Galatians Chapter 5

Vs.1...Please understand that Paul was not some anarchist inciting the Galatians to rebellion and disobedience. This was an apostle of Christ urging believers to enjoy the liberty that Christ had bought for them at infinite price. Christ died to set us free from sin, the law, religious tradition, and every form of bondage. He wants us to serve Him as the Galatians had once freely served Him from glad, thankful, grateful hearts.

Vs. 2-3... With the Galatians the rite of circumcision was an issue. It was circumcision that had separated Israel from the immoral pagans around them. The legalizers from Jerusalem had persuaded the Gentile believers that they ought to submit to circumcision, thus making sure that they were the people of God. To this Paul's answer was twofold: They were choosing which part of the law to keep, but the law is a unit. Quoting from the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 27:26 - Paul said: "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all [the] things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10). Paul showed that those who subject themselves to the law must live by the law. If you want to obey the law you cannot choose a part that you might like to obey. "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (vs. 4)

Paul is arguing from logic here. He is not saying that if you, as a Christian, put yourself back under law that you are now lost again. Paul's point is that logically, if you are saved partly by the law, then you are not saved wholly by Christ's all-sufficient work. If you want to submit to the rite of circumcision, then, Christ profits you nothing. And if you want to submit to this rite you are a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect unto you if you are justified by the law. You are fallen from grace. Christ is either everything or He is nothing! You do not have to help God as Sarah and Abraham tried to do, to their own confusion and frustration. "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5).

Some sincere believer may ask, "But can I be trusted with such liberty? I know my own tendencies to do what is wrong. Can I be trusted with the liberty of full sonship?" Let me reply by asking, "For what did you come to Christ? Did you come to be free to sin or to be free from sin?" Every true believer surely came to the Lord Jesus Christ to find deliverance and freedom from sin - free from its dreadful power, its awful results, and its crushing penalty. If you came to Christ to be free from sin, you surely long to do what is right. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him” (Col. 2:6).

Paul warned the Galatians not to add works after salvation either. The Galatians were already saved, but they wanted to submit to the rite of circumcision, and Paul said that if they did so, they would be saying that Christ profited them nothing. Today we are told that water baptism is just meant as a testimony. Yes, I am afraid it is a testimony, but a very bad one as practiced today by a confused Church. It is a testimony that you do not really believe that the finished work of Christ is enough. "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead" (Col. 2:9-12). Every Christian is already baptized, circumcised, sanctified and crucified! (Galatians 2:20)

Vs. 5-6...Paul wanted to save them from ruining their lives as Christians, not by immorality or heresy, but by legalism. He showed them that God had accepted them as full-grown sons in Christ, no longer under tutors and governors, no longer under a schoolmaster. You see, God deals with us in grace.

Vs. 7-10...In Song of Solomon 2:15, the Shulamite woman notes that the vineyards are in full blossom. Soon the grapes will be ripe for the marriage feast. But a danger threatens the harvest: 'the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines.” What a beautiful lesson we have here! Some doctrine or practice, clearly unscriptural and subversive of spiritual blessing, eats away at our liberty in Christ. This blessedness cannot be restored by any amount of mere praying or planning. Those little foxes must be caught and done away with. The "little leaven" must be purged out.

Vs. 11-15... The Jerusalem leaders in Acts 15 had agreed that the Judaizers had caused trouble among the Gentile believers by saying that they were to be under the law of Moses. That law was given to Israel alone, and in Galatians 1:7, Paul said "...there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."” He wished that they were out of the way and were not always agitating (5:12).

I wish believers would let this great truth sink deep into their hearts: "Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.” You are not a slave under law, but a son under grace.

Paul went on to say in the next portion of the passage, "Use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh.” Some people have said that Paul taught that you can do anything you desire as a believer; it does not matter. Of course, Paul said nothing of the kind, and neither have I. I have said that grace is the only key to right living. It provides the only motivation that God can accept, the only motivation that brings results. "And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just” (Rom. 3:8). It is true that there are people who say that if we are under grace we can do anything we desire. Theoretically this may be true. It is true that when the Lord gave the blind man his sight again, He said, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee
whole” (Mark 10:52). But you know what the man did; the very next phrase tells us that he “followed Jesus in the way.” There you have it exactly. "Your faith has made you whole, go your way.” Our liberty is real. But the result of this grace is that the recipient wants to live for the Lord Jesus Christ, and he offers himself as a bond slave to Christ, as Paul did. I know that there are always ungodly men who want to "turn the grace of God into lasciviousness,” (Jude 4). But we are not following them; they know nothing about grace.

