Set Free to Be Set Free
A sermon preached from Galatians 5:1–6 by Jolan Koekemoer
Click here to listen to the sermon.
My name is Jolan. I am a grateful believer in Christ who struggles with control issues — that is how I introduced myself, but I am many other things here at Kitwe Church as well. I serve as one of the pastoral interns, I lead the Celebrate Recovery Ministry, and I have had the joy of serving in a number of different ministries here.
I am genuinely thankful for this church, and one of the things I am most grateful for is the preaching of God’s Word. Every week as we have been working through the book of Romans, we are given the context of the previous passage, and then we come to our text in the morning, building on the work of the previous preacher.
As I take us to Galatians 5, I want to establish some important context first.
Context: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
In chapter one of this letter, Paul introduces himself as the writer — but the tone here is noticeably different from his other letters, including Romans. Here, he writes specifically to rebuke and to correct.
Consider how Paul opens his other letters. Romans 1:8 reads: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” He begins by thanking God for the church. In 1 Corinthians 1:4, he writes: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.” In Ephesians 1:15–16: “Because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” In Philippians 1:3: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” In Colossians 1:3: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” Paul is consistently and deeply grateful. There is something about each of these churches worth celebrating, and he says so.
Then we come to Galatians. Chapter 1, verse 6 reads: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” There is no thanksgiving. Every other church receives his gratitude — and then the Galatians receive his astonishment. He had brought them the gospel of Christ, and they had abandoned it with startling speed. He does not thank them; he is shocked.
As we read through the rest of Galatians 1, Paul makes a defense of himself. It appears that whoever brought this false gospel had also discredited Paul personally, suggesting he was not worth listening to. In verse 9, Paul warns that what matters is not who preaches but what is preached. He spends the rest of the chapter establishing his own credentials and background, and makes clear: if anyone brings a gospel different from the one he brought, do not listen to them.
In chapter 2, Paul is careful to acknowledge the other apostles — Peter, James, and John, whom he calls pillars. He is not claiming to be the only voice worth hearing. Rather, his point is that these men preach the same gospel he does, and that is precisely what makes them worth hearing. He also recounts a confrontation with Peter. A group known as the Circumcision Party had heard that Peter had been eating with Gentiles — which they found unacceptable — and so Peter stopped eating with them out of fear. Paul rebuked him publicly.
This confrontation over circumcision and the law is the issue Paul has been arguing across chapters 2, 3, and 4, and it is the same issue at the heart of our text in chapter 5.
In chapter 2, verses 15 and 16, Paul establishes that both he and Peter are Jews — and both know that righteousness does not come through the law but through faith in Christ. In verse 20, he writes the famous words: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
In chapter 3, Paul begins unpacking what it means to accept circumcision — which is, in effect, to accept the whole Old Testament law. He quotes Leviticus to show that the principle of the law was “do and live” — keep the law and you will be blessed. But then he explains the purpose of the law with extraordinary clarity. Galatians 3:15–25 reads:
“Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: the law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. Why then was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come… Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness could certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed… So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.”
The law functioned like a gate — keeping people within God’s boundaries and keeping sin out. It was a guardian, a protector for those who were still waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. But now that Christ has come, we no longer need that guardian.
In chapter 4, Paul pauses to remind the Galatians that, even as he speaks sharply, he remembers the love they once had for him. He says they received him as though he were Jesus Christ himself. And he ends with the comparison of Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac was born through Sarah as the fulfillment of God’s promise. Ishmael was conceived when Abraham took matters into his own hands, unwilling to wait on God. The point is not that Ishmael was worth less as a person, but that he was not the fulfillment of the promise. And the fulfillment of the promise is freedom.
That brings us to our text.
