Day 273 – Galatians: Superiority and freedom of the Gospel

“Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?” Galatians 4:8-9 NLT

Read Galatians 3:1 to Galatians 6:18

The epistle to the Galatians is our charter of Christian freedom. We are neither under the jurisdiction of Jewish laws and traditions nor under the authority of Jerusalem. Faith in Christ Jesus brings true freedom from sin and from the futile attempt to be right with God by trying to keep the law. We are free in Christ, and yet freedom is a privilege given through grace. This does not mean we are free to disobey or practice immorality, but free to serve the risen Christ unbound by the wages of sin.

The superiority of our freedom through the gospel is highlighted by the Holy Spirit and through the fruit produced by His work in our lives. Our default, sinful desires are naturally destructive, self-centred, oppressive and possessive, decadent, deadly, and evil. The fruits are good, productive, self-giving, liberating, uplifting, life-giving, and Holy. All superior products contrast the sin of this world and the bondage it had over us. The fruit of the Spirit, as Paul explains in Galatians, is life-giving and freeing. A result of the Tree of Life.

You are a fruit bearer. The question is, what fruit are you bearing?

Prayer: Father, thank You for the superiority of the Gospel and that only through the work of the Holy Spirit we can truly live and love freely. May our fruit be pleasing to You, and may others be encouraged by them to look for You in this dark world. Amen.