"But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak” (I Cor.8:9). Now there you have the true use of liberty. It is not license to do wrong, but liberty to enjoy all that is right.

"So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way” (Rom. 14:13). Those who think that grace is only God's kindness to man so that he can now continue in sin do not have a very good understanding of God or of His grace. Grace is not only bestowed upon us, it works in us. (Tit. 2:11-14)

Vs. 16-17... "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11) Do you understand the importance of this verse? If the Spirit of God could raise Christ from the dead, He can certainly quicken your mortal body and give you the strength to overcome sin. "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh” (Rom. 8:12). We are not debtors to the flesh. We have no cause to say, "I had to do it; the old nature is so powerful in me that I could not help myself."

I would like to call your attention to the word "walk,” and emphasize it. Having the Spirit is not enough. There are many believers who have the Spirit dwelling within, yet they are worldly and carnal in their behavior. Just because the Spirit has taken up His residence in the believer does not mean that the believer will automatically overcome all sin. We must walk in the Spirit; we must seek His help step by step, for we are not sinless yet! The old nature in the believer is just as bad as the old nature in the unbeliever. That is why Galatians 5:5 says, "We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness [personal righteousness] by faith.” There is no cure-all. You cannot touch a button or click a switch and have all temptations cease. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (vs.17). What does that last phrase mean? "Ye cannot do the things that ye would." For one thing, it lets us know that the old nature is not annihilated in the Christian.

There is within the believer a distinct warfare between two natures: the new nature, the nature of the Spirit of God, and the old nature, the nature of fallen Adam. There is a constant battle, and therefore Paul said, "Ye cannot do the things that ye would." I can almost hear someone say, "That does not sound like victory to me; that sounds like defeat. It sounds like the believer cannot do what he wants to do to please God. He will constantly fail and fall into sin." "Ye cannot do the things that ye would," is not given to show how weak we are, but how depraved we are by nature. So Galatians 5:17 is just simply saying that the Spirit of God and the old nature within us are constantly at enmity with each other, so that we cannot do what we would like to do. We must be constantly on our toes, constantly alert against temptation.

Vs. 18...All believers are full-grown sons by position in Christ, but all believers are not full grown sons in condition/experience. The Corinthians, you remember, were carnal babes. That is why Romans 8:14 says, “As many as are led by the Spirit, they are the [full-grown] sons of God.” That is, experientially they live as grownups and not as babes who have to be told what to do and what not to do.

Vs. 19-21... There is absolutely NO question that Paul is discussing Christian flesh in this passage. In Romans 7:23 he says: “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” We are in sad, sad shape when we don't yield to Christ. Paul adds verse 18 because he is reminding those Christians who will do some of the sins on this list, or who will see others do them, that we are no longer under the law. These are the works of CHRISTIAN flesh and Paul tells them the penalty for their sin. It is no longer death by stoning but is now a loss of inheritance. Galatians 5:21: “...of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Now, once more, in order to prove their belief some people will equate "inherit the kingdom of God" with shall not be saved, but that is not so. The inheritance is an EARNED REWARD. Colossians 3:24: “Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” Paul wrote a passage in Ephesians that is similar to that one in Galatians. Ephesians 5:3: “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The Ephesians list is not as extensive as the one in Galatians, but fornication, whoremongering, and idolatry are pretty serious sins for a Christian, and once more he tells the sinners that they will lose their inheritance. Once more Paul elaborates. I Corinthians 6:9: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Again, some Christians, believe this passage is about lost people, and object to Christians being called "unrighteous," but this whole passage is addressed to and is about Christians. So now that it has been determined that Christians who are committing those sins listed above will NOT inherit the kingdom of God, what exactly does that mean? Well, the Bible does not specifically say. The details will be hammered out at the Judgment Seat, but these Christians will lose something, possibly their reign during the Millennium.

Vs. 22-23...What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? The Word of God was written by the Spirit. It is in the Spirit and through the Spirit that we approach God in prayer. Spend more time in prayer. That is what it is to walk in the Spirit, and to be led by the Spirit. It does not mean that you hear voices or have strange signs happening to you all the time.