The Freedom of God’s Grace

Aren’t we as Christians free in the Spirit? Don’t we have liberty to act according to our own faith, as long as our actions are done in love? Isn’t love the only law in the sight of God? Doesn’t the grace of God mean that we can do certain things that were forbidden under the Mosaic law? Specifically, do we as believers have sexual freedom under New Testament grace?

These are vital questions and relevant for every Family member, whether past or current. It’s essential to get the answers straight.

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.  

Christ died to set us free. In Galatians chapter five we read about true freedom, what it is and what it is not.

Gal 5:13-25

13        For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

14        For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

15        But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

16        I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17        For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

18        But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19        Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

20        idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,

21        envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22        But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23        gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

24        And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25        If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Freedom

In vs.13 we read a synopsis of the principles involved in appropriating Christian freedom:

Firstly, it is God Who calls us to freedom. He frees us from slavery to our sin, He frees us from the inevitable consequences of sin, He frees us from the endless struggle of trying to earn our salvation through good works. He frees us from the necessity of measuring our every action against a list of guidelines to boost our own righteousness. He frees us from the control that our carnal lusts try to exert on us. He frees us from the Law.

Secondly, we read a caution: do not misuse God’s grace! The freedom of the grace of God must not be used to satisfy our own desires, whether they be a hunger for food, drink, sex, retaliation, the praise of man, the appearance of ‘spirituality’, finances and so on. We must not look for loopholes in the Bible that would permit us to act selfishly or to give prominence to any fleshly desire. There are no loopholes. We should not use the doctrine of God’s grace as a lever to get our own way. Likewise, we should not pressure others into doing what we want or look for opportunities for the flesh!

Thirdly, we are given the heart of God’s grace, the purpose and the method by which we are to apply the grace of God: serve one another in love. The freedom of the spirit has been given to us that we may be loving servants one of another. Note that there is nothing sexual implied in ‘love’ in this verse. If there are any sexual connotations in this verse, they are in the phrase ‘opportunity for the flesh’ not ‘through love serve one another’.

Verse 14 is a very popular justification for the sexual aspects of the Law of Love in the Family. After all, if all the law is fulfilled in love, then surely we don’t have to worry about the law any more, as long as we act in love? Doesn’t this legitimise sexual sharing within a home as long as we are kind and loving to everyone involved?

The first problem with this interpretation is that we magnify vs.14 but treat vs. 13 as though it applied to a different situation. We freely interpret ‘love’ to include ‘loving sex’, then skip down to vs. 22, “the fruit of the Spirit is love”, but conveniently ignore all the verses in between, which are in the same passage, written at the same time, to the same people, on the same topic.

The second problem here is the word ‘fulfilled’. ‘Fulfilled’ does not mean ‘destroyed by’ or ‘superseded by’. Jesus did not come to destroy the law, He came as a fulfilment, a manifestation. The purpose of the law was to bring it us to Christ, but Jesus Himself had some strong words for those who would try to say that the ten commandments no longer apply:

Matt 5:17-20

17        “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

18        “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

19        “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20        “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our only hope of salvation is Jesus in us, that when God looks at us, He sees Jesus, not us. Jesus lived by God’s commandments, He quoted the ten commandments and stated that they would endure as God’s will until the end of the world. There is no loophole in the word ‘fulfil’.

Abuse of freedom

In Galatians 5:15 we come to a strong warning. Those who abuse the freedom of the Spirit will destroy us! They are like cannibals, devouring each other for their own benefit. Paul well understood the danger of people abusing the grace of God. This passage is written to define and clarify what the law of love is, and in no way curtails any God-given freedom.

So, in Gal.5:16 there’s a simple guideline: walk in the Spirit, and we won’t be in the flesh. The flesh is flesh and the Spirit is Spirit. Flesh and Spirit are opposites, they act in opposite directions (Gal.5:17), they bear opposite fruit. Walking in the Spirit produces Christians who serve one another in love. Walking in the flesh produces cannibals! If we are in the flesh we cannot be in the Spirit. It’s impossible. But if we are in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit itself will protect us from getting in the flesh.

Now, if we are led by the Holy Spirit of God, we are not under the law, we do not have to fret over our obedience to every jot and tittle of the law, or even every sub-clause of the Charter. That’s Gal.5:18.

