For freedom you were called

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”Galatians 5:1

Reflection

Paul wrote this letter to Christians who were doing something tragic: after being set free by the grace of Christ, they were going back to enslaving themselves to rules, rituals and the attempt to save themselves by their own effort. They had traded the freedom of the gospel for the prison of legalism. And Paul, almost indignant, warns them: "stand fast in the LIBERTY wherewith Christ made us free; be not entangled again with the YOKE of bondage". Notice the drama of the situation: people whom Christ set free returning voluntarily to prison. It is possible to be free and live like a slave.

This is a more common spiritual tragedy than it seems. Christ frees us from guilt, from the weight of having to deserve God’s love, from the slavery of sin — and yet, many Christians keep living in chains. Bound to guilt Christ already forgave. Bound to the exhausting attempt to please God by performance. Bound to fear, to legalism, to the sense of never being enough. It is like a prisoner whose cell was opened, whose chains were removed, but who keeps sitting on the cell floor as if still imprisoned. The freedom was won by Christ; it remains for us to LIVE as free.

Notice the verb Paul uses: "STAND FAST in the liberty". Christian freedom needs to be defended, kept, guarded — because there is a constant tendency to slip back into slavery. It is easier to live by rules than by grace; it is more comfortable, for pride, to try to deserve than simply to receive. That is why Paul says "stand fast" — remaining free is not automatic. It takes active resistance to the temptation to return to the "yoke", to rebuild your own chains, to trade the relationship of grace for a system of merit.

It is important to understand that this freedom is not permission to do whatever you want — Paul makes clear right after that Christian freedom expresses itself in love and service, not in license (v. 13). Freedom in Christ is not freedom TO sin, but freedom FROM the weight of having to save yourself, from the tyranny of guilt, from the slavery of performance. It is the freedom to serve God out of love, and not out of fear; to be a child, and not a slave. If you have lived like a prisoner in an already-open cell — bound to forgiven guilt, to demands Christ already satisfied, to the fear of never being enough — hear Paul’s call: get up and go out. Christ has already set you free. Now, live as free. Do not put back on chains He has already broken.

Bible text: King James Version (public domain).