Christ defines your faith; he is your freedom from anything from which the law could never free you! Find your firm footing in this freedom. Do not let religion trip you up again and harness you to a system of rules and obligations!
Gal 5:1
Traditional translations say
It is for freedom that Christ has made us free, therefore stand firm then and do not be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.
Gal 5:1
In the context, Paul is talking about circumcision and the law. The freedom we were set free to was the freedom from the law and its obligations and outward signs, namely circumcision.
I therefore like the translation of the Mirror bible and find it accurate: Christ is our freedom from everything from which the law could never free us, especially all religious requirements.
Any religious requirement has to be examined whether it is an external law reintroduced though the back door, and if so, let go.
Usually, those requirements are man made because we still believe that we have to live up to something, that we lack something, that we need to pay for something.
This is why Paul is asking the Galatians earlier:
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Gal 3:1
Or with the words of the Mirror translation:
Galatians! Galatians! Have you completely lost your common sense? Can’t you see how the law bewitched you and blurred your vision to distort the revelation of what the cross of Christ accomplished in you? This was so clearly predicted in Scripture. How can you not be persuaded by the truth?
Gal 3:1
On what basis did we receive the Spirit? Was it because of the law, as a reward, or was it a gift in the first place?
We point to the next verse and say that it was because of the hearing of faith. And of course, we add, because of our acceptance of what Jesus did for us, and our proclamation in the sinners prayer that he was the son of God, that we need him and make him lord of our lives, and because of the promise to faithfully strive to live a clean and holy life, after having confessed our sins in repentance and receiving forgiveness. And because of the faith we showed when hands were laid on us by more mature Christians as outward acts, and by the outward sign of speaking in tongues.
Sound to me like law, like rules, proceeds, and obligations, as if I had to do things to be saved. And theology often tells us that we have to keep doing things and not doing things to keep our salvation.
Let me give you another interpretation:
As Jesus died on the cross, he set humanity free to freedom. Everybody is saved. Period. No attachments, no requirements.
But who receives the spirit? Whosoever wants to receive the Spirit.
Who does grow? Whosoever listens and responds to what he or she has heard.
When I truly believe that nothing is lacking and nothing is needed, nothing is required and nothing demanded of us, I can become truly free and truly transcend the law.
I will then change my thinking not because I must, not even because I want to, just because I am.
Remember that you will not is a valid translation of what we translate thou shall not usually.
And the verb used is not to will as in to willfully do, which would require investment from our side again. It just is the future tense.
Once you realise that nothing is required of you and that you are a son, a daughter of God, invited to the homecoming dance with the fatted cow, you will not do evil as you have transcended such categorization and been clothed without any of your own doing with new sandals, a wonderful robe, and a ring of authority.
What is important: you always belonged. This is not about salvation, this is about growth and awakening into wholeness.
Am I belittling faith as it is lived today by most? That is not my intention, as it served well during such a long time and God gave grace. It also serves well now for people that have a certain worldview and mindset. We cannot jump from “I can do what ever I want to do” in an egoistical sense to “I am set free to freedom” directly. It serves well just as did the Catholic way of the medieval times in medieval times served well. But then God spoke to people like Huss, Wycliff, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Blaurock, and many more to take us a step further and deeper.
We received a word lately that God will teach us to take first steps like little lambs, first hops like little rabbits, and first swims like little ducklings.
This does mean to forget what lays behind us and learn anew. Just as Yoda said to Luke: You must unlearn what you have learned.
God did not say that he would teach us new tricks or new ways. He explicitly used the image of newborns. Newborns have some instincts, namely among others imitating who they see and grabbing things they touch. These instincts allow them to make sense of the world in a feedback loop, applying what they have already learned to what new they encounter and then updating what they know with new found knowledge.
But newborns have not learned anything yet. They start from scratch.
Are we willing to let go of all our understanding of the scripture and how things are done and to only mimic God and grasp what he expands? Because that is what he promised: he would teach us. Not the past, not other people, not the church shall teach us.
As we progress on this new path, we will encourage each other and learn from each other, as everybody will pick up some different aspects of the father. In that way, others and the church will become fellow learners on the way. But we have to be careful not to fall back and accept from others old stale knowledge of how we believed in the past.
We go radically deeper. Will we throw out everything? No, but we will examine everything for its validity in the new paradigm and new kairos moment. We will be willing to throw out and certainly to revise everything we believe to know.
Some have gone before us. God has already prepared some voices that have an early grasp on things as a head start. God will promote those people to the forefront and proliferate the world with this knowledge and revelation. He will supernaturally build relationships. One thing is sure: the pioneers are not mainstream in any way. And just as reformation was not about small adjustments, it’s not those that have little things different from others. This is a time of radical change.
Many will not follow this new worldview. Will they burn in hell for this? No. There is no lake-of-fire future for people, but for every mindset that does not stem from the tree of life. There will be a time we all will be set free to freedom.
But for those that grow into this new way of thinking, this new worldview and understanding, this will result in being set free for freedom right now.
Fear will be gone, creativity will be set free, they will flow over with solutions for problems that have plagued us for so long, they will see the value in all people, and they will keep growing.
It is not about being saved. The word is sozo, being whole.