Galatians chapter 5

vs 10

There is a penalty for being a teacher if you lead people into confusion or away from the truth. James has said that teachers will be judged more strictly, and this is why.

God doesn't play games with people's salvation. If you confuse someone when they're trying to work out their salvation, then you're going to be in deep doodoo.

vs 11

Remember that Roman persecution of the church didn't start in earnest until Nero goes a little nuts. Before then, the Roman authorities were basically used by the Jews to persecute Christians. So Paul is talking about Jewish persecution here. You can understand, if not condone, the actions of Peter that Paul is rebuking - I mean, when someone is going to beat the snot out of you and possibly try to stone you to death, it becomes a lot easier to rationalise things.

Paul here is also explicitly stating, yet again, that circumcision and crucifixion do not go together. You either trust one or the other.

vs 12

Ouch, Paul. That's a nasty thing to say. Now, do we take that as a Scriptural injunction that allows us to call false teachers names and wish mutilation on them? Or do we take this as a Scripture which shows truthfully that Paul was not super-human?

vs 13

Yes, we are free. But being free doesn't mean being irresponsible. God is still God, and still worthy of worship and still worthy of surrendering your life to. It's just that we don't expect to be saved by doing it anymore. If anything, our motives should be purer. So we should use that freedom to serve one another in love.

vs 14

Well, we know that the law is summed up in two commands, but Paul is saying that our freedom does not free us from the responsibility to our 'neighbours'. It frees us from following a specific form in helping them. It frees us to help them more than required.

vs 15

This is a very descriptive verse, using a metaphor which will probably never go stale. The internal division of the Galatian churches must have been pretty bad, but this sort of thing goes on all the time and in every church. The sniping, the gossiping, the arguments, the fight. And yet we know that a house divided against itself does not stand. Conflict resolution is not just a good idea. It is a necessity. And it's not just a necessity, it is a Scriptural rule. So many parts of Scripture, especially in the NT, are focussed on building or keeping relationships. Lord help me to put relationships ahead of being right or feeling good.

vs 16

Now that there's no law to follow (which didn't really help in restraining either desire or indulgence), we must have all the more faith in the Spirit to guide us away from sinful desire. That is one of the marks of a Spirit-filled life.

vs 17

Does this sound familiar? Romans sort of familiar? The war of the sinful nature and the Spirit which battles on in all of us can be confusing. Paul doesn't develop it here nearly as much as he does in Romans, but sufficed to say that we all suffer that battle, that conflict. Note that the conflict does not stop you from knowing what you want (except for the confusion), it stops you from doing what you want. Because, of course, what you really want is to live by the Spirit. Right?

vs 18

But! Even if you are suffering from a conflict and a confusion and a difficulty in doing what you know you should, if the Spirit is leading you, then you are not bound by the Law. And that's good, because if Paul were king, it means you get to keep your testicles. But it's also good because it means that you are given freedom in Christ.