FAQ - Galatians 5-1 - Is the Law of God Bondage or Freedom
6
FAQ - Galatians 5:1 – Is the Law of God “Bondage” o r "Freedom?" At face value this question might appear rather odd. Would God have given us "bondage" and then stated that if we obey this "bondage" we are blessed and that if we disobey the "bondage" we fall under the curse (second death)(Deut. 11:26-29)? Do we find any verse in all of Scripture that says the "law of God" is bondage? No we do not. In fact, we find the opposite. Ps 119:44So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. Ps 119:45And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. Ps 119:47And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. Ja 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Ja 2:12So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. So if the "law of God" is freedom, how can we also call it bondage? Good question. We simply can't, at least for those who wish to avoid clear contradiction in their doctrine and theology. So what does Paul define as b ondage in Galatians? Paul states that false teachers brought bondage... Ga 2:4And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: ...by teaching "elements of the world"... Ga 4:3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: ...and justification through the "law of God"... Ga 2:16Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works ofthe law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. ...instead of simply obedience to the "law of God"... Ga 6:13For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. ...and thus these false teachers bring us away from true liberty/freedom... Ga 5:1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage
