Chapter five begins the closing arguments of Paul in defense of justification by faith and liberty in Christ. Paul tells the Galatians that to submit to a "add-on" requirement that one claims is necessary for justification by faith would yield no benefit in the long run. In fact, to fulfill the desires of the "add-on" requirements made forth by the law now makes one in bondage to the complete law and no longer under grace. The actions are more spent to make sure all the requirements are fulfilled instead of enacting the faith that makes you love others. Paul explicitly states in verse six that Jesus does not care whether you are circumcized or not, it's the faith you have in God that matters. It does not matter if you are a Republican or Democrat, a Charismatic or Baptist, a hymn or praise chorus singer, an American Christian or a British Christian, Jesus really cares about your heart and desires you to express the love of God through your faith to others. The faith in God is liberating where the law and the "add-on" rules are repressive and legalistic.

The point is very simple. Through faith in God, we are allowed to enjoy an intimate relationship in God. Hereby the legalist in his attempt to fulfill the law is so obsessed with the do's and dont's that his viewpoint of God is reduced from a father to a prison warden awaiting to strike us down at the first shortcoming. Even though Jesus placed some demands on us to establish holy living, these demands are placed on us out of his love and not placed out of an state of restrictiveness. Jesus lived to the standards placed on him by God while at the same time, was free to be supernaturally natural by being himself. Paul says in verse nine that "a little leaven leaventh the whole lump (of bread)". In other words, a little legalism mixed in the faith of Jesus (the bread of life) and called "of God" makes the entire Christianity legalism.

Paul throughout this book still expresses hope that the Galatians will see that mixing legalism into the faith in God is like lighting a strange fire that will turn people away from God instead of drawing them closer to God. It would be a glorious day if all Christians, instead of devouring one another because of our differences will set themselves together to fight sin. The problem here is that Christians view these differences as sin itself to the point where we label other Christians as "apostate" who do not see things our way. It's God's way and not our way. Paul tells us to "Walk in the Spirit, and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" because the Spirit wars agaist the flesh and vice versa. By being led of the Spirit, we are free from the law. The law only further enhances that there is sin out there, and in some cases, focuses our mind more on the sin to the point of giving in to the sin rather than obtaining victory over the sin. The law, in itself, only provides the penality for sin but does not provide a rehabilitative solution to overcome the sin. This is where life in the Spirit wars against the flesh to conquer the desires of the flesh and gives us grace until that area of sin is conquered.

The rest of chapter five deals with the workings of the flesh. Paul first exposes the works of the flesh in verses 19-21 that prohibit people from sharing in the blessings of God. In verses 22-26, Paul gives us character qualities of what a person who has experienced justification by faith should manifest in their life. The fruit of the Spirit. Notice where this fruit comes from, the Spirit, not from the law. Remember as I said in the last paragraph, the law re-emphasizes the presence of sin, but fails to provide solutions to overcome sin. It is by walking in the fruit of the Spirit that we overcome the sin. Two things are evident here:

• The word "fruit" is singular: Even though many qualities are mentioned, they are collectively seen as one unit. A popular gift given at Christmas time to families is a fruit basket. There are numerous different fruits (apples, oranges, etc.) in the basket, but we refer to the entire gift as fruit. Therefore, there are numerous qualities (love, patience) in the Spiritual fruit basket, but we receive all the fruit in one package (a spiritual basket). Therefore, to accept the fruit of the Spirit, we must accept and enact all the qualities that is in the spiritual fruit basket. We can not "pick and choose" which fruit of the Spirit we want. You want one quality, you must accept them all.
• The fruit of the Spirit conquers the works of the flesh: Love conquers hate. Peace conquers wrath, etc. The individual qualities that comprise the fruit of the Spirit conquers the individual qualities of the works of the flesh. "Fruit" in "Fruit of the Spirit" shows many qualities acting together as one in unity. "Works" as in "Works of the Flesh" shows pluralism and disunity. These works function by themselves, but never together because if the 'works' tried to get together, their own greed and selfishness causes their own internal division.

Verse 26 gives us a dire warning about become conceited, cocky, arrogant to the point of making people think we are better than they are. We, as modern day Christians through the "add-on" benchmarks brought forth by the law instead of grace, have become conceited, cocky, arrogant to other Christians where we portray the notion that we are better Christians than they are. We have, through selfish pride and arrogance, maimed without shame in the name of our pieces of denominational dirt to the point of slighting and despising those who do not see our form of Christianity as inferior Christians. Then we argue over why we do not get the "respect we deserve" from the differing Christian viewpoint.

