Galatians 5 Paraphrased for us Gentiles

Christ Jesus set us free from laws. Laws are burdensome obligations that have punishments for not keeping them. Jesus set us free so that we could stay free. Stand firm, don't let anyone convince you to burden yourself by laws which shackle you & make you a slave. If you put yourself under laws the amazing experience of knowing Christ will be nullified. That's right, because even if you only try to keep one law you'll eventually feel compelled to keep as many as you can think of or as many as people tell you that you should. If you think you can make yourself approved in the eyes of God or make yourself feel righteous by keeping laws you've just about completely lost sight of Jesus & His love for you.

We trust Jesus through our spirits. The flesh, by itself, is valueless to God & us. The only thing of value is trust in God expressing itself through love. While the flesh is good for manifesting that love, the source of that love & trust is the spirit. Even thinking there are a few mandatory laws can mess up your whole life concerning your view of yourself & your view of God. You live in the true reality of knowing God when you walk by the spirit instead of by laws & fleshly desires. God will never persuade you to put yourself under laws. Someone doing that type of thing isn't doing it because God told them to. What happened on the cross is only offensive to those who tell you that you should keep laws. Christ nailed God's old law to the cross & left it there & He's not making any new laws.


Brothers and sisters, you were called to be free. But don't use your freedom to give the flesh the opportunity to control you; instead, serve one another humbly in love. While it is true that God's entire old covenant law is fulfilled by keeping the one command to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” remember, by the flesh no one could keep that law. So instead of being under laws & trying to keep the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” walk by the spirit. When you do that you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, one of which is to keep an external set of laws to make yourself feel better. The flesh & the spirit don't desire the same things. If you try to walk by both they will start a war inside you keeping you from doing anything you would want to do. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law & you aren't led by permanent universal rules that weigh you down. The flesh has a much harder time gaining ground when the law is not involved.

You are heirs to God's kingdom because you belong to Christ Jesus. He has separated your identity from the flesh & its deeds, passions, & desires. Instead you are in the spirit which bears the fruit of love. Love consists of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control. Love is so good no one can make laws against it. Love is unstoppable. The fruit of the spirit is love so if you want to love your neighbor forget about laws & rules. Instead walk by the spirit & watch God's love flow into your heart & back out of your heart into the world.

Commitment vs. Surrender vs. Cooperation

With commitment the focus is on what you are giving into the relationship. With surrender the focus is on what you are giving up for the relationship. This may be a surprise to most but the bible never uses either of those words to describe our relationship with God. The word that is used is submission which literally means "voluntary cooperation."

Commitment proclaims, "My utmost for His highest." Cooperation says, "His highest is fun!" Surrender says, "More of Him & less of me." Cooperation says, "Us." Commitment burdens you. Surrender takes away your value. Voluntary Cooperation gives you value without giving you burden. With cooperation the focus is not on what you are giving to God or giving up for God but on what God is giving you!

Commitment thinks God is demanding, "Do my will." Surrender thinks God is demanding, "Deny yourself." Cooperation knows God is offering, saying, "I've thought of some great things we can do today. What do you want to do with me?"

Synonyms for commitment are obligation, duty, adherence, dedication, devotion, responsibility, liability, promise, vow, oath, pledge.
Synonyms for surrender are despair, defeatism, giving up, quit, cave in, throw in the towel, succumb, resign, loss.
Synonyms for cooperation are unity, teamwork, collaboration, help, assistance, participation, responsiveness, helpfulness.

Commitment is the language of the law. Surrender is the language of shame. Cooperation is the language of loving relationship. Religion has added, removed, or reinterpreted words but God chose wisely the words He used. He doesn't demand commitment or surrender. He lovingly requests cooperation both for salvation and day to day living.

Remember we are His children & His friends. Our Father just wants to have a good time loving His kids & bringing more people into the family. He says, "Wanna go do something today for your older brother? Wanna go do something today for your younger sister?" No one in His family is looked down upon for opting out. They are loved just the same. Yes they are missing out on a good time with the Father & the family but they will be treated no worse by the Father even if they never want to cooperate. He will love us into participation & cooperation. That is our Father's unconditional love. Everyone is free & everyone is favored. Who could ask for anything more?

