GALATIANS -- CHAPTER FIVE

INTRODUCTION: Paul finishes the doctrinal portion of his letter with chapter four and ends his doctrinal arguments against Legalism and Galatianism. The last two chapters are concerned with the practical application of the aforementioned truths. Notice the last word in the fourth chapter was the word free. The Legalists and the Galatianists had caused many to go back under the yoke of bondage and Paul's teachings were for the purpose of getting them free again.

vs. 1. Christ paid the complete penalty for all of our sins. I John. I :7, so we should stand fast for our liberty. I Corinthians 6:9--12.

vs. 2 - 3. The Legalists were demanding that the Gentiles had to be circumcised which was a rite embodied in Jewish law. Such persons who go back under Jewish law after once being saved lose profits of joy and peace and must realize that to live under the law, even in part, means that you are a debtor to live by the law perfectly. Galatians 3:10, 15.

vs. 4. Such persons lose their sense of liberty and therefore gain little for this present life. Such persons are not lost and are not under condemnation but have been "driven off their course" of salvation wholly by grace. The word "fallen"' means to have been driven off one=s course. cf. Acts 27:17, 29.

vs. 5 -6. The hope of righteousness refers to the visible bestowal of God's righteousness when we receive our resurrected bodies. Romans. 3: 21, 22 and Revelation 1:7,8. The things of importance to God and for man is not whether or not a person is circumcised but whether or not their faith results in work out of a heart of love.

vs. 7-10. Paul accuses the Legalists of being evil, of not being of God and of causing the Galatians to falter in their running of the Christian race. The Legalists will not go unpunished.

vs.11. Paul is saying that if he preached what the Legalists preached he would never suffer persecution. Man, because of his own sinful nature, wants to have a part in his salvation, but salvation is all of the Lord.

vs. 12. Paul had no sympathy for those who preached a doctrine that took away from extreme exaltation of Christ.

vs. 13. We are saved without works but we are not to use that liberty as a license to sin.

vs. 14-15. Christians are exhorted to love one another, to serve one another in love and are not to prey upon each other.

vs. 16. The way to overcome sin, the way to overcome the desire to satisfy the lusts of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit. I John 2:15-17.

vs. 17. Saved people still have their old depraved sinful nature and this nature constantly wars against the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians.6:19,20. Saved people don't live in sin. I John 3:8-10. The word "commit" in vs.9 means "practice".

vs. 19. Works speak of effort, mechanics, toil, labor. Works result in weariness, faintness, and often frustration. Lasciviousness means "immorality".

vs. 20. Variance means wrangling; Emulations means envy, indignation, malice; Strife means contentious, quarrel, factious.

vs. 22-23. Fruit does not involve work but is the result of just receiving, accepting. Notice that works are stated as plural whereas fruit is stated as singular. These nine Christian graces are the fruit of our walking in the Spirit (vs. 16); being led by the Spirit (vs. 18); and our living in the Spirit (vs. 25). This means that as we live we are to have no confidence in the flesh. We are to have an attitude of an honest confession of our weakness, an earnest plea for forgiveness and fully yielded and surrendered to God. Such a life will yield the peaceable fruit of the Holy Spirit.

• Inward fruit - Love, joy, peace.
• Outward fruit to others- Longsuffering, gentleness, goodness.
• Up-reaching fruit toward God- Faith, meekness which is submissiveness and temperance.

vs. 24. Christians are to die daily to the lust of their own flesh.

vs. 25-26. Christians are to walk and live completely yielded to God and they are not to be guilty of manifesting the works of the flesh.