Galatians 5
Chapter 5 is an effort to confirm that the freedom in Christ is the correct path for the follower. Those who stood against Paul's teaching believed it would lead the Galatians into lawlessness and sin. Paul's teaching promoted the belief that it would lead them into Godliness.
Paul starts by encouraging followers to not give up and to be pressed back into following the law. One of the large teachings in the law was circumcision and the belief that by it you can be made righteous. That is not true in Paul's teaching of righteousness through Christ. He tells them that if they believe and follow circumcision, Christ is of no benefit because they would have turned to the law and works rather than the freedom and grace offered by Christ. That attitude would make Christ and what He offers useless to them. Again if you bow to any one part of the law (ie: circumcision) you must live perfectly under all parts of the law. You cannot break one law and keep one law and survive, if you break one part, the entire law is broken and you are doomed to be separated from God for eternity.
Being or not being circumcised does not matter, faith and acceptance of Christ does. The fruit of that faith is worked out and expressed in love. Paul again uses the race analogy saying that the Galatians were running the race so well yet now they are being distracted. He warns them to not allow any false teaching in their lives as it will spread through them and the believing community like yeast in dough. He also warns that there is a penalty for the one/ones who have been spreading the false teaching.
Paul also warns to not take the freedom as a right to do evil things but rather use that freedom to serve each other in love. Again he uses my favorite teaching "Love your neighbor as yourself" and do not fight and devour one another as you will destroy those you should be loving.
He teaches to let the Holy Spirit guide them and not to just give into the sinful desires of the flesh. It is a battle and a struggle and it requires effort to make the right choices. He explains that the battle between our sinful nature and the Spirit is real and will be a regular struggle. If we give in to the sinful nature we cannot do the good things we intend to do. He lists the differences between the two. Your sinful nature will lead you into sexual immorality, lust, idolatry, hostile behaviors, fighting, jealousy, selfish ambition, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and so on. He states that such things will lure you away and keep you from the Kingdom of God. He contrasts the above with the things of the Holy Spirit referred to as fruit. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. He ends by stating that there is no law against such things.
He states that for those who follow Christ, the things of the sinful nature were crucified with Him and we are given the strength in Him to no longer live in such a way. He paid the price for all those evil things we did and will do. So having that knowledge, we ought to live by the Spirit and live a life that reflects the fruits listed above.
Chapter 6
Paul starts chapter 6 with a call that we look out for one another. If a brother or sister in Christ falls into a sinful lifestyle, we should in love, stand by them and help them to move away from that way of life. This tells us that we have an obligation to one another and should help us to know that if we fall into such a place, others will or should come to our aid. If we were all to practice this love for one another it would be comforting to know that if we make a wrong turn in our walk, there will always be others there to help us get back on the path.
He tells us to share one another's burdens. No one is "too" important to do this. If you think you are, you are deceiving yourself. This is exactly what Christ did. He not only shared our burdens, He carried them all the way to the cross. That is our example and if Christ was willing to do that, what makes anyone think they are too important to do likewise? Also keep your eyes on what you do and don't compare yourself to what others do. You are responsible for your work. Sometimes we compare ourselves to those who haven't got it together as much as we think we have. This makes us feel pretty good about ourselves and falsely leads us into thinking we have no room to improve. That is a bad place to be. We need to look at our own life and if we ever want to compare, and can't seem to find anyone who has it all together better than us, there is always Christ whom we can compare ourselves to.
You cannot mock the justice of God by living a life in sin. It will always lead to decay and death. So don't get tired of doing good, live by the Spirit and we will reap a harvest of blessing. Do good to everyone, particularly those in the family of believers.
Beware of those who want you to follow the law as with circumcision. Check their motives for they may be attempting to promote themselves as great teachers having many followers. Those who are trying to draw others back to the law and are not themselves following the law and have a poor future. How can a person follow a person who teaches adherence to the law when they don't follow it themselves.
Paul closes that he boasts in his faith in Christ and his place in sharing it with all who listen. He proclaimed he no longer has any interest in the things of the world and that the world has no interest in him. What really matters is that we have given up our old self, even crucified it with Christ and have become a new creation in Him. He gives them a blessing of peace and mercy and the grace of Christ.
FOR DECEMBER:
I WANT TO GIVE US ALL A BREAK FOR DECEMBER, SO, LET US NOT TAKE ON A BOOK TO STUDY UNTIL AFTER THE START OF THE NEW YEAR. THIS IS A BUSY TIME OF YEAR AND A TIME TO ENJOY THE BLESSINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS THAT ARE SO WONDERFUL.
I WILL SUGGEST IF YOU WANT TO STAY IN THE WORD TO SOME DEGREE, THAT YOU READ THE BIRTH OF CHRIST AND THOSE CHAPTERS THAT TELL US OF HIS DEATH IN ONE OR ALL OF THE GOSPELS. REFLECT ON WHAT HE GAVE UP TO LIVE ON EARTH, HOW HE WAS DISRESPECTED AND THE PRICE HE PAID TO REDEEM US. THEN CONSIDER HOW GREAT HIS LOVE IS FOR EACH OF US AND HOW TRUE THE WORDS ARE THAT NOTHING, NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THAT LOVE.
HAVE A BLESSED AND WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS. BE FILLED WITH THE LOVE PEACE, JOY AND LAUGHTER, SHARED WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR.