Daily Devotional for Monday, January 27

The Work of Christ Has Freed Us from the Law

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage;' Galatians 5:1.

I consider myself a pretty diplomatic person. As a middle child, I am a natural peacekeeper. I listen to both sides of an argument and usually end up being a mediator. Sometimes, though, my responses to people lead them to believe that I agree with them. In some instances, this is of little consequence, and I just move on; however, there are times when it is necessary to be assertive and "tell it like it is." As I read the key verses for today, it feels like Paul is having a "tell it like it is" moment with the Galatians.

This is the last section of Paul's letter. Of course, chapters and verses are relatively recent additions to Scripture to help us as we learn and study, but in the original version this probably would have been a new paragraph starting at verse 2 as Paul transitioned from building evidence to giving instruction. He finished up his contrast of the bondwoman and the freewoman with the conclusion that we should stand firm in the freedom we have in Christ and not return to the yoke of bondage. Then he used "Behold, I Paul" (verse 2) just like my dad would use "Look, I am your father" when telling me to do something. Paul said that if they were going to treat circumcision as arequirement for salvation, then they would have to keep the entire Law, which they could not possibly do. Was circumcision bad? Should we preach against circumcision? No, but whoever was polluting the gospel was claiming that in addition to believing in Christ, new Christians would also need to keep some aspects of the Law to maintain their salvation. Paul's argument was that anyone who believes in Christ but who does not really believe that Christ came to fulfill the Law and set us free is therefore no partaker in the grace we have in Him.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Stand firm then in that freedom of Christ and do not turn to a set of rules or standards that must be met for salvation.

Ashley Ridings