"For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage."

      Freedom is a precious thing, and costly. And it must be guarded and cherished accordingly. Hardly had these Galatians been delivered from the hard bondage of heathenism, when, alas, they seemed ready to fall again into the bondage of Judaism. The strongest language the apostle could use was not too strong to warn them against such a relapse. Christ set us free for freedom and not to bring us again under a yoke of bondage. These Judaizers pretending to lead them into fuller Christianity were not messengers of Christ at all, but enemies seeking to overthrow Christ's work. Paul, speaking of the same class as those who were busy in Galatia, says "Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ." (2 Cor. 11:13.) Against these they must watch. "Eternal vigilance" is ever the price of liberty. Stand fast in the freedom with which Christ has set you free.

      In some respects the bondage of law appeals to the flesh more than the freedom of the gospel. "It is far easier," says Adolph Harnack, "to live under any authority, even the hardest, than in the freedom of the good." Freedom is strenuous. It calls for thought, for principle, for heart-searchings, for decisions. Freedom stands in self-control as opposed to outside control. The slave's life is easy in some respects. He is told what to do; and when he has done that, he is through. His master sees to all the problems of life for him. All he has to do is to follow orders. There are not a few Christians who would thank you to tell them exactly how much Bible reading they are expected to do every day, how many times a day they are to pray, exactly how much of their money they are to give, how much of Christian work they are to do, and exactly what work; also what they must not do--in short to have a rule and code of precepts which they are to perform, by which to keep out of hell and go to heaven. But the free Christian must ever seek the mind of his Lord: he must judge what is well-pleasing to Him, must study and think what love would do; and he cannot be content with the mere right and wrong: he must exceed those bounds; in short, he must follow Jesus. He can never sit down and say "I have done enough." Also he is apt to have "growing pains." As dear old Brother Harding used to say about giving, for instance, "You begin, by wondering how much of your money you ought to give to the Lord, and wind up wondering how much of the Lord's money you should keep for yourself." The free Christian can't settle down for repose. The inward call is ever onward, upward. He must press on to perfection. Forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forward to the things that are before, he must press on to the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Is it any wonder that fleshly men are bewitched by the way of the law? Is it any wonder that many Christians are just [29] law-keepers, caring only to do what they call "their duty," and to let well enough alone? But the Lord has set us free. His one word is, "I have loved you--will you love me?" And, "You belong to Me, and I belong to you: your interests are my interests, my interests are your interests, for all eternity. Now go and do accordingly." Well, there is no end to that, you might say. I'd rather know some definite things I must do. This liberty of Christ's is too all-engrossing. Yes, verily, so it is.

Is that too much? Would you rather go back to the law? Well, that law will never satisfy you; it can only condemn. You would be severed from Christ; you would have abandoned grace--and what hope could you have? Yes, He wants your whole life and your whole heart. He gave himself for you, and He wants you, and will never be satisfied till he has you, even you, and all that you have and are. Is it too much? Such is the yoke of freedom, wherewith Christ has set you free. "We serve in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter" (Rom. 7:6).

      "Behold, I Paul say unto you that if ye receive circumcision Christ will profit you nothing. Yea, I testify again to every man that receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law." (Gal. 5:2, 3.) In being circumcised he has become a Jew, a member of the fleshly nation, and has assumed the obligations of that state. Henceforth his only hope (which is no hope) would lie in his fulfilling of all the requirements of the law (Rom. 10:5). His salvation depends on that now. If he fails, there is the curse (Gal. 3:10). He must build up a righteousness of his own for himself (Phil. 3:9). For he cannot hold to Christ with one hand, and to the principle of the law with the other. There is no mixing of grace with works (Rom. 11:6). "Ye are severed from Christ; ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace" (Gal. 5:4).

      But of the Christian Paul says, "For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness" (v. 5). A question may arise here as to the meaning of "the hope of righteousness." Is it the hope of being righteous at some future day? Or is there a hope that is ours because of the righteousness which we now have in Christ Jesus? Undoubtedly the latter. True there is imperfection cleaving to the children of God in this earth-life; and we shall not be fully like Him until He is manifested and we see Him as He is (1 John 3:1-3). But here and now the Christian stands in righteousness--a righteousness which is reckoned to him by faith in Christ (Rom. 3:22, 24; 4:5). Having this standing before God we confidently look forward to the glory that shall be revealed to usward (Rom. 5:1, 2; 8:18f). The Christian's hope is in the coming of Christ. Until then the course of his Christian life is summed up in these few weighty words: "faith working by love." And back of this is the Spirit who worketh in us [30] both to will and to work for God's good pleasure.

      Again in verse 13 Paul reverts to the matter of Christian freedom, "Ye brethren were called for freedom," he says. But liberty is not license. Free from the law and all its bondage they truly are. But a higher inward principle, which freely fulfils the law's demands (Rom. 8:4) comes in. It is the law of Christ, the law of love (Gal. 6:2), no longer to bite and devour one another nor to use their freedom for mutual destruction. James Montgomery, the sweet singer of the Moravians caught the spirit of this in his hymn of experience:

[PLG 29-31]