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

The gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of His death, burial, and resurrection, has the power to free all people from their sins (Romans 1:16). The guilt and anxiety of sin is no more when a person accepts the message of the gospel, turns from sin and towards God, confesses Jesus as Lord, and is baptized for the remission of sins. It truly is a beautiful picture of freedom that the Christian has! But the church at Galatia had a problem, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6, 7).

The church that was once faithful was slipping away into apostacy, and Paul urges them to “stand fast” in the freedom that Christ gave them. In the ancient world, freedom was a concept that inflamed and emboldened the people. Civilizations were ready to do battle for their freedom, they would rather die than be in bondage to any foreign power. The freedom Paul is preaching is that freedom that can only be known through the power of Christ and the revelation by the Spirit. The one who attains this freedom enters by faith into glorious and yet unseen heavenly realms. Jesus has bestowed upon us the benefit of being children of God. Who would rather choose slavery in sin then freedom in Christ? Yet, many people do.

We need to stand firm in the liberty of Christ and not return to that yoke of bondage under sin. The Greek word for yoke is the literal concept of a bar or a plank. It often denotes the yoke of beasts of burden. In the figurative sense, a yoke is used to symbolize forced submission to authority. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam placed the people under a yoke, “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you” (1 Kings 12:4). 

The yoke Paul was referencing was the Old Law, as seen in the allegory of Sarah and Hagar in the previous chapter, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman” (Galatians 4:21-31). 

The idea of being under a yoke, especially the yoke of sin, has a negative connotation. But there is a certain yoke that we should willingly put ourselves under, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

By: Justin Odom