Galatians 5:13 Meaning

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.

Galatians 5:13, ESV

We must have our eyes set lovingly on one another, according to this text.

The way that we run well is a) looking forward towards the goal — the finish line. The way that we run well is b) always keeping our eyes fixated upon the cross.

And now Paul tells us that the way we run well is c) by loving one another as Christians.

Our battle

We have a problem though. We struggle with the flesh. We battle the flesh.

And sometimes the flesh overcomes. The flesh wins against us.

What is the flesh?

What exactly does Paul mean when he talks about “the flesh”?

That’s the remnants of our corruption that still remain — even though we have been given a new nature.

It’s not that you have two natures — that you have a sin nature — and a new nature — and they do war. But rather God has taken away your sin nature and given you a new nature.

But he’s not given you a perfected nature. He’s given you a new nature — not a perfected nature.

He could have given you a perfected nature. But he chose not to perfect your nature until glory.

Struggling against the flesh

And so we have this new nature. But we still have this indwelling sin and corruption that sometimes bubbles up inside — those sinful remnants that still dwell in us — that whisper things to the ear of the Christian — things that still excite us.

And usually that happens one of two ways:

Our sin nature will whisper things to us that are ungodly that we’ll try to put a Christian twist on so that we can do them.

Or our sinful flesh raises up thoughts about things that are godly — but that our sin nature wants to twist and make ungodly.

Liberty to sin?

One of the ways we see this is with freedom — with our liberty.

As Christians — maybe you’ve taken your kids to the park before. And you’ve said “Okay now, you can roam free. You’re free. Just run. Do what you want. No restraints. Have at it. Have fun.”

But it’s that idea of freedom — of no restrictions and no restraints — that I think believers still like.

Believers are bound to God’s moral law

And I think this is why you have so many who call themselves Christian who deny that we are bound to continue to observe the moral law of God.

Because I think inwardly they sinfully desire to have no restrictions and no restraint in their life.

But we need to understand that Christian freedom — that Christian liberty that we declare is not one that says “You are free from everything — or free to do anything.”

It doesn’t say that you are free from all regulations or all restraint.

The “freedom” that destroys

It’s that attitude actually that leads many ultimately away from Christ. It’s that idea of freedom that leads many away from the cross.

Because they say “Well, if I’m free, then there’s no need to belong to a local body. There’s no need to sit under the ministry of the word. There’s no need to pray. I’m free in Christ. I don’t need to do these things. I’m not bound. I’m just led by the Spirit everywhere. I’m free to get drunk. I’m free to engage in all sorts of sexually immoral acts. I’m free to watch things — listen to and speak like all of the unsaved people that I know.”

Don’t validate the Judaizers

And so in a sense the Judaizers have a valid concern.

But it’s only a concern because they don’t understand who Christ is. They don’t understand why Christ came — and what he’s accomplished — not only in redemption — but in the hearts of his people — and the application of that redemption in us.

They hear “free grace!” — they hear freedom and a dismissal of circumcision and the Mosaic law. And they think that what Paul’s saying freedom means is a life lived unto yourselves outside of the will of God — outside of the law God — so that we are just kind of a law to ourselves.

And so they despise that. But what Paul’s made clear — and as he reiterates here in our text — is that’s not at all what freedom means to him.

What freedom means to Paul is not an excuse now to act fleshly.

He says here in Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,”

Don’t sew to the flesh

The flesh is that sin nature — that indwelling sin.

Later in Galatians 5:17 he says “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit.”

We aren’t to be sewing to the flesh. We’re not to use our freedom and our liberty to engage in fleshly acts that are opposed to the Spirit of God.

Paul says freedom is never to be used as an excuse for sin.

If you ever have a question like “I know that I’m free in Christ. Can I do this?” what you always ought to ask yourself is “Is what I’m doing sin? Is what I’m doing going to result in sin?”

If the answer is “Yes” then the answer to “Can I use my freedom to do this?” is “No, you are to refrain from doing it.”

That’s not why Christ died. Christ didn’t come down to suffer for your sin and die that you might live in sin.

But rather he did that in order that you might be indwelt by the Spirit and live unto God — not to yourself.