Galatians 5.1: "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law." What a start for chapter 5! Stay free, now there's a novel thought. Paul knew all to well that we would be drawn back into depending on our own efforts to be right with God. What I see here from Paul is a commission to attend to a real problem; something that, left alone, will default to an undesirable condition. We simply cannot wish it to go away - we must be proactive about our faith in Jesus and our independence from the law.
Paul's commission becomes warning in verse 4: "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Okay, so it is much more serious than just slipping into 'cruise control'. If we don't do everything we can to live out our faith in Jesus, avoiding any appearance of depending on the law, then we are fallen away from God's grace! Can you believe Paul would even say that? What's more, Paul quantifies verse 4 in the previous verse saying, "If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised [one thing - in obedience to the law], you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses." What is being said here? These words are not casual reading!
To be continued...
I want to please You Lord! I want to avoid depending on my own obedience to the law to make me right with You. I want to stay free from this legalistic self-help thinking. I want to inspire others to this freedom as well. I want You to receive all the glory!
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