In every place with a concept, teaching, benchmark, or uniformity, we play the game of seizing territories that rightfully belong to others. We call ourselves warriors, victors, and conquerors while we lay defeated and cowards behind the lines drawn up in the name of "add-on" legalisms known today as denominations. Legalism divides, The Spirit unifies. Everyone else sees the warning signs of error and dysfunction manifesting. But we are too blind to the needy world around us that we feed our energies propogating the denominational machine instead of feeding the world with the bread of life. In different viewpoints, we keep holding our "grounds" in the name of defending the faith while our viewpoints of indifference keeps the cyclic pattern fueled and running. What ends up happening is that both sides experience humiliation, the battlescars are inflicted, and our pride increases to the point where we do nothing but wait for the other side to apologize first. The other side, does the same thing, they sit and do nothing while they wait for our side to make the first apologetic move. Neither side makes a move and the world we are to reach for Christ suffers. We refuse to become unified because the mentality is "we were 100 percent right, you were 100 percent wrong, REPENT!" in the name of "not compromising the Gospel". Our arrogance and pride prevents us from admitting that "we were right in some areas and we were wrong in other areas". It becomes clearer and clearer to see that we do not know what interdenominational means.

The last chapter starts out with a warning of "if your brother is trapped in sin, lead them back without getting tempted yourself". Paul actually teaches them here what to do in this situation in similar ways he has attemped to lead the Galations back from their sin of re-embracing the law to further embrace the life in the Spirit. Paul also warns them not to think of themselves as better than others and to bear each other's burdens to keep the body strong. That is what the teachers of the law did. They exalted themselves as better and superior that those who were justified by faith. Learn from these mistakes and keep others from falling into the same traps. The law of sowing and reaping is discussed here to make sure that the Galatians sow faith in God to reap rewards. We clearly saw what happened when they sowed the law, they reaped the consequences of the law with no provision to overcome the sins. Therefore, they were easily becoming repeat offenders by breaking the law. By sowing in the spirit, they reaped freedom from the law, but also deliverance from evil. When we as Christians sow the "add-on" law, we reap the consequences of the punishment of bondage to the law to the point where we can not or refuse to see the right way of grace when presented to us.

Paul ends this book warning the Galatians that people who emphasize you to fulfill the law and the "add-on" rules do it for their own selfish reasons the make them feel important. They perform the "add-on" regulations, but usually do not obey the law itself and all of the ensnaring legalisms that make up the law. In fact, all they brag about is having you doing the "do's and dont's". Many who practice such tactics do not care about the individual or the body of Christ. All they care about is the numbers on the petitions before Congress and the money in the bank accounts that fuels their cause. Paul teaches us to focus on the Cross, Jesus, and justification by faith to where our eyes and hearts are fixed on God and not on our plans to legislate our viewpoints. We never had to legislate righetousness in the past why start now. If we yearn towards faith in God, then we will know his ways and commandments. Note that they are commandments instead of laws. We will then fulfill the Great Commission and hearts are changed one heart at a time through willing change, not forced legalistic legislation of righetousness.

Paul sums this entire book in verses 15 and 16 where he states in a nutshell "It does not matter if you are circumicized or not. All that matters is that you are a new person in Christ. If you follow this rule and become a new person in Christ, you will belong to God's true people and experience peace and undeserved kindness". That was all that Paul wanted to say, but he had to tell of past experiences in dealing with legalism and false teachers, show the true intent of the law, and show the redemption qualities of Christ to be victors and conquerors above sin where the presence of sin and the temptation to sin was enhanced by the presence of the law.

In fact, a new movement full of "add-on" requirements that have been made into legalism is popping up today within Christianity. Commonly known as "Back To Hebrew Movement" or "Charismessianics", this move celebrates both Jesus and the resurrection while forcing people to observe the Jewish festivals, holidays, traditions, etc. Many will only eat kosher foods, play music in messianic fashion, and wear Messianic style clothing. Many who get involved only have the intent to understand the customs and how they were a reflection of Jesus in the Old Covenant. Unfortunately, like many other moves of God, many get entrapped by the legalism and attempt to force their "add-on" legalism on the others. Some within this movement are so entrenched with the "add-on" rules that they live out the Old Covenant (law) in the New Covenant (justification by faith) and have denounced non-Messianic Christianity as inferior and "missing out" on the true meaning of God. In fact, Paul address this issue in Colossians 2:16-17 and in Romans 14 where some were teaching that you had to observe festivals and dietary habits. It's not in how you celebrate Jesus, it's accepting Jesus by faith.

Click Here for part five of The Galatia We Live In.