Galatians 5: Called to Be Free in Christ

Introduction

On a rainy Sunday in Madrid, Rubén Gramaje invites the church to look up at the sky. The sky is cloudy, he says, but believers lift their eyes to hear the voice of God. And today that voice comes through calls. The first is written in Galatians 5:1: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

The message is part of a series on the letter to the Galatians, guided by Galatians 4:19: "until Christ is formed in you." Chapter 1 spoke of seeking God's approval rather than people's. Chapter 2 gave the central sentence: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Chapter 3 taught justification by faith and the gift of the Spirit. Chapter 4 called for Christ to take shape in our lives. Chapter 5, covered here in a panoramic way, goes to the heart of freedom, which is why, the pastor reminds us, this letter is called the "great charter" of freedom.

One question runs through the whole message: if the flesh and the Spirit had an arm wrestle in your life, who would win?

Outline of the Message

1. The Arm Wrestle Between the Flesh and the Spirit

The pastor recalls arm wrestling, elbows on the table, a game to see who wins. Today the expression is also used for football teams or political parties. He admits with a smile that he was "very bad" at it, and still is.
Galatians 5 sets the works of the flesh face to face with the fruit of the Spirit. The question is personal: are we truly free? Do we enjoy the freedom Christ gives us, or are we still under slavery, like the Galatians?
Verse 13 is the clearest: "For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don't use your freedom as an occasion for the flesh, but through love be servants to one another."
The text repeats the phrase "one another" (in Greek allêlous): serve one another (verse 13), do not bite and devour one another (verse 15), do not provoke or envy one another (verse 26). The message concerns everyone's life, but it applies first to the church.
Three calls follow, three challenges that are possible: be free in Christ by resisting religiosity, serve in love by moving beyond immature competition, and walk by the Spirit to overcome the flesh.

2. Free in Christ: Resisting Empty Religiosity

The church in Galatia, founded by Paul, was being infiltrated by Judaizers and their insistence on circumcision. In verse 3, Paul warns that anyone who is circumcised is obligated to keep the whole law. Justification by faith must not be undone.
Paul tells almost every church to stand firm: firm in the faith, firm in one spirit, firm in the Lord. Christian firmness, the pastor explains, means moving forward in the Lord despite adversity, leaning on Christ.
In verse 4, Paul says, "You are alienated from Christ." The word suggests something that has been detached and left without strength. "It is like running and noticing that someone's shoelaces are untied: you can fall." When the Galatians relied on the law, they lowered the price of grace. Today, empty religiosity and "doing for the sake of doing" also devalue the Lord's grace.
In verse 7, Paul writes: "You were running well. Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?" Someone got in the way. In Matthew, Jesus denounces in the same way the Pharisees who block the road and hinder authentic discipleship.
Being free does not mean "doing whatever we feel like." If you hold so tightly to the law, remember how Jesus summed it up: love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself, the second commandment that Paul takes up in verse 14.

3. Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus, the One Who Breaks Chains

People sometimes say, "I will never look back." Believers do look back, but to remember that it was Christ who forgave them and that the Lord's grace is enough.
The secret to moving forward with firmness is to fix your eyes on Jesus, as Hebrews 12 says: let us run with perseverance the race set before us, looking to Jesus. It must be done "in a radical way, in a vital way."
"It is Christ who breaks the chains. Why would we want to go back to the past of slavery, to traditions, to the old self, to our former way of thinking?"
These broken chains were not made to be put on others. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for this in Matthew 23: they tie heavy burdens on people's shoulders and will not lift a finger to move them.
The pastor remembers the iron chains he used to lock up his old motorcycle: "I assure you, iron chains are very heavy." The Lord broke those chains, not so that you could pick them up again and say, "Now I will tie up others."

4. Serving in Love: Moving Beyond Competition

The nations of this world seek to dominate one another. Jesus says: "It shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant" (Matthew 20:26). Galatians 3 already showed it: we are now all equal in Christ.
"Serving always adds." But Paul is precise: serve one another in love. "If you serve the Lord, you add. If you serve the Lord with love, you multiply."
Love makes the difference. Paul writes to the Corinthians that without love, gifts are only noise (1 Corinthians 13). The fruit of the Spirit is first of all love, and love shows itself in kindness, in gentleness in the way we treat others, in goodness.
Jesus said it: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).