All Blessings Are A Done Deal in Christ

"By his divine power, God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him." (2 Peter 1:3-4)
"God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." (Ephesians 1:3)

God has already given me every blessing. All I need to do is learn about what He has already given and use it. I don't have to beg & scratch to get. I already have everything because God has already given it all. It is much easier to use something you already have than it is to try to get something you don't have. God is so good to us that He made it easier than the vast majority of us have ever imagined.

Obviously I miss out on a lot if I refuse to follow God's direction but that is not what I'm talking about here. Most have been taught that God's blessings are dependent on our behavior/performance. But like salvation they are not. For those who have trusted Jesus salvation is a done deal, removal of sin is a done deal, healing is a done deal, ALL needs & ALL blessings are a done deal.

"Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all,
how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"
(Romans 8:32)

The Law is Over (In 100 Words)

Colossians 2:14 & Ephesians 2:15 say "the Law of commandments contained in written ordinances" were "against us" and "stood opposed to us." Those also say that Jesus "abolished" the laws, that He "took them away and nailed them to the cross"

2 Corinthians 3 says the law brings condemnation (including the 10 commandments) and is of no comparison with the glorious righteousness brought by Christ.

We are to walk by the spirit not by the law. Burdening yourself with law just leads to self-condemnation. We don't need a to do list or a don't do list when we have a loving Father to walk with.

The Responsibility of Our Relationship with God

We incorrectly learn that the responsibility of the relationship is on us. The question is not "How do I build a relationship with God?" it is "How do I begin to recognize how God is building a relationship with me?" He loves us so that we may live through Him and He live through us.

Our willingness to respond and rest is what ultimately makes the relationship happen because a relationship does take two. But when people think the responsibility of the relationship is ours we will make up or perform practices that we think will help us "get to God" that actually make a real natural relationship impossible. We will attempt to define what the relationship is when God should be doing that. Instead of trying to connect with the true God in spirit we follow performance based practices (religion) which cause us to ignore or write off God's advances towards us.

We can't force God to respond to us and trying to is an attempt to control Him. We can respond to Him and let Him reveal His love to us. Taking this burden that is not ours will lead us to work in vain & severely limit God. "Unless the Lord is the builder of the house (people/relationship) those who labor to build it labor in vain" (Psalm 127:1). "Christ is in charge of God's entire house and we are God's house" (Hebrews 3:6).

Religion puts the responsibility of the relationship on us. It tells us to love God before we explore His love for us. It tells us to work for God as an unquestionable slave master who has already given out His assignments instead of walking with a Father and doing work on that journey with Him when He tells us to.

Human relationships involve people trying to figure things out together. We are equal in that regard. God already has everything figured out. He already knows what is best and has already prepared good things for us to do. If we don't let Him be responsible for the relationship then He will still clean up our messes and work things to our benefit as much as He can (Romans 8:28). His love allows Him to do nothing less.

God is the ultimate expert on life and love that is why we follow Him. Most think of submission to God as obeying the scriptures and avoiding destructive behaviors but submission in the bible means "relational cooperation." It only takes place in a living relationship where God is presenting you with something to cooperate with.

We do have a say in our relationship with God. We can choose love or we can choose self and I don't mean selfishness I mean self-effort. We can let Him be who He wants to be, the greatest love and experience of our life, or we can take the responsibility of the relationship on ourselves thus trying to make Him be who we want Him to be for us in our short-sightedness.

The truth is that it isn't about us giving our lives to God, it is about Him giving His life to us. The difference is a life of recurring misery vs. a life of rich joy.

Motivation: Compassion vs. Obligation

There is no condemnation in Christ and we are in Christ. That means not only are we not condemned but we are not to condemn others. Condemn means to "declare or judge as guilty."

Compassion and condemnation are near opposites. Compassion says "I love you and am concerned about you." Compassion also knows when to be silent. Condemnation says, "The bible says what you are doing is wrong and God is not pleased with you." Without love scripture is useless. Love is not fault finding but encouraging. Love seeks the benefit of the other person. Love does not try to get someone to conform to your perceived standards for life because you feel obligated to do so.

If you approach someone trying to "help" them thinking, "The bible says what this person is doing is wrong so my duty as a Christian is to help them stop doing it" is not motivated by love but is motivated by your feelings of personal obligation and your desire to avoid guilt. A feeling of duty is not the same thing as love and if you mistake it as love you will hurt many people.

