Galations 5

     5:1.  “And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy precepts” (Ps.119:45).  Prophetically, these are the words of Christ.  He is the man who loves God’s law, for his heart is always at one with the Father’s will, and the Spirit is ever with him.  To such a man the Law is a joy and a delight, the royal law of love, the law of liberty (James 2:8, 12).  It can be so to us only by our union with Christ, and by way of the stumbling block of the cross (11). We take our stand with the righteousness of Christ, and do not bear the yoke of a load that has already broken our backs.

     5:2-12.  It should be kept clear that the fault of legalism is not in the Law (Ro.7:12).  It is in the foolish notion that one already condemned by the Law can be justified by it (4).  Such a self-righteousness is a rejection of Christ as our only hope, and is a fall from grace in that it seeks to earn what must be a gift.

     Circumcision in and of itself means nothing (6).  But as a sign and seal of a commitment to keep the law for salvation, it is a repudiation of salvation by faith in Christ alone.  A little legalism leavens the whole lump (9).  It is the cross plus works.  Of course faith must be a working faith, but the love by which faith works comes first from God (6; cf. 1 John 4:9-11).

     The one who is troubling them (10) desires to bear his own judgment under the Law, and so he shall, for he has more faith in himself than in Christ.  Cf. v.11 with 4:29.

     5:12.  Circumcision is literally a cutting around, symbolizing for the OT saint that his faith was in the sacrifice of the promised seed.  To continue with this sign now is to reject Christ as that promised seed.  Thus Paul bluntly says that the ones casting doubt on the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice should really adopt amputation for the sign and seal of their covenant, since they are cutting themselves off from Christ.  (Cf. Php.3:2-3; Mark 9:42-47.)

     5:13-25.  The flesh; in the context of these verses, Paul means the fallen human nature.  Sometimes “the flesh” merely means the body, which though weak and mortal in its humanity is not evil in itself.  Adam had an earthy body while yet in a state of innocence.

     These verses correct any notion that the freedom from the restraint of the Law which we enjoy in Christ is a license giving free reign to the fallen nature.  Such would be the very way of death for which the Law condemns us, and from which we must be set free.  In our relationships to one another, love is the fulfillment of the Law (see margin references; Lev.19:18; Matt.7:12; 19:19; John 13:34; Ro.13:8,10; Gal.6:2).

     The Holy Spirit will never lead us into sin (16), nor bring us under the Law’s condemnation (18), for there is no law against the fruits of the Spirit (23).  But we who are twice born have an inner war between the flesh and the Spirit (17), just as Jacob and Esau battled in Rebecca’s womb (Gen.25:23; cf. Gal.4:29; 1 Cor.15:46).  You shall know them by their fruits.  The deeds of the flesh (the old man) are evident (19-21).  Those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  The fruits of the Spirit, against which there is no law (22-23), are evident in those who belong to Christ Jesus (24-25; cf. 2:20; 6:14).

     5:26.  Let us not become boastful; because any good we have is not a work of the flesh, but a gift of the Spirit (cf. 6:4, 13-14).