Coconut
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FOR FREEDOM CHRIST HAS SET US FREE
(Galatians 5:1-5)
Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is [a debtor] obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you.
This verse teaches that the mindset of slavery is the mindset of a debtor -- one who is under pressure to pay back what he has borrowed or needs to borrow. All the works of the law (including circumcision) are the currency with which the Judaizers aim to satisfy their debts to God. And the surprising point of the verse for us is that God does not want to deal with us as debtors in this way.
I say this is surprising because there is a very common view of Christian behavior which this verse contradicts.
It is called the "Gratitude Ethic."
It says that God has done so much for me that I will devote my life to paying back my debt even though I know I will never be able to completely. And even though most Christians who work out of this gratitude ethic would say that they are not trying to earn their salvation, nevertheless, when they start working for God because he has given them so much, it is very easy to begin to think of God's free gift as a loan to be repaid or as advance wages to be earned. So the gratitude ethic tends to put you in the position of a debtor instead of a son. And that is slavery. None of us feels completely free while we are burdened with a debt to be repaid. Christ does not want you to relate to him as a debtor who uses the law to make installment payments on an unending loan.
There are at least three reasons why this gratitude ethic is wrong.
First, true gratitude is indeed a sense of joyful indebtedness. But as soon as this delight in another person's generosity turns into a feeling that we must pay something back, what once was a free gift starts to become a business transaction. Genuine gratitude is not the feeling of having to pay back.
The second reason the gratitude ethic is wrong is that it diminishes the cross of Christ. When Christ died for our sins to repair the injury we had done to God's honor, our debt was totally covered! Any effort to increase, from our account, the deposit made for us by Christ at Calvary, is an insult to its infinite value. Yes, all the good things that come to us sinners now and in eternity must be paid for. But the gospel is that they have already been paid for by Someone else. Therefore, we must never try to relate to God as a debtor trying to pay back a debt, no matter how thankfully.
The third reason why the gratitude ethic is wrong is that it tends to think of God's work for us as only in the past. It says, God has done so much for me, now I will do for him. But this overlooks the fact that God's work for us is past, present and future, and it is not only work for us but in us. The gratitude ethic tends to forget that apart from Christ's present indwelling power we can do nothing valuable (John 15:5). The gratitude ethic forgets that any patience, kindness, goodness, worship, etc., which we may offer to God is the fruit of his Spirit (Gal. 5:22; Phil. 3:3). It is God now working in us that which is pleasing in his sight (Heb. 13:21). Therefore, even our gifts to God are gifts from God. The gratitude ethic overlooks this never-ending work of grace in our lives. We can't even begin to pay God back because the slightest movement toward him is a new gift from him.
So when verse three says that the person who gets circumcised is putting himself in the place of a debtor to God, we learn that God does not want to relate to us as debtors who try to pay him back. His will for us is that we be free -- that we recognize that the whole debt is paid. We are not slaves who have to work to stay out of the poorhouse.
Now verse four says the same thing as verses two and three, warning us to stand fast in freedom and not submit to a yoke of slavery: "You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by law; you have fallen away from grace."
If you take upon yourself the yoke of the law and aim to use it to achieve your own righteousness before God you have submitted to a yoke of slavery and are not standing in the freedom for which Christ freed you. Or to use the words of the verse: your relation to Christ is nullified and you no longer benefit from grace.
What this verse teaches then is that the experience of freedom, including the freedom of eternal life, can only be enjoyed as we depend on the grace of Christ. Slavery is what happens when you fall away from the power of grace. The key to freedom is to keep depending on grace.
-excerpt
FOR FREEDOM CHRIST HAS SET US FREE - (Galatians 5:1-5) - John Piper
(Galatians 5:1-5)
Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is [a debtor] obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you.
This verse teaches that the mindset of slavery is the mindset of a debtor -- one who is under pressure to pay back what he has borrowed or needs to borrow. All the works of the law (including circumcision) are the currency with which the Judaizers aim to satisfy their debts to God. And the surprising point of the verse for us is that God does not want to deal with us as debtors in this way.
I say this is surprising because there is a very common view of Christian behavior which this verse contradicts.
It is called the "Gratitude Ethic."
It says that God has done so much for me that I will devote my life to paying back my debt even though I know I will never be able to completely. And even though most Christians who work out of this gratitude ethic would say that they are not trying to earn their salvation, nevertheless, when they start working for God because he has given them so much, it is very easy to begin to think of God's free gift as a loan to be repaid or as advance wages to be earned. So the gratitude ethic tends to put you in the position of a debtor instead of a son. And that is slavery. None of us feels completely free while we are burdened with a debt to be repaid. Christ does not want you to relate to him as a debtor who uses the law to make installment payments on an unending loan.
There are at least three reasons why this gratitude ethic is wrong.
First, true gratitude is indeed a sense of joyful indebtedness. But as soon as this delight in another person's generosity turns into a feeling that we must pay something back, what once was a free gift starts to become a business transaction. Genuine gratitude is not the feeling of having to pay back.
The second reason the gratitude ethic is wrong is that it diminishes the cross of Christ. When Christ died for our sins to repair the injury we had done to God's honor, our debt was totally covered! Any effort to increase, from our account, the deposit made for us by Christ at Calvary, is an insult to its infinite value. Yes, all the good things that come to us sinners now and in eternity must be paid for. But the gospel is that they have already been paid for by Someone else. Therefore, we must never try to relate to God as a debtor trying to pay back a debt, no matter how thankfully.
The third reason why the gratitude ethic is wrong is that it tends to think of God's work for us as only in the past. It says, God has done so much for me, now I will do for him. But this overlooks the fact that God's work for us is past, present and future, and it is not only work for us but in us. The gratitude ethic tends to forget that apart from Christ's present indwelling power we can do nothing valuable (John 15:5). The gratitude ethic forgets that any patience, kindness, goodness, worship, etc., which we may offer to God is the fruit of his Spirit (Gal. 5:22; Phil. 3:3). It is God now working in us that which is pleasing in his sight (Heb. 13:21). Therefore, even our gifts to God are gifts from God. The gratitude ethic overlooks this never-ending work of grace in our lives. We can't even begin to pay God back because the slightest movement toward him is a new gift from him.
So when verse three says that the person who gets circumcised is putting himself in the place of a debtor to God, we learn that God does not want to relate to us as debtors who try to pay him back. His will for us is that we be free -- that we recognize that the whole debt is paid. We are not slaves who have to work to stay out of the poorhouse.
Now verse four says the same thing as verses two and three, warning us to stand fast in freedom and not submit to a yoke of slavery: "You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by law; you have fallen away from grace."
If you take upon yourself the yoke of the law and aim to use it to achieve your own righteousness before God you have submitted to a yoke of slavery and are not standing in the freedom for which Christ freed you. Or to use the words of the verse: your relation to Christ is nullified and you no longer benefit from grace.
What this verse teaches then is that the experience of freedom, including the freedom of eternal life, can only be enjoyed as we depend on the grace of Christ. Slavery is what happens when you fall away from the power of grace. The key to freedom is to keep depending on grace.
-excerpt
FOR FREEDOM CHRIST HAS SET US FREE - (Galatians 5:1-5) - John Piper