You can help someone selfishly. Doing that is the mindset that says, "I'll feel bad if I don't help this person." Love says, "This person feels bad I want to help."

Don't Should on Yourself and Don't Should on Anyone Else

Whenever you tell someone they "should" do something you put a burden on them. It makes them try to want to want. A pure desire isn't motivated by mustered up passion. It is motivated by God's love. When we feel unworthy, scared, lazy, or indifferent God would love it if we came to Him and said, "Lord I can't change how I feel. Reveal to me how you are loving me in this moment and in this day. I know your love will change me."

We put so many shoulds on ourselves that we feel bad or selfish if we don't just get out there and do things for God. The fact is we always please God. We please Him even more by allowing Him to please us by showing us His affection for us. Nothing changes us more effectively than that. We love because He first loved us. Should says, "If you don't or can't you are bad." God as love says, "I'm good so you can."

Those who would call this is too mushy speak from their own pride. They are the type that say, "Just give me an order & I can do it!" True love is only produced by recognizing God's love. Obedience cannot produce love but love produces obedience. Mutual affection is the root of our cooperation with God.

Satan and the Sign or Jesus and the Journey?

Imagine a man is holding up a sign with all of the law, obligations, and expectations you feel that you are supposed to keep. You walk up to the sign but you don't notice Satan (sin) is standing there holding it¹. It tells you everything you think you need to do to be a good person, a good Christian. You have everything spelled out right from the start. You feel a comfort in knowing the "supposed to's" of life.

Then standing next to Satan is Jesus. He simply says "Come with me." You don't know where He is going to take you or what you would do together².

Trust is putting your security in someone or something. Many trust the law because its predictability gives you a sense of security but in reality it never takes you past the sign. When you trust Jesus, that trust plays out in a relationship, you walking with Him and talking with Him. You will only trust Him & go with Him as much as you know He loves you³.

Satan says that doing good and abstaining from evil is the goal of the Christian life. Jesus says that it is knowing and having a relationship with Him and His Father⁴. Who do you trust?


<sup>1. The power of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:56)
2. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)
3. We love Him because He loves us first (1 John 4:19) 
4. This is eternal life, to intimately know the Father, who is the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. (John 17:3)</sup>


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Prayer - Opportunity Not Obligation

Genuine prayer comes from genuine love. When you are forced to talk to someone it can be difficult & awkward, possibly even resulting in you not wanting to talk to that person again. Many Christians sadly have that sort of forced prayer relationship with God. They are told they have to pray to be a good Christian & they force themselves to pray when they wouldn't otherwise want to.

We think of "have to" instead of "get to" & "want to" usually because that is how prayer is presented to us. We get to talk to the God of the universe who loves us & wants us to experience His love. Prayer is not an obligation to fulfill. Prayer is communication in a relationship that has such depths of love we can literally spend forever searching through them.

Conversation about Christ

Because Christ is our life we should easily be able to talk about Him with others. I think that training and preaching are part of the problem. Churches give expectations and instruction about something that should be natural. People who want to share Christ with others are stricken with fear and burdened with pressure because of the "standards" they feel like they need to live up to.

Talking about God should just be a natural talking just like you would naturally talk about sports. Imagine if someone came along and said to you that you have to talk about sports "just so" and you have to learn and include these certain facts and questions into the conversation. Talking about sports becomes a performance that you can either succeed or fail at depending on if you can transfer your love of sports to the other person. It is no longer fun, spontaneous, and natural because of the standards.

Commit Yourself to God?

God is the one committed and dedicated to me. He who began His work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ's return (Philippians 1:6). Will I finish His work for Him? It is God who works in me to desire and to act according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:13). If I try to commit or dedicate myself to doing good for God I put myself under law like obligation, I try to live by external obligations or expectations rather than trusting God to live through me and guide me.

The idea that "God wants all of our life" is short sighted. Jesus Christ is our life as Colossians 3:3 states. We were dead in sin before He gave us life through new birth. God already has all of our life. God is our life!* (*Note that this is a rejoiceful tone not an angry tone).

We think that we need to live for God but the truth is that we need God to live for us. We need to trust the indwelling God to live through us. We can do nothing apart from Him and Jesus lived this example. He said that He could do nothing without the Father.