No. 35. >> If I may move our discussion into Chapter 5, I would like to ask what Paul means when he says: In the realm of freedom, Christ has set us free. What is that freedom Paul is speaking about? >>DR. ARTHUR A. JUST, JR.: That is an excellent question, David. Because what it does is it shows us that the first verse of Chapter 5 is a hinge. It is a hinge that really in a sense reaches back into the argument of Chapters 3 and 4 and then moves us forward into Chapter 5. And in answering what that freedom is that we have in Christ Jesus, we can introduce the themes of Chapter 5. Now, Chapter 5 and 6, are a totally different section to Galatians. And we're going to see that very clearly. And what we're going to see as this pivot between the two sections -- and I'm going to give you the technical language here. Because you're going to read these in the commentaries so you might as well know what they are. The previous section is called the exegetical argument. The exegetical section. And the section, Chapters 5 and 6, is sometimes called the paranetic section. Now, that sounds like a word that you may not have heard before. But what it means is that the time in which Paul now exhorts the disciples of Galatians, his disciples, the hortatory section -- these are mostly imperative verbs. Although there are many future verbs. And they really don't begin until Verse 13. But this is where he's talking about the future. He's exhorting them to a particular way of life. It's a completely different section. Now, the reason why Chapter 5 Verse 1 is such a wonderful pivot is because it puts on the table had this concept of freedom. Now, we've seen it. We've certainly seen the concept of slavery. And freedom is the opposite of that. And we sometimes translate this: For freedom Christ has set you free. But I want to translate it this way: In the realm of freedom -- that's what your question had, too. And I think that's an excellent way of translating it. In the realm of freedom. Freedom is a realm. It's a condition. It's a space. It's like grace. Where Christ is present, there is freedom. Freedom is this world in which we live in. That has been freed and made new in Christ. Freedom is the Gospel as it's lived out in concrete ways in congregations that are in Christ. Freedom is the way in which God has made us in baptism. And when we gather together as his body, the church, we live in this state of freedom. Now, what is it freedom from? We've seen that in the exegetical section. This is why it's a pivot. It's freedom from the law. We are no longer enslaved to these elemental powers. These elemental spirits. These fundamental powers like sin and death and law and flesh. This is what we have been freed from in Christ. And this is the realm. It's like a kingdom. We are delivered from slavery. This is the space created by God who in that space is setting us free by making right what has gone wrong. That's justification. In other words, you could say freedom is the realm in which justification is happening. Now, Paul goes on here in this verse. He says more than simply for freedom Christ has set us free. He says -- and here is an imperative -- stand firm therefore and do not again submit yourselves to the yoke of slavery. Now, this is a command. Stand firm. This is the language of Jesus. You know, when you see the Son of Man coming, don't run, but stand firm. Lift up your heads and look. Because your salvation is drawing near. When you live in this realm of freedom, stand there. Stand firm. Do not budge. And I think he tells you why. Because you are not to submit. And that sense of yoke comes from the Gospel. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. The yoke of slavery, however, is not easy. That's what the Pharisees are accused by Jesus of putting on people. That's what these opponents of Paul have done. They have put the yoke of the law on them. And this has submitted them into a state of slavery. Freedom or slavery. Those are the choices. And they are not a choice that we can make. Freedom is something that we can't choose. God chooses it for us. Slavery we can choose. And the Galatians who were pagans lived in the slavery of unbelief. In the slavery of sin. Do they now want to exchange that for a slavery of circumcision, a slavery of living under the law, of having to make oneself right with God by their works? If you have been set free by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, why don't you want to live in that freedom, in that space where God is continually setting you free? And so what is going to happen now in the next two chapters is Paul is going to describe daily life looks like in a world that has been set free through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.