Galatians 5:1-4 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (2) Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. (3) For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. (4) Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."
I acknowledge that the language of the book of Galatians can be hard to understand
due to the fact that we Gentiles were never under the written law. The book of
Romans tells us that we have a law written in our hearts, but we were never
subjected to the harshness of condemnation which was the result of breaking the
written law of God. I say that and yet Galatians is very important for us to
read and seek understanding. Though we were never under the written law of God,
many people have either been subjected to the law of another person or we have
tried to establish our own guidelines to follow in order to find peace with
God. Remember how Eve made a law unto herself concerning the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil? She told the serpent, "God hath said, Ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Can you see
how Eve added to the command of God by adding the words, "... neither
shall ye touch it..."? That was Eve's words, not God's. But it
seemed that she needed to add that condition in order to be safe from the
condemnation stated by God for eating the fruit. We could ask, "How
did that work for you, Eve?" It did not prevent her from eating the
fruit.
Paul is not saying to the Galatians that they are free from the moral and
social aspects of God's law; rather, they have been set free from the
condemnation. How were they, and we, freed from the guilt of our sin? Was
it because we added something to God's Word? Was it because we "turned
over a new leaf"? Was it because we decided to be better people than we
were? No, we have been set free because "Christ hath made us free"
from the debt of sin! Our adding pain to ourselves and trying to soak in
the pang of guilt does not make us better nor does it put us in a better
relationship with God. If we think we can do anything on our own in order to
become better, then "Christ is become of no effect unto you." Or as
Paul stated in chapter 2:21, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if
righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Christ
did not have to die if there was anything we could have done to bring ourselves
into a relationship with God. I thank God that He has shown me that it
was not by my works, but by His grace that I am born of the Spirit of God and
placed in the family of God.