The Law of God
and Galatians 5
I was asked
recently for my view on Galatians chapter 5.
The person asking did not agree with my perspective of the Law of God
and seemed to want to test me on this chapter.
Galatians is a book that is often quoted by people who do not want to
keep the Law, so I was not surprised.
I know many things
Paul has written can be taken as against the Law and are confusing. Even the Apostle Peter thought so.
2Peter 3:15b “as also our beloved brother Paul,
according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his
epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to
understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own
destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
I wish to deal with the meat of this chapter rather than every verse. Paul seems to keep to the same theme throughout. This is by no means an exhaustive explanation of the passage, but I wanted to present an answer.
Galatians
5:1 Stand fast therefore
in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be
entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to
you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I
testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep
the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt
to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
Hebrews 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken
of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death
He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release
those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
If you are a believer, you know these things to be true. But Paul also mentioned a “yoke of bondage” that we should not be entangled with. Some people assume he means the Law of God is this yoke.
Look back in the
scriptures and see all those who kept the Law of Moses. People like Joshua,
Samuel, David, Daniel and so many others.
Do you think they considered the Law a ‘yoke of bondage’? If so, you
sure do not see it in the Psalms or in the lives of these men. It was their pleasure to be obedient to the
God of Israel.
Something was
different about each of them. They knew
and loved Yehovah their God by faith, not out of duty. The Torah (five books of Moses) and later
parts of the Bible teach who God is so we can know His power and His character.
Romans
10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Psalm
19:7 The law of the
LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
8
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The
commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the
LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
There is no way
the Apostle Paul would say this Law is a yoke of bondage.
What more did Paul
say to the Galatians?
Galatians
5:13 “For you, brethren,
have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the
flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one
word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one
another!
It sounds like he
is praising the Law because it is all about loving your neighbor. Then he
begins to dig into the battle all believers face. The Flesh versus the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
This sounds like
either you are led by the Spirit of God, or you are one of those who keeps the
Law (of God). Does that sound odd to
anybody?
The Spirit of God
has the same attributes as God himself.
We know His Law is good and right and true. So how can these two be against each other?
We are dealing
with either believers or non-believers.
This is not about head knowledge; it is about salvation. If one has been ‘born again’ he has the
Spirit of God within. An unbeliever does
not have the Spirit and cannot understand the things of God.
1Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
First, look at
what Paul calls the Works of the Flesh:
Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
All of these are sins which the Torah tells us not to do. Some of the words might be different but they refer to the same acts that are against God’s Law.
Then Paul lists
what he calls the Fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians
5:22 But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness,23
gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law. 24
And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk
in the Spirit. 26 Let us not
become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
These are all desirable traits of the follower of God. He even says, ‘there is no law against these’. By that I think he means, there is nothing in God’s Law telling us not to have these.
Paul is
showing the flesh vs the Spirit.
The things he
calls ‘Lusts of the flesh’ are ALL things which the Law tells us not to do.
The Law of God
tells us what is right and what is wrong.
In the flesh, we
want to break the Laws.
In the Spirit we don’t.
From verse 18,
Paul seems to be saying, “if you walk by the Spirit you will not walk after the
lusts of the flesh”. He calls it being “under the Law”.
Galatians 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
I’d say in modern
Christian terms that he means an unsaved person is ‘under the Law’.
That sounds
strange to me. He must mean they are living “Under the Curse of the Law”;
not that they are living by God’s Law.
We know this
because he tells us the Flesh lives to do the things the Law forbids.
He equates walking
in the Spirit with “Being obedient to the Law”, although he doesn’t say it that
way.
Likewise, the Fruit of the Spirit is all the good, kind, loving things. We know that ‘Loving your neighbor as yourself’ IS kind, good and loving.
Somehow the Church
has twisted Paul’s words to say that someone who lives by God’s Law is walking
in the flesh!
That is exactly opposite of what Paul has said.
Verse 16 could be
reworded like this:
‘Walk in the
Spirit and you will NOT do the things which the Law forbids.’
Galatians
5:16 “I say then: Walk in
the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Walking in the Flesh is breaking the Law.
*Here is where this can get a little uncomfortable for the believer today.
What are we doing
if we claim to walk in the Spirit but refuse to keep the Law?
The saved person
or believer should want to follow God’s ways and be obedient.
The unsaved person
doesn’t care about God’s Laws and doesn’t bother trying to keep them.
The CURSE of the
Law is on all who break it.
Yeshua redeemed us from the CURSE of the Law. Then why would we continue to break God’s Laws afterwards?
I understand. We
have been LIED TO. The Enemy told us the Law is done away. That is why
believers today don’t think they need to keep the Law.
They actually
think the Law is bad!
By keeping the Law,
you are promised Blessing.
By breaking the Law,
you get the curses.
You tell me which is better.
Believers say they
are under the New Covenant. Okay, but
what does that covenant promise?
Jeremiah 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah- 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Ezekiel 11:19 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel
36:25 "Then I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from
all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to
walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
A believer has the
Spirit of God within them. God has written His Law on our hearts.
Why would we not
walk by this same Spirit that is within us?
Would the Spirit
of God, tell you to stop obeying God? Of course not.
His law is written
on your heart. That should make it easier to follow.
Why would God write something bad on our hearts in the New Covenant??
I have learned a
few things from trying to keep the Law for the past 14 years. The Torah list
the many things God considers sins. For
example, there is a whole section on sexual sins. Not every sin is listed, but enough that you know
what you should and should not engage in.
He tells you what
you should and should not eat, since some foods are abominations to Him. He
wants us to keep the Ten Commandments and to observe His feasts. He gives us what are called statutes and
judgments to teach us how to treat our fellow man. In essence, He teaches us how to judge righteously
and make righteous choices for our own good.
For me, by
learning the Torah I have a better idea how God wants me to live and it is
easier to ‘walk in the Spirit’ because I know what the Spirit would want me to
do. Can you see what I mean? The Spirit
of God can’t teach you things from the Bible that you have never read or that
you believe are not necessary to do.
The more we read
God’s Word, the more the Spirit can draw from to teach and guide us. What is
the solution? Read the Torah. Start reading, studying, and learning the Law
of God right from your own Bible. Do not
go to commentaries and don’t ask your pastor. Most pastors have no knowledge of
the Torah and would warn you to stay away from it. The Holy Spirit of God will guide you into
all Truth, but you must let him shine His light on the pages of the Word of
God.
Matthew 13:43 "Then the righteous will shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let
him hear!
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