5. Avoiding the Bites That Consume the Community

Paul speaks as if of animals that bite and devour one another until they destroy themselves (verse 15). "It is a powerful warning."
The works of the flesh are "obvious" (verses 19 to 21): sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, quarrels, jealousy, outbursts of anger, divisions, envy, drunkenness and things like these. Paul warns that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Envy, also mentioned at the end of the chapter, is a hidden sin: "like lice eggs in the hair, you cannot see them, but they are there."
In wildlife documentaries, when zebras or wildebeest cross the river, a predator sometimes catches one. But often some die trampled by their own kind. The pastor also recalls the Halloween festivities of 2022 in South Korea, after the pandemic, when nearly 160 people died trampled by the crowd. "Human beings seem to be the only species that tramples itself and ends up self-destructing."
Hence the call: avoid the bites that consume faith, which is also communal, and serve the Lord in love.

6. Walking by the Spirit: Sowing and Watering the Fruit

The third call, "walk by the Spirit, and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh" (verse 16), is the most insistent: the word "spirit" (pneuma) appears seven times in just a few verses.
The fruit of the Spirit does not come automatically. You have to sow the seed, water it constantly, and one day you enjoy it. This single fruit, love, comes in eight forms, "with eight family names" (verse 22).
Growing in the Spirit means giving God "a leading role in your decisions." This connects with faithfulness (in Greek pistis): not only taking one step of faith, but taking a step, then more steps, and holding on. Obeying the Lord once or from time to time is not enough: it is about being consistent.
Paul uses many images in this chapter (the pastor also mentions the leaven), but the strongest is in verse 24: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts." This is what marks those who belong to Christ. "If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit" (verse 25): living consistent lives.

7. An Unequal Fight, a Possible Victory

The pastor mentions the legend attributed to the Cherokees: two wolves, one white and one black, fight inside us, and the one you feed the most wins. "What the Bible tells us about spiritual warfare is not exactly that." The fight is very unequal.
In Ephesians 6, Paul asks us to stand firm and put on the full armor of God, because we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities and powers, which Paul lists like an organized army. When David faces the giant, the struggle is unequal too.
The Bible describes the believer's enemies: the tempter, who tempted Jesus (Matthew 4) and will tempt you too; the world, of which the apostle John speaks, with the lust of the eyes and the pride of life; and the flesh, with its long list. To these were added, among the Galatians, agitators inside the community itself.
Deuteronomy 7 shows Israel facing seven nations "greater and mightier" than itself. God did not choose Israel because it was the largest, but because he loved it and brought it out of Egypt with a mighty hand (verses 7 and 8). There are bigger nations, but the Lord's hand is great and mighty.
Sometimes we go out like David, with a small stone, but in the name of the Lord. In verse 20, the Lord even promises to send the hornets against the enemies. The pastor smiles as he thinks of a song by Juan Luis Guerra: "I send the wasp after him."
"You can gain the victory if you put Christ in your heart, if you decide to live and walk by the Spirit, if you decide to sow the fruits of the Spirit and water them every day." The promise for the week is Deuteronomy 7:21: "You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is among you, a great and awesome God."
Finally, what should you do to be truly free? Trust the Lord, humble yourself before God, surrender completely by giving up what you think is your right, with your eyes fixed on the reward, like Moses (Hebrews 11), who had that fruit of the Spirit called gentleness. And do not let yourself be carried away by today's agitators, and above all by the impulses of the flesh.

Key Takeaways

Christ set us free so that we would be free: going back to legalism or empty religiosity devalues his grace.
Freedom is not an excuse for the flesh, and the chains Christ broke are not made to be put on others.
Serving adds, serving in love multiplies: love is the mark of Jesus' disciples.
The fruit of the Spirit is sown and watered every day, with constant faithfulness in obedience.
The fight against the flesh, the world and the tempter is unequal, but the Lord is among you: the victory comes from him.

Personal Application

If the flesh and the Spirit had an arm wrestle in your life today, who would win?
Is there a form of religiosity, of "doing for the sake of doing," that you lean on instead of grace?
Are you putting on other people's shoulders chains or burdens that Christ has freed you from?
In your service to the church, do you only add, or do you multiply through love and kindness?
Which fruit of the Spirit do you need to sow and water this week, and which decision do you want to place in the Lord's hands?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the three calls of Galatians 5?

For Rubén Gramaje, Galatians 5 contains three calls addressed to the church: be free in Christ by resisting empty religiosity, serve in love by moving beyond immature competition, and walk by the Spirit to overcome the flesh. These are challenges, but they are possible because the Spirit lives in every believer.

Does freedom in Christ mean doing whatever you want?

No. Galatians 5:13 asks us not to use freedom as an occasion for the flesh. The preacher reminds us that the law is summed up in this commandment: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Christ broke our chains, and those chains are not made to be put back on others.

Why is the fight between the flesh and the Spirit unequal?

Believers face the flesh, the world and the tempter, just as Israel faced seven nations greater and mightier than itself (Deuteronomy 7). Rubén Gramaje sets aside the legend of the two wolves: victory does not depend on our own strength, it comes from the Lord who is among us, when we walk by the Spirit.