Galatians 5:1

Context

This verse belongs to the Epistle to the Galatians, which Paul wrote to the churches in the region of Galatia (in present-day central Turkey). After Paul's departure, certain people arrived and taught that Gentile (non-Jewish) believers must also be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law. Paul opposes this teaching, arguing that a person is justified not by the works of the law but by faith in Christ.

Immediately before, in 4:21-31, Paul uses Hagar and Sarah as figures of the slave woman and the free woman, concluding that we are children of the free woman. Galatians 5:1 turns that conclusion into an exhortation: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (KJV). Because 5:2-4 go on to mention circumcision directly, the "yoke of bondage" is generally understood to refer primarily to circumcision and law observance demanded as conditions of salvation. The verse links the doctrinal argument that precedes it with the practical exhortations beginning at 5:13. For this reason, some scholars group it with the end of chapter 4, while others read it as the opening of chapter 5.

Interpretation

• Lutheran and Reformation reading: Martin Luther is known to have held Galatians in particular affection and to have expounded it on several occasions. This tradition reads the freedom spoken of here as freedom from the attempt to attain righteousness through the law, that is, the freedom of being justified by grace. Within a theology that distinguishes law and gospel, the verse signifies the release of the conscience from the law's condemnation.
• Presbyterian and Reformed reading: Chapter 20 of the Westminster Confession of Faith describes Christian liberty in two respects. One is freedom from the guilt of sin, the wrath of God, and the curse of the moral law. The other is the freedom of New Testament believers from the yoke of the ceremonial law (the regulations concerning sacrifices and festivals). This tradition, however, holds that the moral law remains the rule of the believer's life, and so it does not read this freedom as an abolition of the law.
• Methodist and Holiness (Wesleyan) reading: This tradition emphasizes that freedom is not merely release from the guilt of sin but also deliverance from sin's dominion. Reading the verse together with the "faith which worketh by love" of 5:6, it regards this freedom as the starting point of sanctification.
• The "New Perspective on Paul" reading: Some New Testament scholars of the late twentieth century (including James Dunn and N. T. Wright) understand the issue of the law in Galatians as a matter of the boundary markers that separated Jews from Gentiles, such as circumcision and the food laws. For them, this freedom is the freedom of Gentiles to belong to the people of God without becoming Jews. Proponents of the traditional interpretation criticize this reading for downplaying the question of individual justification.

Debates and Issues

• The scope of freedom: In 5:13 Paul adds, "use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh" (KJV). For this reason, commentators across denominational lines point out that citing this verse to justify license takes it out of context. Conversely, the verse is also cited in criticism of legalism that imposes church customs as though they were conditions of faith. Judgments differ, however, over what constitutes a "yoke of bondage" on such topics as the Sabbath and the Lord's Day, tithing, and alcohol and tobacco.
• The Sabbath: The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds that what Paul opposed was circumcision and the ceremonial law, not the Ten Commandments. It therefore maintains that observing the Saturday Sabbath does not conflict with this verse.
• Manuscripts and translation: The critical text has a shorter form that can be read as saying Christ set us free "for freedom" or "with freedom." Some later manuscripts, represented by the Textus Receptus, read, "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free," and the King James Version follows this text. The Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version are closer to the critical text in their rendering.

Related Passages

• Galatians 5:13
• Galatians 2:4
• Acts 15:10
• John 8:34-36
• 2 Corinthians 3:17