“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. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:13-15 ESV)
Now the very specific context of this passage of Scripture is dealing with the issue of the Judaizers trying to convince the believers in Jesus Christ that they still had to (or that they newly had to) hold on to some of the Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial and dietary laws and restrictions, including the command of God to the Israelites for circumcision (of males only, I presume). So what Paul was reminding them of is that in Jesus’ death and resurrection they were set free from those Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial laws and customs. They were no longer under that law.
Now we still have Judaizers among us today who are still trying to convince Christians that they need to be more like Jews and that it would enhance their relationships with the Lord if they would follow some of those Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial laws. And there are many Christians who are being captivated by what these Judaizers are teaching them, and so they are adding on to their faith these Jewish religious customs and ceremonies that do nothing at all to enhance their relationships with the Lord, but can serve, in truth, as a distraction from what God is calling them to do.
So, in context, the freedom they were called to was freedom from having to keep all those Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement for circumcision. But as we will see as we continue to read in this passage of Scripture, this is not to be regarded as freedom from God’s moral laws, nor as complete freedom from having to obey God’s commandments to us under the New Covenant, which is what many are teaching these days, that we are free from having to obey the Lord. But he did not make us lawless.
In fact, in the Scriptures we read that our Lord died on that cross to deliver us from our slavery to sin so that we will walk in obedience to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. And we have many commands of God written down for us in the New Testament, under the New Covenant, that we are required of God to obey, in his power and strength. And we read under the New Covenant that if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to our Lord, and not righteousness, that we do not have eternal life with God, regardless of what faith we profess with our lips.
So, whether the issue is one of legalism, which is adding on to the commands of the Lord what he does not command, or whether it is liberalism (or libertinism) which removes from and which alters the commands of our Lord under the New Covenant to give people permission to keep living in sin, both are wrong. Both are contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures taught in context. For both are of the flesh of man (humans) and are not of God, not of his word. But the truth lies somewhere in between these two extremes. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
For this word “love” is not based in human emotion. It is not based in what other people do for us or how they treat us. And it is not based in legalistic requirements not found in the Scriptures (under the New Covenant), and it is not based in this idea that we can sin as much as we want and still go to heaven. For this word “love” means, for the believer in Christ, to live through Christ, to embrace God’s will, to choose his choices, and to obey them in his power. And it means to prefer what God prefers which is what is holy, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord.
So if we love our neighbors (all people) with this kind of love, we are not going to sin against them deliberately and habitually and premeditatedly. We are not going to lie to them and cheat on them and steal from them and slander them and hate them and be malicious towards them and to commit adultery against them (against spouses). But we are going to be kind and thoughtful and pure and righteous in how we treat them. And so we will not withhold the truth from them that they need to hear, either, in order to have them like us and not think evil against us.
So, even if we are set free from legalistic requirements, we are not to use that freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. For Jesus died to free us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will obey him and live holy lives pleasing to him. Thus, our salvation from sin is not just forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven when we die. Our salvation is freedom from our bondage to sin so that we will now walk in obedience to our Lord in holy living. Thus sin will no longer be our practice, but our practice will be to obey our Lord and to live for him and to do his will.
So don’t buy into the lies which tell you that you are free from having to obey our Lord’s commands under the New Covenant, or that you are free to sin without guilt and without punishment now. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father. And he said that if we want to come after him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of sin and if we do not deny self, die daily to sin, and obey our Lord, heaven is not our home.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
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