Gal 5:1, 13-25; Thoughts on Christian Freedom

1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery....13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Introduction

Paul is at his rhetorical best in this passage. He has just taken the Galatians and us on a long and convoluted intellectual journey (see some of my earlier essays on Galatians) in which he has tried to persuade the Galatians not to return to a kind of law-based piety which was foreign to his teaching. The central dilemma of the early Church was the extent to which the Jewish law would be binding on the Gentile (and Jewish) Christians. Paul staked his ministry on the proposition that it was no longer necessary to observe Jewish law. But what would replace the Jewish law as ethical/religious guidance for the earliest Christians was not at all clear. That is, once you throw out the "old rules," the tendency for a new movement is to have "no rules" for a while before "new rules" can be adopted. Paul is wrestling with this problem in the passage just quoted. In order to understand Paul in this passage, we need to focus on three points: (1) the nature of Paul's contrasts or adversatives; (2) the law of love; and (3) the fruit of the Spirit. Let's briefly mention each.

I. Paul's Contrasts or Adversitives

We don't fully know Paul until we realize that he is at his best when he speaks in contrasts or oppositions. For example, we are to walk in freedom and not submit to slavery. Some of the words that are the "good words" for Paul in this letter are "Spirit," and "Freedom" and "Christ" and "Life," while the contrasting words are "Law" and "Flesh" and "Death." Paul works best when he can assume that these words are polar opposites of each other. At the end of Gal. 4 he uses the story of Sarah and Hagar to try to reinforce this "flesh/spirit" opposition. The former is the free woman; the latter the slave. The free woman bears a son born according to the Spirit; the other bore a son accroding to the flesh. We are descendants of the free woman; hence, live with according to the Spirit. To live according to the Spirit is freedom. That is the way Paul argues. It really isn't a very elegant or persuasive argument (that is, no one today would argue for the doctrine of Christian freedom from Sarah's condition) but it stresses the point that Paul wants to make: in Christ there is some kind of freedom, freedom which will be lost if the believer falls back into living "according to the flesh," or "according to the law." Christ, then, sets us "free."

Just because we no longer face the problem or the temptation to revert to Jewish law doesn't mean that the doctrine of freedom is a dead letter for us. Indeed, Paul's point, that Christ "frees" us, is potent medicine for us in 2007, when we are "bound" to all kinds of expectations and fears that keep us from living like free people. What are some of those things that bind us? Well, the list is endless but it can begin with the fear of bankruptcy if we leave work to pursue what we might want to do. We have the fear of what others might think of us if we truly opened our heart to the world; we have the fear of rejection if we pursue a path that isn't popular to others around us. You name it, we fear it. Paul can help us wrestle with our fears today, even if his argument from Genesis isn't the most potent basis for the doctrine of Christian freedom.

II. The Law of Love

But once one is freed from the law, when the law no longer has power to allure or judge, what is the shape of Christian freedom? What, then, is the positive content of freedom? It was much too early in the Christian movement in the early 50s (when Paul wrote Galatians) to expect a detailed exposition of the nature of Christian freedom. But Paul does the next best thing. He says that the entire law is summed up in a single commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Gal 5:14; Lev. 19:18). So Paul is saying that the law still has validity of sorts, but it is the validity of a general principle rather than that of specific requirements. The law is now a single commandment: to love the neighbor.

How helpful is that? I think it is wonderfully helpful as a general principle, but it also needs to receive quite a bit of instantiation in life before we know what it means. That is, I try to adopt the "law of love" as my daily ethic, but what that means to me is different in different situations. For example, today I had to do something very difficult for me--to end a friendship. I realized that a relationship I had with a person for about seven years was not really going in a direction that worked for me. It was very hard for me to say to him, 'Here is where I am,' and let the chips fall where they may. In another instance the law of love might move me to engage with a person more deeply. Thus, even though the basic principle is sound and helpful, I need to be attentive to the needs of my heart in order to know how to implement the "law of love."

III. The Fruit of the Spirit

Paul is aware as he pens Gal. 5 that his basic principle--to live by the Spirit or to live according to the law of love--really needs more specificity, and so he gives it to us in the last verses of the chapter. We are to avoid certain things (5:19-21) and then manifest certain others (5:23-24). The list of words in 5:23-24 is one that should be read every day. These virtues are incredibly appealing and useful to us. I think the best way to handle this list would be to read them, perhaps in more than one translation, and then provoke a discussion on what it means for today. I have tried to show above, for example, that "faithfulness" or "love" can indeed be compatible with cutting off a relationship. I think the best way to internalize these virtues is to have someone give examples of what is and what isn't "joy," for example. Joy is something deep and abiding, arising from a sense that one is flowing in a direction of usefulness and satisfaction. But, it took me many years to feel the "flow" of joy. So, we could likewise study generosity or patience in the same way. People will have stories. Humor could, I hope, become a major part of our reflections. The fruit of the Spirit only tastes good if we can savor it in community.

Conclusion

Paul charms us in this passage because he shows that what is at stake in Christian faith is the kind of living that serves, gives and loves. We find ourselves when these words become our own. May they be that for you and your congregation this week.

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