Galatians 5:1-6: a reflection

1Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. 3Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. 5For we through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision amounts to anything, but faith working through love.

Paul urges the Galatians to hold onto their freedom in Christ: Stand firm, therefore, in the freedom by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of slavery. They were being tempted to go back to trying to earn God's favor by keeping the law, and Paul warns that this is to fall from grace. For in Christ, he says, what counts is neither outward observance nor its lack, but faith working through love.

Notice the freedom Paul defends, and what he says counts. Christ has set us free, not to earn God's favor by anxious rule-keeping, but to live by grace, received through faith. To go back to trying to justify ourselves by law-keeping is to entangle ourselves again in a yoke of slavery, and to fall from grace. What counts in Christ is not outward observances, but faith working through love, a living faith that expresses itself in love.

That guards us against a subtle bondage. We can slip back, even after receiving grace, into trying to earn God's favor by our religious performance, anxiously keeping rules to make ourselves acceptable, as though grace were not enough. But this is to fall from the freedom Christ gave, back into a yoke of slavery. Stand firm in the freedom of grace. Do not fall back into trying to earn God's favor by anxious rule-keeping, as though your acceptance depended on your performance; you are accepted by grace, through faith. And let your faith not be idle, but working through love; for what counts in Christ is not outward observance, but faith that expresses itself in love. Stand firm in your freedom, and live by faith working through love, rather than by the anxious law-keeping from which Christ has set you free.

Lord, Paul urges me to stand firm in the freedom by which Christ has made me free, and not to be entangled again with a yoke of slavery; for in Christ, what counts is not outward observance, but faith working through love. Guard me against a subtle bondage. I can slip back, even after receiving grace, into trying to earn your favor by my religious performance, anxiously keeping rules to make myself acceptable, as though grace were not enough. But this is to fall from the freedom Christ gave, back into a yoke of slavery. Help me stand firm in the freedom of grace. Keep me from falling back into trying to earn your favor by anxious rule-keeping, as though my acceptance depended on my performance; I am accepted by grace, through faith. And let my faith not be idle, but working through love; for what counts in Christ is not outward observance, but faith that expresses itself in love. Help me stand firm in my freedom, and live by faith working through love, rather than by the anxious law-keeping from which Christ has set me free.