I want to briefly acknowledge the two passages I am passing over, because when I mentioned I would be preaching on Galatians 5, most people assumed I would be addressing one of them. In verses 7 through 12, Paul warns that this false teaching would spread like leaven through the whole lump, and that whoever brought it would bear a penalty. And in verses 16 through 25, Paul addresses the obvious question: if we are free from the law, how do we know what sin is? His answer is simple: the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit are clearly different. He lists the works of the flesh — sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies — and warns that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The fruit of the Spirit, by contrast, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these, there is no law.
Now our text. Galatians 5:1–6:
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”
Three main ideas in our text.
Point One: To Accept the Law Is to Be Separated from Jesus (vv. 2–3)
Paul says in verse 2: if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. And in verse 3: if you accept circumcision, you are obligated to keep the whole law.
Circumcision was not merely an ethnic or cultural practice — it was a sign of the covenant. To accept it was to accept the guardian, the law. It was to say: while I wait for God to act on his promise, I need this protection and this system to cover me. Romans 2:25–29 reinforces the point:
“For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.”
The circumcision mark was meant to be a sign that said: I believe in God’s promise. But Paul’s argument is that if you bear that mark while breaking the law that the mark commits you to, the mark counts for nothing. And 1 Corinthians 7:19 makes a further distinction: “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.” There, Paul is speaking of the heart’s obedience to God as believers in Christ — not the Old Testament law, but the commands of Christ.
Now — what does it actually mean to keep the law? Most of us here are not from a Jewish background, so let me make it concrete. Keeping the law would have meant abstaining from certain foods, observing particular practices, avoiding tattoos. But far more significantly, it would have meant accepting the sacrificial system — the entire system by which sin was atoned for while waiting for the promise.
The Old Testament describes five types of offerings, each of which the Israelite would have been responsible to make.
The burnt offering (Leviticus 1:3–13): a male animal without blemish, fully consumed on the altar. Every part of the animal was burned — unlike any other offering. This was the only offering given entirely to God, a sign of total, unreserved commitment.
The grain offering (Leviticus 2:1): fine flour with oil and frankincense. This was a freewill offering — it was not required. It expressed personal, voluntary devotion and could be given even without an animal.
The peace offering (Leviticus 3:1 and 7:15): an animal without blemish, the flesh of which was eaten on the same day by the one who offered it. Uniquely, the offerer participated in the meal. This was an offering of fellowship — the worshiper was not merely giving to God but sharing a meal with him, signifying restored relationship.
The sin offering (Leviticus 4:3): made to break the barrier between the worshiper and God — that barrier being sin. It was not optional for those who had sinned; it was required.
The guilt offering (Leviticus 5:14–19): once the sin offering had removed the barrier, there remained the damage that sin had caused. The guilt offering was compensation — restitution. Think of it this way: you might forgive someone who has damaged your property, but the property is still damaged. Someone saying “I forgive you” does not repair the car. The guilt offering acknowledged the real value of what sin had broken and provided a payment to make things right.
Now here is the heart of the point: Christ fulfilled every one of these offerings.
He was the burnt offering — given entirely. Ephesians 5:2: “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
He was the grain offering — given freely. John 10:18: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”
He was the peace offering — restoring fellowship between God and humanity. Matthew 26:26–29: “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'”
He was the sin offering — removing the barrier. Hebrews 13:10–12: “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.”
He was the guilt offering — not only declaring us innocent but paying in full for the damage our sin caused. John 19:30: “It is finished” — or, more literally, it is paid for.
To accept circumcision, then, is to choose the old sacrificial system over Christ — to reach past the fulfillment and grasp the shadow instead.
Point Two: Being Separated from Jesus Counts for Nothing (v. 4)
Verse 4: “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”
What does it mean to fall away from grace? Paul is not saying that the Galatians have lost their salvation. Some have read this text that way, but that is not his argument. He is saying: grace has been offered to you, completed in Christ, and yet by accepting circumcision you are acting as though it has not been. You are not saying outwardly, “I reject Christ.” You are saying, “I will accept circumcision and also follow Jesus.” But to accept circumcision is to accept the law, and the law was always pointing toward Christ. You are choosing to trust in a system that Jesus has already fulfilled. You are choosing, effectively, to ignore the grace that is right in front of you.
