2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14–Elijah parts the water so that Elijah and Elisha walk across the Jordan on dry ground. Elijah taken to heaven by a fiery chariot in a wind storm.
OR
1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 –Elisha becomes Elijah’s apprentice.
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20–I will remember your wondrous deeds, O Lord.
OR
Psalm 16–Protect me, O Lord, for I take shelter in you.
Galatians 5:1, 13-25–For freedom Christ has set you free! Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. The whole law is summed up in a single word: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Luke 9:51-62 – Jesus rejected by Samaritan village. Cost of discipleship. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Note: July 4 is Independence Day

June 30, Galatians 5:1, 13-25

We are several weeks into a series on Galatians:

  • June 2, Galatians 1:1-12
  • June 9, Galatians 1:11-24
  • June 16, Galatians 2:15-21 (June 16 is also Father’s Day)
  • June 23, Galatians 3:23-29 (June 19 is Juneteenth)
  • June 30, Galatians 5:1, 13-25 (July 4 is Independence Day)
  • July 7, Galatians 6:[1-6] 7-16

Here is the epistle reading for this Sunday:

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

13For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 16Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness,20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Last week we talked about slavery. Christ set us free from things that enslave us. In today’s epistle Paul reminds us not to let that freedom become an opportunity for self-indulgence. Instead we are to be slaves to one another.

In my first call we were preparing for the 1991 ELCA Youth Gathering, Called to Freedom, being held in Dallas. I led a Bible study for senior high youth on Galatians. I called it the Love Slave Bible Study. This got a lot of attention, as I had hoped, but it was probably ill-advised, because it raised a few parents’ eyebrows, until I pointed out Galatians 5:13. Paul calls us to be slaves to one another in love. Love is, after all, the fulfillment of the law (Leviticus 19:18, Galatians 5:14, Romans 13:10).

Law

I need to repeat something we discussed last week: The word “law” appears about 25 times in this short six-chapter letter called Galatians. You can find the references here.

A brief, one-paragraph summary of Paul’s feeling about the law from his letter to the church in Galatia, would go something like this:

No one can be justified by the works of the law. Paul has died to the law in order that he might live for Christ. The Spirit does not come through the law, but through faith. Those who rely on the law are under a curse: Having to fulfill the whole law. Christ redeemed us from the law’s curse. Abraham’s covenant was based on faith, that is, Abraham believed God’s promises. The law came through Moses 430 years later. It cannot nullify the covenant ratified earlier by God. We become part of the family of God by faith, not by law. The law is not opposed to the promises of God; it was just our babysitter until Christ came. Now we no longer need a babysitter. Even Gentiles can become part of this family. Not by law. Through faith they are adopted into the household of God and so become heirs. If you allow yourself to be circumcised, you are “cut off” from Christ, and now must keep the entire law, which is impossible. Even the circumcised don’t keep the law. The entire law can be summed up in a single thought: love your neighbor as yourself. If you’re led by the Spirit, you don’t really need the law anymore. The law of Christ is to bear one another’s burdens.

Freedom from what? To what?

The yoke of slavery to which Paul refers are the two religious systems he has been discussing: Pagan worship and Torah observance. Both of these yokes are heavy, and actually, Paul would argue, push us away from God.

The yoke of Christ, the new law: loving God and neighbor, is not heavy. It is light, and offers freedom. Although no longer under the law, followers of Christ should not abuse that freedom. Paul believes if people truly live by the Spirit they will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

As Christians we are free from the law, but not free to do whatever we please. We are now bound by the law of love. The law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). There is a paradox in this, one that Martin Luther picked up in what is probably his simplest writing on the gospel, On The Freedom of a Christian (sometimes known as the Treatise on Christian Liberty). This short treatise may be one that we should provide for every new member of our church. In it Luther explains that Christians are not compelled to keep the laws of the Bible, but are compelled to love their neighbor.

Luther says,

A Christian is the most free lord of all, and subject to none;

A Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.

These may appear contradictory, but they are exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:19,

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. (1 Cor. 9:19)

Luther goes on to say,

Meanwhile it is to be noted, that the whole Scripture of God is divided into two parts, precepts and promises. The precepts certainly teach us what is good, but what they teach is not forthwith done. For they show us what we ought to do, but do not give us the power to do it. They were ordained, however, for the purpose of showing humans to themselves; that through them we may learn our own impotence for good, and may despair of our own strength. For this reason they are called the Old Testament, and are so.

This tract is sprinkled with quotes from Romans and Galatians, such as,

For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4)

This is an interesting passage. Recall last week I mentioned that the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament, which dates back to before Christ) translates Torah with the word law (nomos). If we substitute Torah back in, that renders Romans 10:14, “For Christ is the end of the Torah, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” These are strong words for Paul who was trained as a Pharisee, one set apart for the Torah.

Luther (still from On Christian Freedom):

For example: “thou shalt not covet,” is a precept by which we are all convicted of sin; since no one can help coveting, whatever efforts to the contrary we may make. In order therefore that we may fulfill the precept, and not covet, we are constrained to despair of ourselves and to seek elsewhere and through another the help which we cannot find in ourselves; as it is said: “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.” (Hosea xiii. 9.) Now what is done by this one precept, is done by all; for all are equally impossible of fulfillment by us.

In other words, the purpose of the law is simply to drive us to the gospel. Like the prodigal son, about to eat the pig pods, we realize we cannot make it on our own, and are driven to return to the loving, forgiving embrace of the Father who has been waiting for us all along. This is true freedom.

As we celebrate freedom on the Fourth of July, freedom is on the brain. Paul’s primary thrust in Galatians is, of course, not to speak about freedom from political oppression. We can, however, use freedom as a springboard, by asking the congregation: What is true freedom? A person can be free from oppression, but a slave to addiction. A person can be free from hunger, but a slave to anger. What enslaves you today? What does true freedom look like? This is where a true story of deliverance will drive the point home. When has God delivered you from slavery to something? Or when has God delivered a parishioner or someone you know?

Then we can talk about what we do with freedom. Okay, once you’re free from whatever enslaves you, now what? Where do you go? What do you do? Once you are free from the law, what then? Or, to put it most poignantly:

Now that you don’t have to do anything, what are you going to do?

What do we do with this freedom we have in Christ? For Paul, and for Luther, we are freed from our bondage to the law in order that we might live in love of God and neighbor. This is our Christian vocation. You are now free to go and love your neighbor, without constraint. Love. Serve. Do no harm. Speak ill of no person. As Abraham Lincoln said,

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Beloved, be free. Free to love with malice toward none and charity for all. Free to bear one another’s burdens, to care for the orphan and widow, to work for peace and justice.

Yours in Christ,

Bishop Michael Rinehart