The yoke of slavery. (5.1)

by Kent Leslie ✉️

As I’ve said before, the chapters were added to Galatians centuries after it was written. Sometimes they aren’t placed in the best spot. Galatians 5.1 really belongs with the previous paragraph, where Paul compares slavery under the Law and God’s promises, with Hagar and Sarah from Genesis. Verse 1 is kinda his way of summing up his whole allegory.

The reason Paul wrote yoke of slavery [Ga 5.1] is because Pharisees were really fond of talking about the yoke of the law. They’d say it all the time. It’s because they believed the yoke of the law was a much easier burden than the really heavy things of this world.

Jesus swiped their idea when he said,

Mt 11.29-30: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

And Jesus’s yoke is easy: Instead of following the Law, and racking our brains for whether a commandment applies to our situation (and, if we were Pharisees, also racking our brains to think of a rabbinic loophole so we wouldn’t really have to obey the commandment—remember, Pharisees were hypocrites), we just have to follow the Holy Spirit. He’ll always steer us right, if we’re listening. That’s real freedom.