The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 318

Vera. 13-26.-Freedom smtained by the Spirit. I. UsE 01" CHRISTIAN FREEDOM. •• For ye, brethren, were called for freedom." Paul, having wished the Judaizing teachers ?ff Galatian soil, justifies the strength of bis wish. They would have led the Galatians mto bondage, but God had called them for freedom. He makes e. distinction between the possession of freedom and the use of freedom. He had been under the necessity of making prominent their possession of freedom in contending against the Judsists; he would, however, remind them, as brethren, that there was responsibility connected with their use of freedom. It is thus that be slides into the lllore_practical part of th~ Epistle. l. Dangers of freedom. " Only use not your· freedom for an occasion to the· flesh." By the flesh, which here becomes a leading word with the apostle, we are· not to understand our corporeal nature. Nor are we to understand by it depraved tendency in connection with our corporeal nature. But we are to ·understand by it depraved tendency as a whole, extending to our higher nature as .well as to our· lower nature, It is true that in this depraved tendency our lower nature has the preponderance. And that is the reason why the whble goes by the name of flesh. Bnt the constant element in depravity is not sense, but it is self as opposed to God and to the good of others. The admonition of the apostle, then, is, not that we abstain from all bodily gratification, as though sin were seated in the body, nor simply that we abstain from all fleshly sin, but that we abstain from all selfish gratification. .The Galatians had been called for freedom, i.e. for ultimate and complete freedom ; they wero not, with their first experiences of freedom, or with their strong realization of it as against J udaistic error, to imagine that they were free to indulge the flesh. That is what, as free, we must be on our guard against, if we wonld not fall back into bondage, if we would come to the goal of our freedom in Christ.. Let us not turn our· liberty into licentiousness. 2. The binding of freedom. (1) Love binds the free; !' But through love be servants one to another." As it is self in the flesh that lfa,ds to .abuse of freedom, so it is love that determines the right use of freedom.. Love is. gqi~g out beyond self. It is that which binds us in service to another. The Galatians wer~ free fr.im Jewish bonds only to put on the bonds of Chri8tian love. So it is true tliat we are free from the bonds of guilt only to bind ourselves in service one to another. Thus to balance our freedom-there is the bondage of love. (2) The whole I,,aw is fuifUled in Zove to our neighbour. "For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, ev~n in thi~; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The one word here is the summary of the ,second table of the Law. The quotation is from Lev. xi.L 18. It appe3:rs,· from "neighbour" there followina upon" children of thy people," that the neighbotit of the Jew was his fellow-Jew. Christ has taught us to regard as our neighbour every !)DC who is in need, temporal or spiritual. When we are commanded to love o·ur neighbour as ourselves, it is implied tha.t it is a right thing to love ourselves. There is a true self-love.: We are to love ourselves intensely. It does not appear that we can be too much ID earnest about our own well-being. \Ve are to love ourselves rationally. We ar~ not to seek. only a section of our interest, but we are to seek our true interest as a whole. In these respects our love to our neiO'hbour is to resemble our love to ourselves. We are to love our neigh- bour in the same i~tense manner. His good is as much to God as is our own good. And in all ways in which we can advance his good we arE) to be as much in earnest about it as though we were advancing our own. We are to lo~e our neighbour iµ. the same mtional manner. We may love intensely and yet be guided by reason. We are not to seek only part of our neighbour's good. To give as much time and attention to our nei""hbour's business as to our own would not ordinarily be for his good, nor would it be fair to one in comparison with another. Circumstances may arise. iu y.,hich ~uty may point to sacrifice for another, even to the extent of life. Let us, t~en,fove Olli", ne1g~- bour as we love ourselves, both intensely and rationally. The teaclnng of the apostle 1s that he who has obt;erved the second table of the Law (as summarized) ha.s fulfilled the whole Law. Surpri~e has been expressed why there should be no referell!e t? the ti.r~t table of the Law. But the reason is obvious. He who has only gon~ the length of the :first table has not fulfilled the whole Law. Our love to God must be carried to com- pleliou, in our loving our neighbour Wl ourselves. According to tho thought of the CH, V, 1-26,] 'l'HE EPIS'l'LE 'l'O THE GALATIANS. 285