Stand Firm | Galatians 5:1–5

What good is being set free if you keep living like you're still in bondage?

In Session 5 of The Book of Galatians: The War Within, Pastor Adam Aziz walks through Galatians 5:1–5 and unpacks one of Paul's most powerful declarations: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.”

After reminding the Galatians that they are children of promise and not slaves to the law, Paul now issues a direct command: STAND FIRM! Christ has already accomplished what human effort, religious performance, and obedience to the law could never achieve. Yet the Galatians were in danger of exchanging the freedom they had received through faith for a system of religious obligation that could never make them righteous before God.

Paul makes it clear that freedom in Christ is not something we earn. It is something we receive by faith. And once we have received it, we must refuse to become entangled again in the yoke of bondage.

In this session, we explore:

• What Paul means when he commands believers to "stand firm" in their freedom

• Why freedom in Christ must be defended against the pull of legalism

• What it means to become entangled again in a yoke of bondage

• Why Paul warns that Christ will profit you nothing if you depend on the law for justification

• The significance of circumcision in Paul's argument about salvation

• Why attempting to be justified by the law obligates a person to keep the whole law

• What Paul means by being "fallen from grace"

• The difference between trusting in Christ and trusting in religious performance

• Why righteousness cannot be earned through human effort

• What it means to wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit by faith

• How believers can stand firm in grace without returning to the bondage Christ delivered them from

The warning of Galatians 5 is clear: You cannot depend on Christ for salvation while simultaneously depending on your own performance to make you righteous before God.

Christ did not set you free so you could spend the rest of your life trying to earn what He has already given you. You have been made free. Now STAND FIRM!

Study notes and additional resources are available at www.adamandolivia.com/deeper.

Why would someone who has been set free ever choose to return to bondage?

In Session 4 of The Book of Galatians: The War Within, Pastor Adam Aziz walks through Galatians 4 and unpacks Paul’s passionate warning to believers who were being tempted to return to the very system Christ had already delivered them from.

Paul reminds the Galatians that they are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters. Through Christ, they have been adopted into the family of God, given the Spirit, and made heirs according to His promise. Yet somehow, they were beginning to turn back to empty religious systems, rules, and patterns that could never give them life.

In this session, we explore:

• The difference between living as a slave and living as a son

• What it means to receive the Spirit of adoption

• Why Paul says, “Abba, Father”

• The danger of returning to old systems after experiencing freedom

• How religious performance can become another form of bondage

• Why knowing God is greater than simply knowing about God

• Paul’s concern that the Galatians were turning back to “weak and beggarly elements”

• The contrast between promise and bondage

• What Hagar and Sarah reveal about law, grace, slavery, and freedom

• Why believers must refuse to return to what Christ has already delivered them from

The tragedy of Galatians 4 is not that the Galatians had never experienced freedom. It is that they had experienced freedom and were considering going back.

You are no longer a slave. You are a son. And once Christ has brought you into freedom, there is nothing worth going back to.

Study notes and additional resources are available at www.adamandolivia.com/deeper.

If we are saved by faith, then why did God give the law?

In Session 3 of The Book of Galatians: The War Within, Pastor Adam Aziz walks through Galatians 3 and unpacks Paul’s powerful explanation of the relationship between faith, the law, the promise, and the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Paul challenges the Galatians for beginning by faith but then trying to continue through human effort. He points back to Abraham to show that righteousness has always come through faith, not religious performance.

In this session, we explore: Why Paul confronts the Galatians so strongly. The difference between faith and works of the law. Why Abraham is central to Paul’s argument. The curse of trying to be justified by the law. How Christ redeemed us from the curse. The promise God gave before the law was introduced. Why the law was given in the first place. How the law functions as a guardian leading us to Christ. What it means to become sons and daughters of God through faith Our new identity and unity in Christ.

The law was never intended to save us. It reveals our need for a Savior and points us toward Jesus.

The Christian life begins by faith, continues by faith, and rests completely in what Christ has accomplished.

Study notes and additional resources are available at www.adamandolivia.com/deeper.