Free Bible Commentary
“Galatians 5:1-6”
Categories: Galatians“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”
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In today’s verses, Paul talks about the consequences of reverting back to the Law of Moses. Paul had just taught, by means of allegory, that Christians are the spiritual children of the “free woman,” Sarah (chapter 4, verses 21-31). Now he encourages his readers to “keep standing firm” in that “freedom” (verse 1). To go back to the Mosaical Law is to willingly don an oppressive “yoke of slavery”.
Peter spoke about this overbearing burden at the “Jerusalem Conference” in Acts 15:10, where it was decreed that circumcision was not necessary for salvation: “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”
Paul tells us today that if someone should “receive circumcision” as an aspect of the Law of Moses, he would be “under obligation to keep the whole Law” (verse 3). God’s laws are not “smorgasbords” to be selected from. We cannot “cherry pick” the parts that we like, and ignore the aspects that are unpalatable to us. Even with an outdated and replaced law such as the Law of Moses.
The truth be told though, even if someone tried to keep the whole Law, he would fall short and be condemned by it. The Law could only save a person if he were to keep it perfectly. Once any aspect of God’s law is broken, His saving grace is required through Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. To revert back to a dead Law, and attempt to be circumcised as a requirement for salvation, would make Christ and His sacrifice “of no benefit to you” (verse 2), and cause you to be “severed from Christ” (verse 4).
No sterner or more frightening words could ever be written. Christ is our all-sufficient Savior and we dare not look any further than the New Testament for God’s plan of salvation. If a person “goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ” (2 John 1:9), he rejects God’s saving grace through Jesus and His revelation, and is cut off from the Lord! Yes, it is possible for a Christian to “fall from grace” (verse 4). One way to do that is to seek “to be justified by law.”
The only thing that is required to please God and save our souls is “faith working through love” (verse 6). To understand the true meaning of this statement we must recognize that, to love Jesus is to keep His commandments (John 14:15-24). A great parallel for verse 6 is what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:19: “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.”
Please read Galatians 5:7-12 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed day!
-Louie Taylor
