Text: Galatians 5:1-6
Date: November 1, 2020
Event: Reformation Sunday, Year A
Galatians 5:1–6 (EHV)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. 2Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3I testify again to every man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obligated to do the whole law. 4You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.
5Indeed, through the Spirit, we by faith are eagerly waiting for the sure hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, it is faith working through love that matters.
You Are Free!
Freedom. It’s a word that we, as Americans, love or perhaps even are addicted to. We’re able to exercise that freedom outlined in our system of government this week as we head to the polls on Election Day (or perhaps have our earlier-cast ballots officially counted). It is something we cherish and, to a large extent, rightfully so. It is our nation’s freedoms that allows us to worship and teach God’s Word without fear of governmental interference. It is our nation’s freedoms that allow us to choose careers, leisure activities, or most anything that we want to do.
But there is a freedom far greater and more important than the freedom we might have in any given system of government. There is a freedom that surpasses the freedom of speech or freedom of religion. That is the freedom that God gives to us in Jesus, a freedom that was for a time was almost lost, and today we specially thank God for its preservation and sharing it with us to this today.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul is writing to people who are under fire. They had been overjoyed to be some of the first outside of Judea to receive the gospel message, to hear how Jesus had won victory and freedom for them by his life, death, and resurrection for us. They were relieved and thankful to be part of God’s family.
But then false teachers came into the church, wolves in sheep’s clothing came among the flock, and they started teaching something that sounded close to what the Galatians had first been taught, but was subtly and horrendously destructive. These teachers, sometimes called the Judaizers, taught something that went like this, “Yes, Jesus is your Savior! Praise God! But, if you want to benefit from Jesus, then you have to follow these rules.” And the rules they outlined that needed to be followed were largely the Old Testament ceremonial laws—laws that pointed ahead to Jesus and found their use complete when he accomplished his work. But still, these false teachers insisted that if the Galatians wanted to be forgiven then they had to eat according to the Old Testament dietary laws, the had to worship a certain way, and their males had to be circumcised.
They wouldn’t say they they were against Jesus. They simply taught Jesus plus do this other stuff.
Paul’s message and encouragement to them is clear in its comfort and rebuke: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. Paul likens the need to follow the law to be saved to an animal yoked for work. The yoke doesn’t allow them to go where they want or do what they want. The yoked animals have to go where the farmer points them.
This is life under the law or under sin. When people allow sin to rule their lives, they are slaves to sin. When people let the law rule their lives, they are slaves to the law. Paul says, “If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. I testify again to every man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obligated to do the whole law. You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.” In other words, “Do you think you need to be circumcised to be saved from your sin? Then be ready for a whole lot more problems. Because entangling yourself to one law for salvation means you’re entangling yourself to all the laws. And when you’re yoked to the law for eternal life, you are removed from Jesus.”
Scary, huh? Allowing ourselves to come under one law’s requirement to get into heaven means we have to keep them all. And if we don’t (and, to be clear, we can’t), we are condemned to hell for our sin. Slaves to the law here means slaves to death forever. This is not freedom.
But this is largely the environment that Martin Luther found himself in some 500 years ago. The Roman Catholic Church had (and still has) strict requirements for salvation, requirements that follow in line with our natural human tendencies to feel the need to work off a debt or to pay back someone we have wronged. “Do you really want God’s forgiveness for this sin or that?” the Roman church says, “Then do this thing or that thing and you will be freed from it.” Whether it was a series of prayers on a rosary or the purchase of an indulgence for forgiveness bought from the church, or any other thing that had to be done to earn God’s forgiveness, it is the same mistake the Galatians were being taught to follow. “Do you want to be free from this sin? Jesus has done most of the work for you! Just do these other tasks or pay this fee and you will be forgiven.”
So, again, they wouldn’t say that they were or are against Jesus. They simply taught Jesus plus do this other stuff.
