This
4g lesson on Galatians 5:1-16 opens with emphais on the first verse
“For freedom Christ has set us
free”. But, Paul takes it further and says we have freedom FOR a
purpose.
Commentator
Scott McKnight offers this useful observation on this passage as
well: For
the apostle, freedom involves “slavery to God and his will,”
while for moderns freedom means doing whatever one wants; for Paul,
freedom begins only in a relationship with God through Christ and in
the Spirit, while for moderns freedom means being alone; for Paul,
individual, social, and psychological freedom is the glorious
outworking of what God can do in a person through Christ and in the
Spirit, while for moderns these forms of freedom are the determining
goal of life; for Paul, freedom was interdependence, while for
moderns it is independence. Put differently, we cannot apply freedom
in Paul to our society until we see that the two are at odds with one
another. This forces us to decide: “We have only to choose between
bondage to the Father, which makes us free, and bondage to the powers
of this world, which enslaves us.”1
See
also, Romans 6.
1
McKnight, S. (1995). Galatians (p. 258). Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House.
