1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 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 neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. – Galatians 5:1-15 ESV
When we attempt to earn favor with God or attempt to keep His righteous standards in our own strength, we end up self-obsessed. That kind of life can be totally self-centered, restricting us from loving others and pouring out our lives on their behalf. Instead, we can end up seeing them as competition, causing us to find fault in them so that we can feel better about ourselves. We can heap guilt on them and demand that they keep the same exacting standards that we have set for ourselves. This can cause them to be just as miserable with life as we are.
Slavery to the law is debilitating. It robs us of joy and is a dead-end road that leads nowhere. But as Paul reminds us, Christ has truly set us free. However, if we try to make ourselves right with God by keeping the law, we end up being cut off from Christ. In other words, we negate His saving work on our behalf and replace it with our own powerless attempt to save ourselves through some form of rule-keeping.
Yet, as Paul has made clear, our righteousness comes through faith, not works. Once again, Paul states plainly, "For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness" (Galatians 5:5 NLT). We already have what is often referred to as "positional" righteousness. Because of Christ's death, we have been covered in His blood and are viewed as righteous in God's eyes; He sees us through the righteousness of Christ. But we are also in the process of being transformed into the likeness of Christ, through the presence of the indwelling Spirit and the power of the Word of God. We are becoming righteous in practice. But this is a process that takes place over time, and is still the work of God. Paul puts it this way: "We wait expectantly for the hope of [future] righteousness."
One day, we will be like Christ. It won't happen in this lifetime, but, instead, it will be when Christ calls us home or returns for His Church. That is our hope. And it is based on the work of the Spirit and available only through faith. Like our salvation and sanctification, this future glorification is the work of God and available only through the means of faith in Christ’s all-sufficient sacrifice on our behalf. Paul expounded on this future glorification in his letter to the church in Rome.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. – Romans 8:16-18 ESV
Paul discussed this same amazing promise of future glorification with the believers in Corinth.
…our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?” – 1 Corinthians 15:50-55 NLT
The apostle John believed in the promise of our future glorification and encouraged his fellow believers to live their lives in this world by focusing on the hope of their future transformation into the likeness of Christ.
Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3 NLT
As John points out, the promise of our future glorification does not give us an excuse to live our lives as we see fit. He and Paul are not suggesting that we abandon all effort in this life, but that we reject the idea of earning favor with God. In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul wrote, "work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear" (Philippians 2:12 NLT). In writing to the believers in Corinth, Paul stated, "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me" (Philippians 3:12 NLT). Then he makes his famous declaration: "I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us" (Philippians 3:14 NLT).
Paul tirelessly pursued practical righteousness in this life, but he knew that full righteousness would only come about when his time on earth was done. His ultimate righteousness, like his salvation, was the work of God made possible through the death of Christ.
So what's the point of all this? For Paul, it was that we might understand our freedom in Christ. Not only are we free from having to earn God's favor through the law, but we are also free to love one another. The greatest expression of our newfound freedom in Christ is found in our love for those around us. There is no more competition or comparison, and no need to measure ourselves against one another or attempt to outdo one another for God's love and attention. This is not a contest. We are not siblings vying for the favor and attention of our parents.
Rather than serving ourselves by attempting to elevate our standing in God’s eyes, we are free to serve one another. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, His disciples seemed to be constantly obsessed with who was the greatest. They vied for positions of prominence in Jesus' coming kingdom. Believing that He had come to establish an earthly kingdom, they expressed their desire to occupy places of prominence and power. They jockeyed for position and attempted to gain Jesus’ favor, all without realizing that He had come to die so that they might live.
The same thing can happen with us as believers today. But Paul tells us, "use your freedom to serve one another in love" (Galatians 5:13b NLT). We are free to love, not compete. We are free to serve, not be served. We are free to put others first and ourselves last because our place in God's Kingdom has been secured by Christ. We don't have to do anything to fight for or earn our rights. We don’t have to secure our place in His kingdom through self-effort. We are free to spend our time loving others. If someone else gets the credit, no problem. If no one notices our efforts, it doesn't matter. We aren't trying to earn favor with God anyway. We're free!
Father, this is such a hard concept to get our heads around. We live in a society that is steeped in the ideas of effort and earning. We have grown up with phrases like, "No pain, no gain." We have been told "there's no free lunch," "the early bird gets the worm," and "to the victor go the spoils." We struggle with the idea that our salvation and even our sanctification are totally the work of Christ and have nothing to do with us. Help us to fully understand and appreciate the joy that comes with knowing that we are free from having to earn favor with You. No more performance-based motivation. No more competing with one another. No more jockeying for position. We are loved by You because of Christ. And we are free to love others as we have been loved — selflessly and sacrificially. Amen.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.