Hebrews 10:1–10 explains why this matters:
“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
The Old Testament sacrifices had to be repeated every year — which was itself proof that they could not finally accomplish what they promised. Jesus accomplished it once for all and made the old system obsolete. To go back to it is not just unnecessary — it is a statement that Christ’s work was insufficient. And that is why Paul says in verses 7 through 12 that this false teaching would spread like leaven through the whole congregation and destroy it. The next generation hears a different gospel. They hear a gospel that is not about grace through Christ but about attaining righteousness through a system of human effort. And what Paul said at the beginning of the letter becomes the verdict: I am astonished that you have so quickly deserted the gospel.
Point Three: We Were Set Free for a Purpose (v. 5)
Verse 5: “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”
The Spirit is the mark of salvation. Ephesians 1:13–14: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” And this is received through faith. Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Today is Celebrate Recovery Sunday. I lead that ministry, and I have not mentioned it until now — but I want to mention one thing. One of the most important things I have learned in CR is this: faith is taking God at his word. Faith is that simple. When God speaks through his Word, I believe him.
If we truly take God at his word — that Jesus came as God incarnate, lived a sinless life, died a death he did not deserve, was raised bodily from the dead, stands at the right hand of the Father, and is coming back — then we will be saved. Not because we have earned it, but because he says so.
I am loved because God said so — John 3:16.
I am free because God says so — Romans 10:9.
My sins are forgiven because he says that if I confess, he is faithful and just to forgive me — 1 John 1:9.
He has set me free — Galatians 5:1.
We are made for a purpose. Galatians 5:1 says: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” We are not set free simply to wait for heaven. We are set free to be set free — and then to live in that freedom for a purpose.
Isaiah 55:11 says: “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” We often use this verse to encourage missionaries — go and preach with confidence, because it is God’s word going forth, not merely yours. But look at what follows in verses 12 and 13: “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace… and the mountains and the hills before you shall break out into singing… Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
That is the purpose. We become worshipers of God. We become glorifiers of God. We become signposts pointing toward him. The word goes forth, people are transformed, and the transformed life becomes the sign.
Under the law, worshiping God required constant effort and ongoing sacrifice. You had to do things to maintain your standing. But through Jesus Christ, he has done it all. We are set free to be set free — to worship him, to glorify him, to be living signposts, not because we have achieved a standard, but because he is the standard. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
What Does This Mean for Us?
Most of us here are not Jewish. We are not being tempted to literally accept circumcision. Or are we?
If someone asked what makes you a Christian, how would you answer? Would you say something like: well, I am a member of Kitwe Church. I completed the baptism and membership classes. I attend Sunday services and Wednesday evening Bible study. I pray every day. I read my Bible every day. I give financially. And all of those things are good. But none of them achieve righteousness before God. Paul’s whole argument is that they cannot save you. Jesus saves you.
Paul was not addressing unbelievers who had never known Christ. He was speaking to a church that had genuine faith — but in whom these things had crept in quietly, little by little. So let me ask some uncomfortable questions.
How many of us come to church on time primarily because we know someone will say something if we are late? How many of us dress a certain way for church because we are afraid of what a pastor or elder would think if we did not? How many of us attend mid-week services mainly because we know someone will phone us if we miss? How many of us would happily skip a church event if our family were not there and we would not have to explain ourselves?
How many of us vote yes in members’ meetings simply because we do not want to be seen as the difficult one, even if we genuinely believe the matter is wrong? How many of us go out of our way to greet someone new primarily because we know a spiritual mentor is watching — and that is the only reason?
