Dear Christian friends:

We who live in the United States of America are blessed with unique political freedom. While the political freedom which we enjoy is of great value and dear to us, a freedom for which we would sacrifice and even die, it is not the greatest freedom which we Christians have and enjoy.

In our text, which is the Epistle Lesson for this Sunday, St. Paul speaks of a freedom which is exceedingly more precious. He speaks of the wonderful freedom that we have in Jesus Christ. Regarding the greatness of this freedom Martin Luther eloquently writes: "This is the most genuine freedom, it is immeasurable.

When the other kinds of freedom, political freedom and the freedom of the flesh are compared with the greatness and the glory of this kind of freedom, they hardly amount to one little drop.

For who can express what a great gift it is for someone to be able to declare for certain that God neither is nor ever will be wrathful but will forever be a gracious and merciful Father for the sake of Christ. It is surely a great, incomprehensible freedom to have this Supreme Majesty kindly disposed toward us, protecting and helping us, and finally setting us free physically in such a way that our body, which is sown (buried) in perishability, in dishonor, and in weakness, is raised in imperishability, in honor, and in power. (1 Corinthians 15:42-43)

"Therefore the freedom by which we are set free of the wrath of God forever is greater than heaven and earth and all creation" (Luther's Works, Vol. 27, p.4) Wouldn't it be great if we all appreciated our freedom in Christ as Luther did?

As is the case with political freedom, so it is also true regarding our freedom in Christ: we are in danger of losing it, as were the Galatians in our text. That is why St. Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians. He didn't want them to lose their precious freedom in Christ. He writes in our text: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

While St. Paul intended these words for the Galatians, the Holy Spirit who inspired him, intended them for us also:


How are we in danger of losing our freedom in Christ?

Well, how were the Galatians in danger of losing their freedom? St. Paul tells us: "Mark my words! I, Paul tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:2-6)

Paul before had preached the true Gospel to the Galatians, that sinful mankind is justified before God only by faith in Jesus Christ who made atonement for all sins by his sacrificial life and death, by grace, through faith without the works of the Law. When Paul moved on to preach in other places, Judaizing Christians came in and said that Paul was wrong. They insisted that these Gentiles also needed to be circumcised in order to be justified. They said Faith in Christ was not enough. When Paul heard about this false preaching he fired off this letter.

How might we Christians today be in danger of losing our freedom in Christ? In much the same way. With us it probably wouldn't be some false preacher advocating circumcision, but one who prohibits certain foods and drinks and certain social activities as a condition of being "saved." He might also insist on observing the "sabbath" and certain other portions of the ceremonial law. Also strict obedience to the Ten Commandments would be a cause of justification, or as they say, "Of being saved."

Another way that we might be in danger of losing our freedom in Christ would be to abuse this freedom, use it as an excuse to sin. In our text St. Paul writes, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another by love." (Galatians 1:13) "Indulging the sinful nature" means to think along this line: "If we are justified solely by the merit and suffering of Christ and without the Law, then let us live as we please! Let us not bother to do good, let us not give to the needy, much less do we have to endure evil; let us take revenge! For there is no Law to compel or bind us."

Satan can easily get our sinful nature, which we Christians still have, to think along these lines. That is why Paul here warns against letting the sinful nature of flesh get out of hand. If we let the sinful nature control us we in effect trade our freedom as citizens of the Kingdom of Grace for slavery to Satan and the flesh. Bluntly put, freedom is not a license.

Christian freedom is like a river that flows within channels dredged by the Holy Spirit. The flesh's delusion about freedom is like a flood that rages out of control and destroys. So because of our sinful nature, Satan and the unbelieving world we are in danger of losing our precious freedom in Christ.

How do we stand firm in this freedom? By keeping in mind the true nature of this precious freedom, not a license to sin, but a life of love, led by the Holy Spirit of Christ.

St. Paul says, "Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself." (verses 13-14)

When Paul here states that we are to serve one another in love and to love our neighbor as ourself as the way of standing firm in the freedom he is not implying that we ourselves can really do this. What is demanded here is perfection and what springs from ourselves is far from perfection.

What comes out of our hearts Paul clearly lists here in the text when he writes: "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, orgies and the like. (verses 19-21)

Serving one another, loving our neighbor as ourself is done only in Spirit, not by our sinful nature. Paul, therefore, emphasizes living by the Spirit, saying, "I say live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature... Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit." (verses 16, 25)

What does it mean, then, to "live by the Spirit?" It simply means to hear the Word of God concerning both our justification and our sanctification, and to believe what the Holy Spirit urges us to believe concerning these two operations of his in us.

First, our justification! The Holy Spirit leads us to believe that all works of our sinful nature have been crucified with Christ when he died upon the cross. All that is ours: sin, temporal death, and eternal condemnation under God's wrath is laid upon Christ, and all that is Christ's: his perfect righteousness and the heavenly Father's favor becomes ours. (2 Corinthians 5:21) The great exchange!

Secondly, our sanctification or godly living which flows from God justifying or godly living which flows from God justifying us in Christ. The Holy Spirit leads us to love the Father out of gratitude for what he has done for us in Jesus Christ, so that we want to please him by loving and serving him and our neighbor.

The Spirit also leads us to contrition and repentance whenever we fail to serve one another in love and fail to love our neighbor as ourself, whenever we do the mean things, the unkind things, the hate things, which happens even now when the Old Adam gains the upper hand from time to time. Even then, again and again, He assures us that also these sins have already been punished in Christ when he died upon the cross.

Furthermore, the Spirit assures us through Word and Sacrament that Christ when he was here upon earth already has lived the perfect life for us in our place and that when we now live, led by him, in a sense we live a life that has already been lived for us and fully credited to us by Jesus Christ. The Spirit assures us that although our Christian life is far from perfect, God looks upon it as being perfect because of Jesus Christ and our faith in him.

That is why St. Paul writes these very important words in our text: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (verses 22-25) This is what it means to be "led by the Spirit."

All this is tremendously comforting to us. There is no threat, no obligation to save ourselves, but instead the opportunity and freedom to give witness to God's grace in Christ by living a godly life of joy, and love for one another. This is our immeasurable freedom in Christ.

So, in closing, I say to you what St. Paul said to the Galatians: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Amen.