God has given believers in the Grace Administration a very important command. We are told to stand fast in liberty.
Galatians 5:1:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
The yoke of bondage refers to the Old Testament law. As is true with each Biblical administration, believers in the Old Testament lived under a set of policies and spiritual truths that applied to their specific day and time. But, once Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Testament law, these laws ceased to apply to believers.
This is very important for us to understand. We are no longer obligated to fulfill the law. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law once and for all and made us free from any obligation under it. We are in a new administration, the Administration of Grace. This administration began on the day of Pentecost with the initial outpouring of the gift of holy spirit, and it will continue until the gathering together.
Our administration is governed by a new set of policies and spiritual truths—namely, the seven Church Epistles and all the truths contained therein. And the Epistle of Galatians is telling us that we are to stand fast in the liberty that Jesus Christ made available for us. The word “liberty” means “a state of being unrestricted, unfettered, free.” It is certainly possible to continue to try to fulfill the law, but to do so is like willingly putting a heavy yoke of bondage on our necks, because Jesus Christ’s accomplishments brought about something even greater than the law—the Age of Grace.
Furthermore, we receive no benefit from living under the Old Testament law, for we are told that our work to fulfill the law will never make us justified.
Galatians 2:16:
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith [believing] of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Galatians also tells us that with this liberty we are to serve one another in love. Jesus Christ freed us from the obligations of the law. His accomplishments ushered in a new standard for living—a standard of love. Our instruction in this new administration is to serve one another in love.
Galatians 5:13,14:
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love [agapē] serve one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love [agapaō] thy neighbour as thyself.
We serve one another in agapē love—God’s love nature that we receive when we are born again of God’s spirit. In the Old Testament, it was not possible for anyone to manifest the love of God because they could not be born again and filled with God’s spirit. But for us, this love is possible!
Our logical response to all that God has done for us in Christ is to love one another. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I John 4:11:
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Believers in the Grace Administration have been freed from the Old Testament law and given something even greater because of the accomplished works of Jesus Christ. We are told to stand fast in this freedom and to serve one another in God’s love. So, let’s make the choice, with all that we’ve been given, to use our freedom to serve one another in love.