My next few posts are going to be focused Galatians 5:13 where we find one of the seventeen “one anothering” passages in the New Testament—serve one another. Today’s post gives a little set up so we see things in context.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a strong antibiotic for the disease of legalism. We are not slaves to the Law. The Law is meant to help us realize two things:
- God is good, really good.
- I am not, not even close.
Paul is teaching here that the Law was meant to make us see that we need a savior, it was never meant to be that savior. If you are in Christ, you are fully, completely, totally saved! There is nothing to add. There is no small print. He did everything that was needed. It’s done!
So for instance, if someone comes up to you and says, “Hey, I hear you love reality TV. You know what I’ve found? My spiritual walk just sky rocketed when I gave up reality TV. If you really want to take your faith to the next level, you should do the same. I don’t think Jesus would watch reality TV therefore Christians shouldn’t watch it either;” if you hear that, RUN! That is legalism!
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Real Christians don’t drink.
- Don’t smoke.
- Don’t dance.
- Don’t miss church on Sunday.
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Real Christians wear suits to church.
- Tithe every week.
- Read their Bible every day.
No! When we start thinking real Christianity means anything other than having faith in Christ and in what He did, we have left the Gospel! There may be good reasons for not doing this or that, and there may be good reasons for doing this or that. But none of those reasons are salvific! We have been set free from needing to work for our salvation. We are free. That is the message of Galatians through the middle of Chapter 5.
Then we come to Galatians 5:13 where things seem to take a hard left turn.
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
The word “serve” is actually the word for “slave.” Paul is literally saying You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, be slaves to one another.
The whole letter up to this point has been “you are not slaves, you are free.” Now all of the sudden Paul says use your freedom for what it was intended for—to be slaves to one another in love. The next two verses explain a bit further what Paul means and gives us the reason that every major translation says serve one another instead of be slaves to one another.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
We don’t need to worry about where we stand with God. That has been completely taken care of. Nothing we can do can make our position any better, and nothing we can do can make it any worse. Now we are free to do God’s work, and that is serving one another in love. Not in a slavish way. This isn’t servitude. But this is a no-holds-barred-nothing-held-back-commitment to love one another the way Christ loves us, and that means being a servant to one another.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 