Pauls Letter to the Galatians - Essay Example

Paul’s letter to the Galatians, particularly in chapter five, talks about having freedom in Christ and gaining life through the Holy Spirit. It also delves into the meaning of freedom from slavery or bondage against the law and against sin. The Apostle Paul, in this chapter, is encouraging the church members in Galatia not to willingly renounce, or give up, the freedom that they can enjoy which has been won by Christ already when he died on the cross.
However, this is what was happening to the people in Galatia. They were in danger of going back to the bondage that had, on one occasion, dominated and oppressed them. Paul wrote tough strong words to caution and warn the people not to let themselves return to bondage because the power that seizes a person in slavery is not only very devious and very clever, it is also very tempting and very great. This power can even imitate and pretend to be an angel of the light. False teachers and false disciples were misleading the Galatians. They wanted them to go back to bondage, to slavery. They were attempting to achieve this by indicating that, "the way of bondage is the way to righteousness."
Paul goes in a fight against these fake "ministers of righteousness" through the heavenly inspired and stirring words of the Holy Spirit given to him. Paul declares that these false teachers and men who claim to be God’s disciples had "perverted the gospel of Christ."
The Galatians indeed were very lucky and fortunate to have Paul as their supporter as he was very passionate about bringing the people back to God and truly cared for their souls. Without a doubt, numerous hearts went back and returned to the confidence and trust in Christ, guaranteeing their liberty from bondage.
As Paul, in the beginning, mentions circumcision, the act of being "circumcised" which was a religious Jewish rite, during that time was a symbol of subjecting oneself to the Jewish law. This law included and incorporated both the law the Mosaic Law, the law of circumcision, the Ten Commandments, and a lot of other further regulations and rules added by the Jewish authoritative body.
Subjecting one’s self to this kind of "law" is exactly what the deceitful "ministers of righteousness" were trying to talk the Galatians into. The instruction that all of the Gentiles were required to be circumcised so as to gain the recognition, approval, or acceptance in the eyes of the Lord greatly infuriated Paul to the point that he ruthlessly showed aggression to his enemies. His opinion or views about these false teachers are found in Galatians 5:12, which says, “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”
In addition, Paul also underlines and emphasizes the message that the Galatians had already been set free in the first place. The hope is having faith and trust that their righteousness comes through their complete faith in the Lord. This faith is believing that Jesus already paid the price for everyone’s sins and once one has faith, they are now free from the prison they were once in bondage to, trusting that Jesus has already given himself up for your freedom.
This freedom in Christianity is the freedom to help one another in love (v. 13). The slavery of love is very different from slavery under the law. This kind of slavery is compared to two kinds of slavery. First, serving one another with compassion and love is quite the opposite of indulging in wicked nature. Read More