THE LIBERTY THAT GOD GIVES

Gal. 5:13

Morning Meditation 1/25/2013

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."

What provoked this statement from Paul? It was aimed at preventing the Galatian Christians from being carried away from the liberating power of the gospel, and be lured by the false teachers back under the Law of Moses.

Our inspired text says, “ye have been called unto liberty . . . ” The pronouns in the Greek text, for the most part, are attached to the verb. If the writer wants to make a special emphasis he adds the pronoun separately in the text. In this text the “ye” stands separately from “have been called.” The words, “ye have been called unto liberty,” translate “kaleo” and means, “to call aloud, utter in a loud voice.” There is no mistaking the call of God to salvation. The verb is an aorist tense which refers to a point of time in the past when the call took place. It is in the passive voice which means that the Galatians did not call themselves. The call came from outside of them selves, and the call called for a response on their part. They did respond, were saved as a result, and Paul is reminding them of this truth. Paul says, “For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. . ..”

Paul is speaking to family members. He calls them “brethren.” True Christians are one big family. We call one another brother and sister.

The words “unto liberty” translates “eleutheria.” This word is used of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians Exo. 14:13 and of deliverance generally from evil or danger. In the New Testament it is specially used with reference to the great deliverance from the guilt and the pollution of sin wrought out by Jesus Christ.

After Paul assures them that their standing is one of liberty, he says, “only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.” Since we are ruled by the ruler, it gives us liberty. No one can judge us by the Law because we are not under it. However, just because we are at liberty to act freely under grace this does not give us a license to sin. This is one of the mistakes made today. Once we see that we are saved by grace alone, we begin to investigate our perimeters, meaning, “a line bounding or marking off an area.” Two options exist:

1. We can stand as close to that line as we can and still be a fairly respectable Christian.

2. We can come nowhere near the line because we are determined that we are not going to be border-line Christians. This is voluntary and applauded by the Lord.

One might say, “Where is the line?” The line is within. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." There have been times when undertaking a project, I suddenly lost my peace within. When this happens there is only one way to stay in the will of God. The project must be abandoned.

We have liberty, not license. This is what Paul means when he says, “only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Love is the motive for all the actions of the Christians. We are not to take advantage of the liberty we have but we are rather by love to serve one another.

May the Lord bless these world to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White