Day 948: Two dangerous paths - Galatians 5 vs 11 - 17

11-12 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offence of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 18 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:11-17 English Standard Version

“I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!” I wonder if the harshness of that statement took you by surprise. Should a Christian say something like that? Well, we need to remember that Paul was deeply concerned that the false teachers were leading the Christians away from Christ and to fall away from God's grace. He stated that earlier in vs 4. So he was dealing with a situation that wasn’t just a life and death one, but of eternal life or death. Apart from blinding people to God's way of salvation, what was the other great danger of going down the pathway of legalism – of believing you had to be circumcised and keep all the demands of the law in order to be saved? (vs 15)

It would lead to an atmosphere of judging and criticizing one another in the congregation. Those who insisted on certain rules would quickly find fault in those who didn’t keep those rules. And this was the very opposite of what the laws given by God to Moses had intended. While many of God's laws had spoken of things that people should 'not do', what was the real underlying intention and spirit of those laws? (vs 14)

The reason for not stealing, not coveting, and not committing adultery etc., wasn't simply because such things are wrong, but because they are a failure to love people as God wants us to. There were other ceremonial laws too (such as circumcision) which served a purpose at that time. But Christ kept all that God required and offered the perfect sacrifice which those laws had pointed to, and set us free from “keeping the law in order to be saved”. We are now called to walk in the love Jesus spoke of when He said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

But this freedom opens a door to a second dangerous pathway. What would that be? (vs 13)

Those who were strict about 'keeping the Old Testament laws' were worried that, if Christians aren't required to keep them, it could lead to people assuming that it didn't matter how they now lived. They might say that, because we are not under Law, but under God's grace, it doesn't matter if we do any wrong because our sins are all forgiven.

Paul was aware of that danger and gave two solutions. Firstly, he wrote: “Don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (vs 13) If we kept love as our goal we would not want to do anything that hurt or harmed others.

Secondly, he called on Christians to 'walk by the Spirit', because if we did that, we would not give in to those wrong desires that we are so prone to. (vs 16) The word 'walk' here would apply to our daily lifestyle. It's the pathway we travel on each day as we go about living in this world. As we do that we will encounter two options tugging at our minds. There are things that will attract us, but our conscience tells us are wrong. And there will be choices which are the right ones, but which we may find difficult to take. The good news is that God's Holy Spirit in a believers life is willing to lead us into those right choices. (vs 18). And it won't be ‘laws’ that He leads us too, but to the love of Christ, and the love we must have for one another.