What is True Religious Freedom? | Understanding the Impact of Galatians 4:8-11

Topic: What is True Religious Freedom?

Reading: Galatians 4:8-11

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods; 9 but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! 11 I am afraid I have labored over you in vain.

Introduction and Overview

Religious freedom is a topic that comes to the fore frequently. But true religious freedom is not about things like the ability or right to worship. These are an issue in some places, but true religious freedom is more personal. It is about the freedom to seek and find Christ.

Jesus offers us freedoms that are not attainable any other way. His freedoms are the freedom to praise and worship God at the personal level. True religious freedom promotes the process of transformation of people into Christians. When we understand and apply the true religious freedom in Jesus Christ, we become like Him.

The effect of the words in Galatians 4:11-18 is to show us some of the things from which we are freed. In Christ Jesus, we are set free from the satanic powers that rule this world to become children of God. So, true religious freedom is not about being able to worship in one church or another. It is not even about being able to worship unhindered by those people who would oppose it. Rather, it is about being set free from the slavery of sin, the law, and all of the forms and practices of religious worship that enslave many Christians today.

Key points from reading:

This world is ruled and controlled by satanic forces
The evil spiritual rulers of this age have bound people into slavery to traditions that are not based in scripture
Following these human traditions is of no advantage, and in fact keeps Christians in slavery

Discussion:

Scripture: Galatians 4:8 – This world is in Slavery

In this first verse we note that the world is under a form of slavery. It follows the dictates of the satanic rulers of the world. Jesus showed that Satan is the ruler of this world (See John 14:30). The work of the devil is to destroy the works of God. He is the great opposer and the devil takes greatest pleasure in tearing down the works of God.
True religious freedom is one of the greatest works of God. Jesus came to live, die, and be resurrected in accordance with God’s plan. The purpose of His death and resurrection was to set us free from sin. As it says in John 1:29, “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world). Jesus came to give freedom to those who believe in Him. This is the true religious freedom that comes from God through Jesus Christ.
The devil aims to take away this religious freedom. His aim is to destroy the freedom that comes through Jesus Christ. The people in the world do not understand this concept. Sadly, the devil has bound the vast church up in traditions, pomp, and ceremony that has the appearance of good religion, but is only slavery in fancier clothes. And even the world marvels at this spectacle of slavery in religion when it is put on show. They look at the magnificent cathedrals, stained glass windows, beautiful arts and crafts in church, the impressive robes and implements of the church.
But all of these are meaningless and pointless in true religion. They are mechanisms of slavery that the devil uses to bind people up and keep them from finding true religious freedom.

Scripture: Galatians 4:9 – Turning Away from True Religious Freedom

Paul preached the truth of the New Covenant to the Galatians church. He taught them about the true religious freedom that comes through knowing Jesus Christ. He showed them about freedom from sin, freedom from the law, and how to be freed from the passions of the flesh. We see this in the words of this letter.
But the Galatians were rejecting Paul’s teachings. They were turning away from the true religious freedom and seeking the slavery from which they had escaped. And Paul was flabbergasted! Ask yourself these question: If you could choose, would you choose to be free or a slave? Which is better: slavery or freedom?
Clearly the answer to this is that it is better to be free. But these Galatians were turning back to slavery. They were seeking to be slaves rather than holding on to the freedoms they had just received in Jesus Christ.
In their case, the slavery they were turning back to, was the bondage that comes under the law. And most of the church today is in that same bondage. They have not yet found the true religious freedom in Jesus Christ. Yes, they say the words that they are freed from sin and freed from the law. But they then turn around and say that they have to keep the law, and that they are sinners. And they practice various aspects of the law, such as fasting and tithing.
If you choose to do what is right and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, you do not need the law. True religious freedom is not about being under the law. It is about doing what is right because it is right. For example, would you go out and kill a person? (I certainly hope not). So, if you would never do such a foul and evil thing because it is wrong to do so, why do you need to be bound under a law that says, “Thou shalt not kill.” You would not do it because it is the wrong thing to do. So, you don’t need the law to say so. And Jesus has freed you from that law and all the rest of the laws.
True religious freedom does not set you free to do whatever you like. It sets you free to do what is right and to worship God in spirit and truth.

