Galatians 5:1-6
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love," Galatians 5:1-6.
If anyone tries to earn their salvation, then Christ is useless to them. In Christ we are free from any kind of works for salvation. How has Christ made us free? Christ fulfilled the whole law all the time, not some of the law some of the time. Christ is our substitute. Even though Christ fulfilled the law, He did not abolish the law. The law is still beneficial today. It is still accomplishing what God ordained for it to accomplish. It points us to Christ for justification. The law could not save anyone, nor can it keep anyone saved. If we rightly divide the Scriptures, we will not be entangled with the yoke of bondage. What yoke of bondage? Let us turn to some more scriptures dealing with this. First let us turn to Matthew 23:1-7. Notice verse 4, "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." Trying to keep the law for justification is a heavy yoke of bondage. More and more gets added onto that yoke.
The word "bondage" in Galatians 5:1 means slavery, bondage. Spoken of the condition of those under the Mosaic law. This bondage produces more bondage (Galatians 4:24). According to Jewish tradition, there are 613 commandments. There are 365 do, and 248 do not do. There is no way to keep all 613. One reason today is because there is no Jewish temple in Jerusalem. God ended the Jewish system of worship in A.D. 70 when the Roman general Titus slaughtered the Jews and destroyed the Temple. Jesus Christ prophesied of this in the Gospels. "And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down," Mark 13:1-2. \
Remember, the law was never given to save anyone. It was our school master to point us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might by fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," Romans 8:1-4. When our flesh looks at the law of God, it says it cannot keep the law, so, our flesh will go about to establish its own righteousness. "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Romans 10:1-4. This was a major issue in the early church, and it still plagues some people today. The early church dealt with it. Turn to Acts 15:1-29. "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear," Acts 15:10. When anyone tries to establish their own righteousness, they are adding to the yoke of bondage. The question will always be there, "Have I done enough?"
"Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised; that he is a debtor to do the whole law," Galatians 5:2-3. If you are circumcised to in order to keep the law, then you are not looking to Jesus Christ alone for justification. Paul is not speaking to infants here, but to those who are old enough to understand. If anyone even tries to keep one part of the law for justification, then that person becomes a debtor to the whole law. A "debtor" in this verse is one morally bound to the performance of any duty. Paul solemnly affirms this again and again throughout this epistle. Being a debtor to the law has consequences.
"Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace," Galatians 5:4. In this verse, "is become of no effect unto you" simply means useless. If you are trying to earn your salvation by keeping the law, then Christ is useless to you. Christ does not help you get saved, Christ saves you because you cannot save yourself. If Christ is useless to you because you are trying to earn your salvation by keeping the law, then you are fallen from grace. This means grace takes no effect on you. Simply put, you are not a Christian. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Grace has not taken effect because there is no faith in Christ alone. What a terrible place to be. Christ is useless to them because they are seeking salvation through the law. You cannot mix Christ with the law to be justified. We trust Christ alone for justification (Galatians 2:16). Our faith in Christ is an active faith, and it is a working faith; not to be justified, but as a result of being justified by faith in Christ alone.
"For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith," Galatians 5:5. By the power of the Holy Spirit we wait, we expect, we are looking for the return of Christ. This earnest expectation is a cleansing hope (I John 3:1-3; Philippians 3:20-21; Romans 8:18-25). We are living by faith, looking for Christ's return. We are not trying to do our best so He will accept us. We are living knowing God has accepted us through His Son Jesus Christ. All who trust Christ by faith have Christ's righteousness imputed to them. It is as if we have never sinned. Remember, Christ fulfilled every requirement of the law. When we, by His grace, trust Christ for salvation through faith, the perfect obedience of Christ is imputed to us. When God looks at us, He doesn't see our own righteousness, He sees the righteousness of Christ. God only accepts us through the righteousness of Christ.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love," Galatians 5:6. "Availeth" is to have efficacy, to avail, have force and value. "Worketh" is to show activity, i.e. to work, be active, operate. True faith produces good works out of love for Jesus Christ. That which we do, and do not do, is because we love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "We love him, because he first loved us," I John 4:19. No works which we can do has any kind of force or value in justification. Trying to earn your salvation makes Christ useless to you. Have you trusted Christ alone to save you?
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