Commentaries:
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Galatians 5:13-15
If we are self-serving and destructive, we will end up tearing each other apart, but if we serve one another in love, we will build the church. After He redeemed us, God gave us great freedom of mind, action, and choice. He has freed us from the curse of the law—the death penalty. He has freed us from the fear of death, from enslavement to sin, and so on.
Then He says, once we are freed, we need to use this freedom to serve. This is where the idea of being a slave of righteousness enters the picture. He severed our relationship from our former master (sin, Satan, the world), freed us, and then took us into slavery to Himself and to serving our brethren in righteousness.
Of course, as Paul said here, this fulfills the intent of God's law: love, outgoing concern, the way of give.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
It Takes a ChurchRelated Topics: Love | Love as Essence of God's Law | Love as the Way of Outgoing Concern | Love for Brethren | Self Seeking | Self Serving | Slave of Righteousness | Slave of Sin | Slave of Unrighteousness | Slavery | Slavery to Satan | Slavery to Sin | Way of Get | Way of Give
Galatians 5:13
Romans 8:9 says that we, as Christians, are not in union with the flesh but with the Spirit. Paul means us to understand that we exercise a power here—a control. Thus, he says here, "Make the right choice! Don't use your liberty, your power, to satisfy your flesh, but by love serve one another."
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Nine)Related Topics: Love as the Way of Outgoing Concern | Love for Brethren | Loving One Another | Loving Service | Serving Others | Unity in the Spirit
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What Does Galatians 5:13 Mean?
Galatians 5:13 calls believers to liberty, urging them not to use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but to serve one another through love. God has granted great freedom of mind, action, and choice, releasing from the curse of the law, fear of death, and enslavement to sin. This liberty must be used to serve, becoming slaves to righteousness and to God, fulfilling the law's intent of love and outgoing concern. Believers are in union with the Spirit, not the flesh, and must exercise control to make the right choice, using liberty not for self-serving desires but for building the church through loving service.