Scripture: Galatians 4:10 – True Religious Freedom Without Bias

In this verse we see the extent of true religious freedom. Paul bemoans the fact that the Galatians were turning back to the law. And under the law there were all kinds of observances of “special” days, months, season, and years.
Under the law there were various feast days. They had the Passover, Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, the Day of Atonement, and so on. They also observed the Jubilee years and years of release every seventh year. There was the great Jubilee year every fifty years also. And there were many other observances. The calendar was based upon the observances of the changes in the moon, and the first day of each month was established by when the priests in Judaism determined the new moon first appeared. Likewise, the sabbath day each week commenced from sunset to sunset every Friday and Saturday evening. And the sabbath had it’s own rules and laws for what could and could not be done.
All of these were forms of bondage under the law. They formed part of the forms of worship under the law. And they were required to be done. If the people failed to do these things as specified under the law, it was sin.
But in Christ we are not under the law. We have been set free from the law. So, all of these things no longer apply under Christianity. The forms of worship we are to uphold are not about keeping rules or days. We worship in the Spirit. We praise God and the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and truth.
The Galatians were turning back to the observance of days, weeks, years, and so on. It has the appearance of great religious devotion, but it is not of any value in transforming a person into the image of Christ.
Jut as the Galatians were turning back, what do we see in much of the modern church? They have created their own set of holidays and days of note. We see Christmas and Easter as high days on the Christian calendar. Some churches have other days dedicated to various saints: Shrove Tuesday, the nativity of Saint John, Lent, Palm Sunday, and so on. And these are even worse than the days memorialised under the law. Many of the modern religious days, like Christmas and Easter, were built upon pagan ceremonies. They have no basis in the scriptures and should be rejected.
These are just the hallmarks of the slavery that the devil has tricked people into. By introducing these things into the church he has kept people enslaved to his ways rather than find the true religious freedom that comes from Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Galatians 4:11 – Frustration and Disappointment

In he final verse of this section we see Paul’s frustration and disappointment in the direction the Galatians church was taking. He had given them the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had shown them and taught them about the freedoms that exist in Christ. He had pointed out the true religious freedom offered to them by God.
And they were rejecting it. They were turning away from freedom and seeking the bondage of laws and traditions.
This is where much of the church sits today too. The church is filled with laws, ordinances, by-laws, and the traditions of man rather than the righteousness and freedom in Jesus Christ. Just as Paul expressed his frustration saying, “I am afraid I have laboured over you in vain,” so too the labours of the church today are in vain when they follow human tradition.
Human tradition does not lead to true religious freedom. Traditions as deployed and demonstrated in the broad church today promote bondage and slavery. In fact the pagan roots of many of these so-called religious holidays and traditions enslave people to the “weak and beggarly elemental spirits,” that Paul was upbraiding the Galatians about. That is, they were turning back to be enslaved by the demonic forces that rule this current world.
And we do not want to be there. Seek the true religious freedom that comes from Jesus Christ Believe that you have been set free from sin. Believe that you are set free from the law by baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. And believe that you are a new creation in Jesus Christ, born of God and no longer a citizen in slavery to this world, but set free as a citizen of the kingdom of God.

Prayer Points:

Pray and ask God to open your eyes to the truth of the true religious freedom that comes from and through Jesus Christ.
Pray for the strength and ability to recognise all forms of slavery, bondage, and entrapment that exist in modern religion and religious practices, so that you can reject them.
Pray that the Lord will guide you into the truth of religious freedom so that you can walk with Christ with your eyes wide open and not under the veil of the law that will cloud you from seeing the truth (See 2 Corinthians 3:12-18).