Galatians 5: All the Freedom in the World

What would you do if, with one spell, you were freed of all of your obligations and were completely free, bound to no one or no thing? It is an intriguing concept that, no doubt, has been the theme of a few sci-fi novels (I don’t read them, so this is just my ignorant impression). Do you remember what happened to the Israelites when they were given their freedom from Pharaoh? They wanted to go back. There is security in bondage—even if it is abusive at least there is security in it.

Jesus freed us from the abuse of the sinful nature. Paul is particularly concerned with sinful bondage to religious ceremony and tradition. Religion becomes sinful when it becomes a mechanism that replaces works for the approval we can only find in God. In short, religion becomes sinful when it is used as a means to avoid God.

Religion is the easy way of having the security of bondage AND the affirmation that comes from faith. But Paul says you can’t have both. God gave the Israelites a new vision when he led them out of bondage in Egypt. Go take the promised land! But they didn’t have the courage to enter into the new life that God had promised (Num 13-14). Similarly, Jesus has given us a new vision and direction by which we may indulge our freedom—love. We are to take our freedom and use it to serve one another in love.

Jesus was fully free and he bound himself to us allowing our sinful nature to drag him to the cross and to the grave. The Spirit liberated him from that grave and seated him in heaven for eternal life. Paul speaks of the fruit of this Spirit. The Spirit that we have is the Spirit that binds us to Jesus in his freedom. Because we are bound to Him, we can walk in his freedom and enjoy love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control and gentleness.