Which, whether we’re talking about first century Christians in Galatia, 16th century Christians in Germany, or 21st century Christians in America, this line of teaching means throwing away our freedom. Because teaching “Jesus plus do this other stuff” is to be against Jesus. It is to the spirit of the antichrist, that substitutes someone or something else for Jesus. It is looking to be justified before God because of some work, big or small.
That message is appealing because, as we mentioned a moment ago, we are hardwired to think this way. Have a debt? Pay it off. Do something to harm someone else? Make it up to them. And in the lion’s share of cases that we experience in this life that is absolutely the way to go. We should apologize and make it up to someone whom we have wronged. We should pay back someone that we owe something to.
But not with God. No matter how natural or right that may feel, we should not and indeed cannot pay back God or earn his love. Trying to be better today doesn’t remove yesterday’s wrongs. Following certain traditions or liturgies, or prayers doesn’t remove sin. Dedication to our church or to help the poor or to do anything good to anyone else doesn’t earn us favor or points in God’s book. And in fact, if we try to do that we “fall from grace” because we are running away from God’s love that he’s shown to us.
If it’s not about us, it’s all about God. Indeed, through the Spirit, we by faith are eagerly waiting for the sure hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Paul is very clear on this matter: who you are, where you come from, what you’ve done does not matter. What matters is the Holy Spirit’s active work in our hearts through the means of grace. Because there in his Word and the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit points us to the one thing that gives us the sure hope of righteousness, a right and proper relationship with God. In the Word and Sacraments, the Holy Spirit points us to the one thing that does matter: Jesus.
Jesus was the reason that circumcision was set in place to begin with. It’s not that circumcision accomplished anything in regard to sin, but circumcision marked the descendants of Abraham as the people God had chosen to bring the Savior of the world into the world. They were to behave differently, live differently, act differently, not to earn forgiveness, but because God has called them to this special and unique purpose. They were to stand out because God had made them stand out. But once Jesus had come all the pointing ahead was done. Now the focus was on what had been accomplished.
And what had been accomplished? Sinners enslaved by the law had been set free. Try as we might, we will NEVER be able to live the way the law and God himself demands that we live. And because of Jesus, we do not have to. Jesus frees us from slavery to lives of self righteousness by living the perfect life we needed for us. And despite the fact that you and I couldn’t even get rid of one of the innumerable sins we’ve committed, Jesus took that slavery onto himself and removed them all by his death for us. We are free because Christ has set us free!
So we are free from self righteousness, but it means we are then free to serve one another in love: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, it is faith working through love that matters. Faith, trust in Jesus as Savior, expresses itself through acts of love. These acts of love will differ depending on our situation. Maybe it will be as simple as wearing a mask in a store to protect people during a pandemic. Perhaps it will be as heroic as donating blood, bone marrow, or even organs to people in dire need of those resources. Maybe it will be spending time with the person that needs some time to talk. Maybe it will be donating to a charitable cause. Maybe it’ll be supporting the work of our congregation and the spread of the gospel with your time or other resources.
We could spend days upon days listing the ways that faith works through love in our lives, but that’s not really our goal. Perhaps paradoxically, your freedom in Christ expresses itself in service to others. And what matters is the motivation. You don’t do these good things to earn God’s forgiveness as the Judaizers were trying to push circumcision or the Catholic Church trying to push penance. No, your faith works through love because you’ve been set free from sin. These are works not to earn something but works of gratitude and thanksgiving.
One of the “watchwords” of the Reformation is Sola Fide, through faith alone. We are saved through God-given faith alone apart from any work on our own. But that faith is never alone. Like the apple tree produces apples, the Christian set free from sin by Jesus will produce good works of service to others. As we eagerly await the sure hope of righteousness, continue to prioritize others ahead of yourself, serve others as Jesus has served you, share the joy of Christ’s forgiveness with those who may not know it or who may have forgotten it. Rejoice in the freedom that Jesus has given you—freedom from sin, death, and hell. Rejoice in the freedom in which you now live—freedom to thank God with every thought, word, and action. My brothers and sisters, you are free! Rejoice in that freedom now and always! Amen.
