Galatians 5:1
The yoke of bondage is an approach to justification and salvation, or righteousness, that relies on a syncretism of Jewish ritualistic legalism and pagan practices (usually rites of purification), while at the same time avoiding the sacrifice of Christ. This means that what we believe and who we believe in will determine whether we will be justified. Why is this approach a yoke of bondage? It cannot free a person from the penalty of sin or from Satan. It does not provide forgiveness. It will not put one into a position to receive God's Holy Spirit.
Paul is not writing to do away with the law! He is writing to clarify lawkeeping's relationship to justification and what a person believes through justification. If Paul were writing to do away with law, much of what he wrote later on in chapter 5 would not be there.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Eight)
The yoke of bondage is an approach to justification that relies on a syncretism of Jewish ritualistic legalism and pagan purification rites, while avoiding Christ's sacrifice. It cannot free a person from sin's penalty or from Satan, provides no forgiveness, and cannot position one to receive God's Holy Spirit. Paul does not write to abolish the law, but to clarify lawkeeping's relationship to justification; otherwise much of chapter 5 would not exist. In contrast, Christ's spiritual yoke, His Holy Spirit, helps control carnal minds and hearts, bringing them into alignment with His meek and lowly heart, producing the fruit of the Spirit. Christ liberated His people not into another bondage, but into freedom from their enemies: sin, Satan, and death.