“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘“‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:13–15, ESV)
In 1985, Huey Lewis and the News released a hit song titled, “Power of Love.” The point of the song is that love is a powerful and yet mysterious force that changes things. This song presents something that is true. However, historically people have done many things based upon a love driven ethic. Some we can perceive as good, and yet others as evil. It is the source and subsequent quality of this love that is of paramount importance.
Up to this point in the letter to the Galatians, Paul has primarily presented great arguments to defend the truth of the gospel against the false teaching of the Judaizers. I know I must be sounding like a broken record, but we must remember that the Judaizers preached that legalistic obedience to the law was essential for believers to be approved by God. This was contrary to the message of the gospel that one’s approval before God, was based solely on God’s grace through faith in the Christ and His finished work on the cross. This meant that believers were free rather than slaves to the law and its penalty. Yet the question that remained was this. How was the believer to live under such freedom? Wouldn’t freedom lead to unruly and sinful living?
From this point on in the letter, Paul deals with how believers who are free will live victoriously over the flesh. He looks into the power of victorious Christian living and this power will manifest itself in everyday life.
In these verses, Paul presented a contrast. He stated, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.” Believers are to walk in freedom, but not to use their freedom to indulge sinful desires. He goes on to present the first principal way that this should look. He presented a new but old law, the law of love.
“do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
This law of love was clearly presented in the Old Testament. It is seen in the book of Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 18. So, it is not new. However, it is new in understanding and its source of power in the believer’s life.
We can fully understand this law as we come to experience the love of Christ demonstrated to us by His sacrificial death on the Cross. John wrote, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16, ESV). Christ demonstrated what this love was about like no other person in all of human history.
So, what characterizes this love? The word translated love is agape, the highest and most noble form of love. We see several aspects of this in Jesus’ crucifixion. First it is voluntary; it is not given because of external compulsion. Second, this love is sacrificial; it gives at a cost. Third, it is given freely without ulterior motives. Fourth, it is given to benefit others and fulfill the purposes of God in them. In general, when given properly it fulfills the purposes of God.
The love of which Paul wrote is not something that can be accomplished in the flesh, it is supernatural. It requires a higher power in the life of the believer. Paul will touch on this later in the letter, but for now it is the love of Christ within every believer by the indwelling presence of His Spirit. The issue, which Paul will deal with later in the letter is learning how to allow the Spirit to work in the believer’s life rather than the flesh taking control.
So, if we are walking by the Spirit, if we are living under grace, one of the clear signs is that the love Jesus demonstrated on the cross will be demonstrated by believers in Him.
Renewing the Heart 