but through love serve one another.

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v 1 – “For freedom…”

A continuation, immediately of 4:31, but really of almost all that has been written so far

“Freedom” is the ongoing theme of the book and particularly of this passage

Read the first phrase, first with an emphasis on “freedom,” then with an emphasis on “Christ.”

Both readings reveal meaning that is there.

“For freedom….” Christ has set you free so that you will stay free—not submit again to

the very things you were freed from!

“For freedom Christ has set….” It is Christ himself who has done this for you—at great

sacrifice. Do not dishonor him by throwing his gift away or by disparaging it.

“stand firm therefore…”

The Galatians were not to return to Judaism—nor were the Greeks to submit to it.

“yoke of slavery”—a strong term among many that Paul uses for keeping the law as a means of

salvation

It may be a little hard for us to realize the severity of this practice, especially if we have

never believed that our salvation depended upon our perfectly keeping rules

And yet … we are susceptible to the belief that God’s love for us and our standing with

him is performance-based.

We can earn God’s affirmation (“Well done, good and faithful servant”), just as even a

son or daughter can earn a father’s approbation, but we cannot earn our salvation, our

justification, our adoption as children. We cannot earn God’s love.

v 2 –“Look: I, Paul…”

Paul is personalizing this for emphasis, as in “make no mistake…”

2

more lit. “if you should become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing”

“become circumcised” represents a man’s conversion to Judaism—whatever they may have

called their new belief system.

Paul did not just say it’s a bad idea, he says it is either-or!

more lit. (v 3) “I testify now again to every man being circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep all

the law.”

Additional emphasis!

Either you trust Christ for salvation, or you depend upon your own effort in keeping the law—

this in full knowledge of Christ and what he had done on their behalf. It insults his work on

the cross to believe that we must add to it in order for justification to be achieved.

v 4 – “You are severed from Christ…”

severed – katargeó, to nullify, annul, bring to naught

so, more lit. “You are [nullified, annulled, brought to naught] from Christ, whosoever are ‘trying

to be justified’a in the law.” Faith in Christ is nullified by this pursuit.

“you have fallen away from grace.”

“fallen away” – ekpipto, used in many different ways, including to fall off or fall out of or fall

away

fallen, yes—but this the result of a conscious decision

Paul “is not, of course, speaking of occasional sins, but he has in mind a far more serious matter,

that of substituting law for Christ as the agent in salvation.”b

Christians will seek to integrate these verses into their beliefs regarding the perseverance of the

saints, which may be fine to a degree. But it would do considerable injury to the teaching of

this passage if a person attempts to take away its severity.

v 5 – “For through the Spirit, by faith…”

Here Paul reinforces the true gospel

And he begins with “through the Spirit”! Returning again to the truth of the new life in the Spirit

as being the central theme, the identifier, of our relationship to God.

“by faith”—by our belief and trust in Christ

“eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”

“eagerly wait”—apekdechomai, Paul uses this term consistently to refer to our looking with great

anticipation to the coming of Christ and the full completion of God’s work.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God….And not only

the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we

wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies….But if we hope for what

we do not see, we wait for it with perseverance.—Romans 8:19,23,25

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.—

Philippians 3:20

v 6 – “For in Christ Jesus…”

“neither circumcision not uncircumcision has any power [lit. has any strength]”

Plain summary language to leave no doubt

a Robertson, Word Pictures

b Ibid

3

“but only faith working through love.”

“working” is in the middle voice in Greek, meaning that the subject of the verb, faith, is seen as

partially receiving or being affected by the action of the verb

faith, [working itself out/exercising itself/expending itself] through love [agape]—as opposed to

“faith completing tasks through love”

vv 7-10 – “You were running well…”

Paul directs his attention to whoever is behind the false teaching

You were running well—who blocked [egkoptó—cut in] you, the truth not to obey?

It is not from God!

“A little leaven”—probably a well-known saying, similar to our “one bad apple spoils the whole

bunch.”

closer to the Greek: “A little leaven the whole lump leavens.”

They had allowed one person—or a small group—to begin to affect everybody.

more lit. “But the one agitating you will bear the judgment, whoever he might be.”

Paul was not passive about how the gospel was being taught

It was certainly not “anything goes.”

v 11 – “If I, brothers…”

Apparently the false teacher(s) had said that Paul was continuing to teach circumcision

Paul had, in fact, circumcised Timothy “because of the Jews in those places, for they all knew

that his father was a Greek” (Acts 16:3). Whatever Paul’s reasoning, it was not so that

Timothy would be saved. That was not at issue.c

“In that case the scandal of the cross…”

skandalon—stumbling block, offense, snare

“but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles”—1

Corinthians 1:23

To submit to Judaism was to align with the rejection of the cross of Christ as necessary and

sufficient for salvation

has been abolished – katargeó, to nullify, annul, bring to naught—same word as in v 4

v 12 – “I wish those who unsettle you…”

“emasculate themselves”—apokoptó, to cut off; in middle voice: emasculate, castrate, mutilate

oneself

This strong language from Paul may have also been a play on words with egkoptó in v 7, as in “I

would that those who egkoptó [cut in] on you would apokoptó [cut off] themselves.”

although in their conjugated/declined forms these verbs do not sound as similar.

v 13 – “For you were called to freedom…”

Paul summarizes and begins to transition. The “sentence structure” here is a little different than

translated.

More lit. “For you were called to freedom, brothers, only not the freedom for an opportunity of

the flesh….”

c From Robertson, Word Pictures: “Paul had stoutly resisted circumcision in the case of Titus, a pure Greek (Galatians 2:3;

Galatians 2:5), because the whole principle of Gentile liberty was at stake. But Timothy was both Jew and Greek and would

continually give offence to the Jews with no advantage to the cause of Gentile freedom. So here for the sake of expediency,

"because of the Jews" (δια τους Ιουδαιους), Paul voluntarily removed this stumbling-block to the ministry of Timothy.

Otherwise Timothy could not have been allowed to preach ln the synagogues.”

4

It is probably not unfair, in order to see Paul’s meaning, to use quotation marks in the following

way: For you were called to freedom, brothers, only not the “freedom” for an opportunity of

the flesh.

In other words, the “freedom” to sin is not actually freedom; it is the bondage we were called out

of. To pursue desires actions of the flesh is to violate and betray the freedom we enjoy as

children of God.

“rather, through love, serve one another.”

Paul is transitioning from an emphasis on adhering to the true gospel—the freedom of the new

life as children of God—to what that new life should look like.