So where do we draw the line? Which laws are the jots and tittles, and which are the always-to-be-obeyed commandments? Someone asked Paul that very same question, so the next few verses give some easy-to-comprehend signs to look for, to tell if what we are doing is flesh or Spirit, serving others in love or indulging in our own sinful lusts. Here are two lists, one defining the works or fruits of the flesh, and the other defining those of the Spirit. The first list covers the flesh  (Gal.5:19-21), and Paul says that it should be obvious! (NKJ: evident, KJV: manifest, NIV: obvious).

The flesh

1. Adultery 
2. Fornication

Now don’t mess around with the definitions of these words. Adultery is defined as “wilful sexual intercourse with someone other than one’s husband or wife.” (Nelson’s Bible Dictionary) The Macquarie Dictionary defines it as “voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and anyone other than the lawful spouse”. It’s extra-marital sex. Fornication is “sexual relationships outside the bonds of marriage. The technical distinction between fornication and adultery is that adultery involves married persons while fornication involves those who are unmarried. But the New Testament often uses the term in a general sense for any unchastity.” (Nelson) “Voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons” (Macquarie) Premarital or extra-marital sexual relations, and yes it includes sexual touching etc, even if we don’t go all the way.

3. Uncleanness.
4. Lewdness (KJV: lasciviousness, NIV: debauchery)
5. Idolatry
6. Sorcery
7. Hatred
8. Contentions
9. Jealousies
10. Outbursts of wrath
11. Selfish ambitions
12. Dissensions (KJV: seditions)
13. Heresies
14. Envy
15. Murder
16. Drunkenness
17. Revelries (NIV: orgies, TLB: wild parties)

In verse 21, Paul emphasises that these are not new sins (“I told you before”) and that they carry with them a terrifying consequence: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because if we do these things we are walking in the flesh. We can only walk to heaven in the Spirit. Walk in the flesh and we’re going the other way!

We cannot be selective about the Word of God. If we take verse 14 (all the law is fulfilled in love) and apply it to ourself, we must also take verse 13 (not as opportunity for the flesh) and verse 19 (extra-marital sex is a work of the flesh).

By the same token, we cannot condemn murder, idolatry or hatred without also condemning extra-marital sex, which is included in the same list.

We cannot claim that verse 14 proves that adultery no longer exists for a Christian when verse 19 clearly proves it does.

The Spirit

Paul now lists the fruit of the Spirit, the works that the Holy Spirit will perform through us:

1.      Love (sexual love? No, verse 19 excluded that already)

2.      Joy

3.      Peace

4.      Longsuffering

5.      Kindness

6.      Goodness

7.      Faithfulness

8.      Gentleness

9.      Self-control (yes, the ability to control our sexual lusts is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we cannot control ourself we do not have the Holy Spirit.)

Verse 24 reiterates that our fleshly desires and lusts do not have control over us. We control them with the Holy Spirit. Verse 25: If you want to be spiritual, then walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh.

Now here’s an interesting point. There is nothing in the above passage that indicates, or even hints that adultery or fornication are no longer sins if they are done with the consent of all involved. They are sins regardless of the willingness of everyone involved; regardless of whether our leaders, parents, or rulebooks say it’s OK; regardless if there’s no one else involved but ourself and our boy/girlfriend; and regardless of whether we personally ‘have the faith for it’. This is important. We may think it’s OK to have extra-marital sex, we may want it, we may excuse it as a ‘human need’, we may convince ourself it’s OK, everyone involved may be in agreement, the Charter may say it’s allowed, but the passage we just read in Galatians says it is sin, it is a work of the flesh and it heads us in the opposite direction from the kingdom of heaven.

Galatians chapter 5 proclaims the wonderful liberty we have from the Law, the exciting freedom we have in the Spirit to walk in love and service to each other. It also warns of the dangers of walking in the flesh, and gives a number of specific sins that indicate whether someone is walking in the flesh. The first two items on that list specifically preclude believers from using the grace of God to justify any extra-marital sexual relations. This passage is very clear. There is no justification whatsoever for saying that ‘adultery no longer exists for believers’, or that loving consensual adult sex is permissible under the Law of Love.

© 2006 Make Straight Paths

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