How many of us carry a secret sin we have told no one about because we are afraid of what would happen if it came out? How many of us, when someone asks how our week has been, say “I’m fine” — in the way we say it here in Zambia — when in truth we have barely been able to breathe? How many of us would avoid someone with tattoos, or someone who has confessed past sin, or someone connected with Celebrate Recovery, because we quietly think: I do not want to be associated with that — or worse, they might ask me to come?
How many of us would hesitate to share the gospel with someone because we know they are aware of our own failures, and we are afraid they will throw it back at us?
The Galatian church would not have said: we want to return to the old sacrificial system. They were simply Jews doing what Jews had always done. The circumcision had crept back in quietly and naturally. In the same way, we do not say outright: I believe my church attendance saves me. But if our reason for doing anything is to gain standing before other people, or because we feel we are not enough without it, we are functionally denying that Jesus is our Savior and that he has set us free.
And when we live that way, we are not only misleading ourselves. We are teaching the next generation. When a young person in this church sees that what is valued here is wearing the right clothes, reading the right translation, attending the right number of services — and not Christ himself — that becomes their understanding of righteousness. It starts with something as small as, “I wear a collared shirt because the elders will say something if I do not,” and that quietly teaches: what secures your standing before God is clothes, not Jesus Christ.
And you might say, Jolin, that is ridiculous. But what about insisting on a particular Bible translation rather than the gospel it contains? What about making a person’s academic qualifications the standard for whether they can preach, rather than what they preach? What about suggesting that the day of the week a church meets on determines its legitimacy before God? We have all seen versions of this in our communities.
We are free to worship. We have been set free to be glorifiers of God. So what does that look like in practice?
Matthew 22:36–40: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” And he answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
But Jolin, you said we do not keep the law. Correct — and Jesus gives us a new commandment. John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” And Matthew 28:18–20: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We are set free to love one another — and that love takes the shape of sharing the gospel, walking with people, teaching them, living transformed lives in front of them. It does not mean only evangelism — but it does include evangelism. It means being a visible, credible signpost of what God has done.
How would our church change if we loved one another without first establishing a set of small laws to pass? How would things be different if we understood righteousness not as something we inherently possess and occasionally fall short of, but as something we do not have in ourselves and had to find somewhere else?
Would we be more willing to listen to one another in our sin? Would we be willing to share our own struggles, believing that Jesus is enough to forgive us and move us further into his likeness? Would we pursue people who have hurt us? Would we call our missionaries even when we feel inadequate and do not know what to say? Would we practice church discipline faithfully, because we love each person who is drifting from Christ enough to do the hard thing? Would we stand for truth in our own families, even when it is inconvenient?
Would we take God at his word?
Do we understand that we were set free to be set free — and set free for the purpose of eagerly waiting for and pointing others toward the hope of a righteousness that is not our own, but Christ’s?
When he returns to judge the world, he will declare some not guilty and some guilty. Do we love the people around us enough to show them that “not guilty” is available to them?
Conclusion
Here is the point. If you are a Christian, you were saved for a purpose: to be free in Christ. Your hope and your freedom are not private possessions — they are a message to the world that anyone can have hope and freedom.
Do not taint that gospel with a standard of righteousness that could never save. Do not live in a way that points people toward a gospel other than salvation through Christ alone.
If you do not yet believe that Jesus is enough — we have a perfect sacrifice before God, one that actually accomplishes freedom. You need only accept it. Turn from your sin and turn to God by faith, and he will give you his Spirit to live in freedom, because freedom is possible through Christ when we repent.
And for both believer and unbeliever — if any of you are unsure whether you have that freedom, I invite you to join us on a Friday night at Celebrate Recovery. You should find a pamphlet on your chair. We are a ministry of freedom, and it is what we are entirely about.
Closing Prayer
God, we thank you for your grace and mercy. We thank you that you have set us free. Lord, I want to take a moment now in silence, as each one of us in our hearts comes before you and confesses the small ways in which we have tried to attain righteousness on our own. Help us. Remind us that your word is true and that you have set us free. We ask and pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.