Galatians 5:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Did you free yourselves, that you again hasten under the former dominion? He Himself, Christ, redeemed you. Did another pay the ransom for you? Do you see how many means the Apostle uses to turn them away from the Jewish error? First, he shows that it is utterly foolish for those who became free from being slaves to wish to become slaves again after being free. Second, he makes them understand that, by despising the Liberator and loving the enslaver, they prove cruel and ungrateful toward their Benefactor. Third, he teaches that this is now impossible, since the Law lost its dominion after another redeemed us all from it once for all. By the word stand he indicates their inconstancy and wavering. And do not be held again under the yoke of bondage.

"Stand therefore in the freedom with which Christ has made us free." You did not free yourselves, he says, but He who gave the ransom for you. How then do you subject yourselves to the dominion of the law, against the purpose of Christ who freed you? By saying "stand," he shows that they were wavering. "And do not be entangled again with a yoke of slavery." By the word "yoke" he indicates the heaviness of slavery under the law. By the word "again" he exposes their insensibility, since, though they knew the weight of slavery by experience, they again enter it willingly.

His addition, do not be subject again, does not mean that the Galatians had formerly kept the Law. It means that, by wishing to observe times, to be circumcised in the flesh, and to offer bodily sacrifices, they were in some way returning to those services which they had previously performed as idolaters. Stand, and do not wish to be again under the yoke of bondage. This shows that one who is under the yoke of bondage does not stand. It also shows that one endowed by Christ with freedom remains under the yoke as long as he has the spirit of slavery in fear and follows the rudiments of the Law. His word stand urges us toward firm and constant faith in Christ, so that the Churches of Galatia may stand with firm foot in the Savior.

The Apostle calls life outside the law "freedom," and life under the law "the yoke of bondage." Thus also the divine Peter said in Acts: "Why do you test God by placing a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" (Acts 15:10).

Stand in that freedom which is our free mother, that is, the free faith. For true freedom consists precisely in keeping faith in God, believing in God, and believing all His promises. Therefore, according to faith, Christ has restored us to freedom and has freed us by the freedom of faith. Paul had to add an exhortation that they should steadfastly follow what they had received from him, lest they again be in bondage to the Law. Stand, Paul says. But this is impossible for one who is under a yoke. He always bends a neck submissive to slavery, and therefore he does not stand.

By the yoke of bondage the Apostle plainly means life under the law. Although the Galatians had not been under this yoke, but only under the yoke of paganism, the Apostle still urges them not to enter again into the yoke of bondage. In this way he likens service to the letter of the law to service of soulless idols.

If Christ had granted us complete freedom in every respect, and had freed us from every law whatever, what would prevent us from pleasing our flesh? If we must not please the flesh, then we are not freed from every law whatever. Therefore not everything is permitted to us. By the freedom of which the Apostle speaks, one must understand only freedom from the Mosaic Law. In Christianity another law has taken the place of this Law: the law of Christian faith and life. After saying that freedom from the Mosaic Law must not become an occasion for pleasing the flesh, the Apostle then explains the opposite.

"We, brethren, are children of the promise, as Isaac was." Thus the holy Apostle concludes his exhortations on the great glory of freedom from the law. "We are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Stand therefore in the freedom with which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of slavery." That is, if you wish to be children of the Jerusalem above, free and heirs of God, then cast off the law (Bishop Theophan).

In contrast to the yoke of slavery, by which the time under the Law is depicted, the Apostle calls Christianity freedom. This freedom consists first of all in freedom from sin, and then in freedom from the Law given because of transgressions. According to St. John Chrysostom, here the Apostle first shows that it is utter madness for those who became free from being slaves to become slaves again. Second, he makes clear that, by despising the Liberator and loving the enslaver, they prove cruel and ungrateful toward their Benefactor. Third, he teaches that it is impossible to pass again under the despotism of the Law. For the Law has restrained its dominion, since another has redeemed us all from it once for all. By the word stand he rebukes their inconstancy and wavering. By saying again, he exposes their great folly.

The thought of the preceding verse continues, with new considerations that compel one to prize freedom. Freedom is dear to all. It is enough to point out that this or that takes freedom away, in order to turn one from it. Here, moreover, freedom is presented as a lofty gift of God. Not to value it would be impious, and not merely disadvantageous, offensive, and degrading to oneself. Christ the Lord grants freedom from subjection to the Law. For the whole order under the Law was directed, as to its final goal, toward Christ the Savior. When the Lord Jesus Christ came, the course of life under the Law had to end. Those who believe in Christ Jesus the Lord do not look backward beyond Christ. By faith they concentrate the eye of the mind on Him.