Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
April 7, 2013
Dayton, Texas
(254)
1769 Translation:
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
1901 ASV Translation:
13 For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only
use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
- I. The Primacy of Freedom.
- A. The core issues of "the calling".
- 1. Paul clearly sets the stage for the entire letter in 1:6 where he says that God "called you in the grace of Christ."
- 2. Just as clearly, Paul's own experience of "the Gospel" is couched in terms of being "called through His grace" in 1:15.
- 3. The next reference to "calling" is 5:8 where a certain "persuasion" is not "from Him Who is calling you."
- 4. The final reference in Galatians to "calling" is our current text: 5:13. Here the issue is the foundation of the "call": "you were called upon freedom" (variously translated "unto"/"for" etc.).
- 5. Thus, the core consists of "grace" and "freedom".
- a. Both concepts -- grace and freedom -- are "absolutist".
- 1) Grace brooks no inclusion of meritorious works on the part of the one to whom grace is extended.
- 2) Freedom brooks no inclusion of external compulsion or interference from "Justice".
- b. Both concepts are anathema to the desire for personal glory.
- B. The core issues of "freedom".
- 1. The preposition Paul used to identify the "calling" (" epi ").
- a. Robertson says it is the opposite of " upo " and signals "a real resting upon" (p. 600). He goes on to say that Galatians 5:13 is an example of " epi " with the Locative case meaning "purpose or aim" (p. 605). I'll take his word for it.
- b. As an "aim" or "purpose", this is a repetition of 5:1 wherein there is simply the use of an articular locative/dative to indicate "purpose".
- c. Paul's meaning, then, is: "For ye were called for the purpose of getting you to rest upon freedom..."
- 2. The contextual boundaries.
- a. Paul exhorts the Galatians to not use freedom as an occasion for the flesh.
- 1) This means it can be used in that manner.
- 2) This also means that there will be some level of outcomes that is not going to be pleasant (sowing to the flesh brings corruption: 6:8).
- b. Paul also warns the Galatians that if they use their freedom selfishly they are liable to being "devoured". This, clearly, means that misused freedom has real time/life consequences. Thus, the freedom is not absolutist in every sense.
- c. Paul also exhorts the imposition of "love" and "service" into the exercise of freedom.
- 1) This is why we simply cannot take "freedom" to be all-inclusive and absolutist without boundaries. Who ever heard of "freedom" for "lovers" and "slaves"?
- 2) This is also why we cannot allow "external pressures" to invade the space that "love" occupies. God looks upon the heart and disallows anything except Love.
