EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
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EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
Paul says believers were called to freedom, and in the next breath he tells them to serve one another in love.
Galatians 5:13-14
Opening
For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:13-14 (BSB)
Paul quotes Leviticus 19:18 in a letter about freedom from the law of Moses.
Galatians 5:13 says two things about freedom, one right after the other.
The first is that believers were called to freedom. Across the traditions, food observance does not earn anyone a place in God’s family, though they disagree about whether Leviticus 11 still binds Christians and whom it binds.
The second is that freedom is not for indulging ourselves. It is for serving one another in love. Then Paul quotes Leviticus 19:18, from the same book as the food laws. The whole law, he says, is fulfilled in loving your neighbor as yourself.
The freedom and the service belong together. A believer who knows what his freedom cost Christ will not use it to wound anyone. A believer who serves without knowing he is free can slowly turn service into a way of earning God's favor.
Where do you need to receive your freedom, and where do you need to spend it?
REFLECT
Which of the five days did you most want to argue with, and why?
A Two-Minute Prayer
Lord Jesus, you called me to freedom, and you paid for it with your body. Let me receive it without fear, and spend it on love. Keep me from using it against anyone you died for.
IN YOUR OWN WORDS
The Week
Monday — Be Holy, Because I Am Holy. Leviticus 11 told Israel which animals they could eat, and it gave the reason twice: be holy, because I am holy. The word tamei, unclean, names a religious status, not dirt. Readers have explained the laws as health, symbol, order, reverence for life, separation and decree. Every one of those readings accepts the stated purpose. God gave the laws, and they were good. In Babylon, Daniel asked for vegetables rather than defile himself with the king's food. The same book says love your neighbor as yourself. Israel itself descends from a younger brother born holding his brother's heel.
Tuesday — Sold For A Single Meal. Esau traded his birthright for stew. Hebrews calls it a single meal, and Paul uses the same Greek word when he says the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. Jacob took the blessing by wearing his brother's clothes and lying. Calvin, following Ambrose, saw believers coming to the Father dressed in Christ, the firstborn brother. The difference is that Christ gives his clothing away. The law was a guardian of an heir, not the inheritance itself. John Bunyan feared he had become Esau, and he found peace when he saw his righteousness was Christ.
Wednesday — Through The Curtain Of His Body. The temple curtain tore from top to bottom. Most modern translations read Mark 7:19 as the narrator’s comment that all foods are clean. Adventist and some Torah-observant readers understand the passage as addressing hand-washing and permitted foods instead. Peter's vision taught him not to call any person unclean. Hebrews says the inheritance takes effect through a death. Scripture calls Christ's body given and slain, and says his bones were not broken. Father Damien lived with the sick until he said “we lepers.” Since Irenaeus, Christians have read the heel struck in Genesis 3:15 as Christ's.
Thursday — Who Are You To Judge? In Romans 14 Paul says nothing is unclean in itself. He then gives the harder task to the people who agree with him. The weak are unsure what is allowed, and a stumbling block is pressure to act against conscience. Luther called the Christian free lord of all and servant of all. Zwingli did not eat the sausages and defended the men who did. Polycarp and Anicetus disagreed about Easter and shared communion.
Friday — I Will Not Let You Go. Jacob held on to God until he was blessed, and walked away limping. Jews still do not eat the sinew of the hip, in memory of his wound. Esau ran to meet him, and Jacob pressed a blessing into his hands. John and Charles Wesley fell on each other's necks. The law of Christ is kept by carrying one another's burdens, as heirs of a Father who gives good gifts.
Where The Traditions Agree, And Where They Differ
What Jewish readers and the Christian traditions share. God gave the food laws, and God's law is holy and good. The stated purpose of Leviticus 11 is holiness. Love your neighbor as yourself still stands, and nearly everyone treats it as the summary of the law. Food is God's good gift, received with thanks. Restraint in eating is a spiritual good. No one should push another person to act against conscience.
What the Christian traditions share. Food and holy days do not earn salvation. Gentiles do not have to become Jews to belong to God, though One Law teachers hold that the Torah still applies to Gentile believers. Jesus ate with people others called unclean. The Old Testament remains Scripture.
Where they differ. Most traditions hold that the food laws no longer bind Christians: Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed, Lutheran, Anabaptist, Methodist, new covenant and dispensational teachers. Seventh-day Adventists hold that the clean and unclean distinction, which Noah already knew, still applies to all believers. One Law teachers hold that the whole Torah does. Messianic Jewish congregations hold that they apply to Jewish believers as a calling, not to Gentiles. The traditions also differ over Mark 7:19, over how to sort the laws of Moses, and over who the weak in Romans 14 were.
What We Chose Not To Say
Several popular claims were checked this week and left out on purpose.
The claim that Jacob means deceiver. Genesis ties his name to the heel. Esau turned it into an insult.
The claim that Christ's body was broken for us, as a quotation. The oldest manuscripts of 1 Corinthians 11:24 read “which is for you,” and John says none of his bones were broken. The bread was broken, and his body was given.
The claim that Israel means prince with God. That comes from older translation, not from the Hebrew verb.
The claim that Simon of Cyrene's carrying uses the same word as Galatians 6:2. It does not, though the picture fits.
The claim that unclean meant unhealthy. That is one theory among several, and the text never says it.
The claim that the church has always linked the heel of Genesis 3:15 to Jacob's heel. No traditional source was found for that, so it was offered as a reflection only.
Further Your Learning
A passage trail. Read these in order.
A guided read. Read Romans 14 with two colors of pen. Mark every instruction to the strong in one color and every instruction to the weak in the other. Count them. Notice who receives more.
Free primary texts. Luther, The Freedom of a Christian (Project Gutenberg). Bunyan, Grace Abounding (Project Gutenberg). Calvin, Institutes, book 3, chapter 19, on Christian liberty (CCEL). Chrysostom, Homilies 25 and 26 on Romans (New Advent). Augustine, City of God, book 16, chapters 37 to 39 (New Advent). Eusebius, Church History, book 5, chapter 24 (New Advent). Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, part 3, chapter 48 (Sefaria). Stevenson, Father Damien: An Open Letter (Project Gutenberg).
Videos.
Carry This Into The Week
I will receive my freedom in Christ with reverence and spend it on love for the people around me.
LEAVING AT THE CROSS
RECEIVING FROM THE CROSS
Sources For The Week
RELATED SCRIPTURES
FOR DEEPER STUDY
Every video in this series was checked through YouTube’s oEmbed record for its current title and channel, and through the embed player with this site as the referring page. The positions of the traditions are drawn from their own documents: the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Westminster Confession, the Augsburg Confession and Formula of Concord, the United Methodist Articles of Religion, the Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Beliefs, the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, and TorahResource. Eleutheria is Strong’s G1657; exousia G1849.
Finished reading? Mark this day read.
BEFORE YOU GO
Anything you want to keep from today?
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