Red - Galatians 5

5:1 -With the slavery analogy set up, Paul makes an incredibly powerful statement, saying, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com references this verse with 2 Nephi 1:13 which says, “I that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep… and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.” These chains and the bondage might be referencing sin and the law of Moses specifically in this case, but I can’t help but think about what keeps me personally from being in the “liberty” of the gospel. What does that even mean, the “liberty” of the gospel? In Abinadi’s case, that gospel gave him peace, knowledge, and confidence. In other cases, the “liberty” is happiness, gratitude, etc. The IM quotes President Howard W. Hunter as teaching, “that when our religious observance is not done ‘mechanically’ but ‘because of our love for the Lord, in complete freedom and faith, we narrow our distance from him and our relationship to him becomes intimate. We are released from the bondage of legal-ism, and we are touched by the spirit and feel a oneness with God.” So in this instance, Paul is saying that we are literally free from the punishment of the law. We are free to do whatever we want with that freedom, but if we use it to follow the commandments, then we can be happy in our freedom. The IM explains, “while today we do not worry about becoming entangled with the law of Moses… In our day, our yoke, our law of Moses, is anything that prevents or impedes our total commitment to Christ and His gospel.” For me, this yoke is anger. Almost every negative aspect of my life is a result of anger. When things are hard at home, I’m angry with my ex-husband for leaving me to take care of everything alone. Whenever the kids are mean, I’m angry at him for not being there to help me. Whenever I’m upset because I work so much, I’m angry at him for putting me in the position to take care of both kids by myself. I’m angry that I have no support, either financially or emotionally. When I’m stressed out because the house is a mess, I’m angry because no one helps out to keep it clean or organized. I feel so disrespected, like when my kids do nothing around the house or make a mess and leave it, or when they are mad at me or mean for no reason, I feel like such a sucker, I feel like the martyr and I hate it. I feel like they are saying, “we know you work two jobs and sell blood but that’s not good enough.” Logically, I know they are just kids and they are just doing what I require of them, but then I feel like a terrible mother. It’s truly a vicious cycle. I’m angry at people who I think are giving me attitude, because I feel disrespected. I feel like they are saying that I’m not good at my job or that I can’t be trust with their care. I guess that hurts so much because I feel like when the times calls for it, I go above and beyond to do what’s best for the patient. I guess it’s not far because I expect everyone to know my history of good patient care when I don’t know theirs. That’s fair, I guess. I could go on and on about why I’m angry, but I guess what it comes down to is that I was hurt, like really, really hurt and it wasn’t my fault. I shattered and it wasn’t my fault, someone else broke me and I can’t fix myself and that’s not fair because I have to deal with the consequences. I can’t give them to anyone else and honestly, I wouldn’t if I could because they are horrific. I’m angry at my family for my childhood and at my ex-husband for all my problems now. I’m angry at anyone who appears to be hurting because I think they haven’t suffered as much as me, and that’s not fair. I’m angry when someone is happy because I feel like I deserve happiness too but never got the chance, and that’s not fair. I didn’t realize just how much of my anger is because of the injustice. I’m really going to have to spend some time working on my anger issues. 5:2-10 - Talking specifically about the yoke of bondage that comes with going back to the law of Moses, Paul speaks to the issue of all days, circumcision. He tells the Galatians that it doesn’t matter if they are circumcised or not, if someone becomes circumcised in order to follow the law of Moses at this point, “Christ is become of no effect unto you.” If they reject the gospel for the law of Moses, then it’s like the atonement was never performed for them because they won’t use it. The focus and intensity the people were focusing on circumcision made it seem like they thought that getting circumcised was what would save them, but Paul says, “faith which worketh by love.” I guess it makes sense, it would be easier to cut off a piece of your penis and feel special, then be able to do whatever you want guilt free, than to modify who you are as a person by following rules that at this point seem oppressive. I can see the appeal. Plus, the law of Moses was so structured, and a lot of people do well with that, the mechanical “obedience.” Because the gospel is so much more abstract, it can be difficult to know if you’re doing it right or sometimes, if it’s even worth it. 5:11-2 - The article paraphrases verse 11 in a humorous way, saying, “If my message was that you should be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses, then I would have to suffer so much persecution. My message is offensive because I preach instead the atonement of Christ.” He’s saying, “it would be so much easier for me if my message was circumcision, but I’m suffering here trying to teach you the truth.” Paul advocates for the excommunication of those who will not give up teaching the law of Moses among them, whether or not he actually wants that, or is just trying to emphasize the danger of their message, I’m not sure. 5:12-17 - Paul tells them that this “liberty” that they are given, is not to be used “for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” I don’t really feel like this flows in the narrative, well maybe it does. Maybe Paul is critiquing those who are leading the people astray, saying that they should use the freedom they found in the gospel to not seek for personal gain, but to love and serve others. This makes sense. Even those who are trying to bring back the law of Moses are commanded to “love thy neighbour as thyself.” Maybe it could be asked, “are these men who teach the law of Moses loving and serving you? Or are they trying to ‘fulfill the lust of the flesh,’ either through power, money, control, sex, etc.?” The flesh and the Spirit work against each other, the flesh works to destroy the Spirit and the Spirit works to perfect the flesh through discipline and self-mastery. 5:18-26 - He sums it up saying, basically, “If you follow the Spirit, you don’t have to worry about keeping the law of Moses.” Then he contrasts the “flesh” and the “Spirit,” which could be a couple of different things. First, he could be advising the people on a way to determine if those teachers are teaching truth. Second, he could be again, comparing the focus of the law of Moses on the “flesh” and the focus of the gospel, which is the “Spirit.” Paul gives a list of the “works of the flesh”: adultery, fornication, (moral) uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.” I guess we can ask ourselves if we are doing any of those things, and if not then we are doing well, and if we are, then we need to change our ways. And also, for those who don’t want to live according to the gospel but want to live the law of Moses, there are laws against all of these things, so if we are guilty of anything on this list, even once, then we cannot be saved by the law of Moses, so we need the gospel regardless. The “fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” There are no laws against any of these things. Paul points out that ridding ourselves of the “works of the flesh” comes by accepting the atonement to help get rid of those parts of us that come naturally. Paul asks them to please live and walk “in the Spirit” and not having negativity against each other.