Since it is for freedom that Christ has set us free, Paul exhorts the Galatians to stand firm in the face of those who would seek to re-enslave them to the basic principles of the world. For Paul the choice is clear. Either we place our trust in the cross of Jesus Christ–though it be a stumbling block to the Jew and foolishness to the Greek–or else we fall prey to the Judaizers who would abolish the offence of the cross in order to preach a false gospel of human merit, but which is a message that tickles ears and pleases audiences.

Beginning in Galatians 5:1, our focus moves to the so-called practical section of the epistle. As we have seen, Paul begins his discussion of the Christian life with a remarkable assertion—the very purpose of the death of Christ was to set believers free from the elementary principles of the world. Thus our liberty in Christ is the basis for the Christian life because, as Christians, we have clean consciences before God since our sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ. Since we are in Christ we are not bound by the Law as a means of earning a right standing with God. Therefore, we are free now to obey the Law of God since we are no longer slaves to sin. As Christians, we are not bound by the so-called “things indifferent,” that is, those things which are not expressly prohibited in Holy Scripture, summed up in the prohibitions, “do not taste,” “do not handle,” “do not touch” (cf. Colossians 2:20-23) Therefore, all those who have a right standing before God through faith in Christ are also free from the things which had formerly enslaved them. Unless we are clear about this, we will not be clear about the Christian life.

Given the fact that Christ died to set Christians free from the very things to which the Judaizers were trying to re-enslave them, Paul exhorts the Galatians, both at the beginning and end of this section, to stand firm against these false teachers, and to not allow themselves to once again become subject to the yoke of slavery. For if anyone does return to the Law as a means of earning favor with God, Paul says, they will fall from grace and be severed from Christ. This is no mere peripheral debate. For Paul, the gospel necessarily produces freedom in Christ. But the false gospel taught by the Judaizers brings about slavery and bondage to the very things for which Christ died to free us.

In historic Protestant theology, the three great enemies facing the Christian are the world, the flesh and the devil. The world is understood to be those material enticements which draw us away from Christ and his kingdom—fame, fortune, and as Francis Schaeffer calls it— “personal peace and affluency.” In this case, it is identifying with this present evil age which is passing away and from which Christ came to rescue us (Galatians 1:4). Following the way of the world would be akin to having no interest in thinking like a Christian about the issues of life, and intellectually identifying with the world in opposition to the Law and gospel. The religions of the world tell us that good people go to heaven, bad people go to hell, and the determining factor as to where one spends eternity lies not in the grace and will of God, but in the will and efforts of the sinner. As we have seen, this is what Paul calls the “basic principles of the world” and that which stands in opposition to the gospel.

Kim Riddlebarger, The Offense of the Cross Has Been Abolished, Sermon on Galatians 5:7-15