Galatians 5:1
Memory Verse
Therefore, you all stand fast in the freedom in which Christ has set you free, and do not again be subject to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
The freedom a Christian has relates to his ability to live out the righteousness he possesses in Christ. In Christ, he is free from slavery to the sin nature because he has been buried and raised with Christ (Romans 6:4–6). This liberty is not for an opportunity for the flesh, but through love we are able to serve one another (Galatians 5:13). We are free from sin and bound to righteousness (Romans 6:18).
Living by the flesh and continuing in sin are both concepts that should be foreign and rejected by Christians. Since we have died to our sin nature, how can we continue in it? (Romans 6:1–2). As we walk by the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ sets the grace believer free from the law of the sin and death; thus, enabling him to walk in the newness of life he possesses in Christ (Romans 8:1).
We are to stand firm in our freedom, not permitting others to impose religious laws to dictate our righteousness. We live out from faith (Romans 1:17). Faith is taking God at His word and is always based on a promise (Hebrews 11:1). God states that He has imputed Christ’s death and resurrection to us (Romans 6:3–5). Let us take Him at His word and live in a manner that displays our faith by walking according to the desires from the Spirit, no longer making provisions for the flesh to work out its desires, and living out the righteousness we have in Christ apart from any quality of law.
To live out the righteousness we have in Christ, we begin with how we frame our minds (Colossians 3:1–3). The framing of the mind describes the boundaries we place upon our opinion of ourselves, and thus, is the basis for how we act. We are the children of God who are placed as sons (1 John 3:2; Ephesians 1:5–marked us off to the placements of sons). With a proper frame of mind that is based upon truth, we then govern our lives according to the desires within us from the Holy Spirit to work out righteousness (Galatians 5:16). In this state, since we govern our actions according to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit’s fruit is produced in our lives, against which their is no law (Galatians 5:22–23). This results in a life of freedom to love other saints while rejecting the ways of Satan, the world, and the strong desires from the sin nature.