What does it mean to serve one another through love (Galatians 5:13)?

This is the subject that the apostle takes up and handles henceforward in our epistle. We have seen the question of justification entirely settled; now we have the walk or practical holiness. Again he insists upon liberty. We might suppose that he had said enough about it, after having charged them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. But no. In the domain of holiness this liberty is needed, just as much as for justification; and therefore says he, "Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty." That is, it characterizes our calling. Only, says he, it is not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, or you are not to use license: do not turn this liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. There he showed that there is a faith that works by love, (as said a few verses before;) so now he shows that the object of that love should be the helping one of another. It is not for the purpose of putting you under the law, but that you may serve one another" "for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Had they not been trying the law? And what had been the result? He says, You have been biting and devouring one another: that is not fulfilling law, but lusts. When persons talk about it, or desire to be its teachers, do they ever fulfil it? It begins with confident words, and ends without deed or truth. Whereas, on the contrary, when Christ is the object of the soul, though the law does not occupy the mind, yet is it fulfilled. Christ is the power of God; the law is the strength of sin. I have exactly the same word of God to tell me of Christ and the law; and both are in the same epistle. (1 Cor.) But it does not matter where the subject is entered into; the great point that the Holy Ghost insists on is, not that the law was not a good thing, but that, our nature being horribly bad, there never can be any good got from bringing the law to bear on our evil nature, save condemning it. The question is, What will strengthen my soul for what is good? The answer is, not the law, but Christ. The law, I admit, is excellent. But you have been talking about the law as a means of walking well: what sort of holiness have you been producing? Biting and devouring one another! This is not love. But it is the effect of your use of the law you boast of. "But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." Such is the result. The law is a killing, destroying power; not because of its being bad, but because our nature is. And remember that the law bears upon our nature. The law was given not to the new man, but to the old.

But a warning follows this glorious message of freedom. "Only do not turn that freedom into a base of operations for the flesh." When an enemy wishes to attack a country, he seeks first to gain possession of a small part of that country, as "a base of operations," and from that small bit, soon the enemy has conquered all the country. We need to see to it that the small bit of country is not first yielded to the enemy for a base; then the whole country is safe. So, the flesh will always be seeking to use our freedom for itself, and turn this blessing from God to the advantage of the enemy. Here is a Christian man who says: "I am called unto freedom, and so I am free to use the Lord's day as I wish." He keeps his shop open on that day, to the dishonor of his Master. Here is a Christian student who says: "I am free, I need not attend the meetings; I can use the time for study; I am called to freedom." Here is a Christian girl: she says, "I am free, I may wear what I please," and she puts on clothing that she knows the Scriptures condemn. Each of us has his own weakness which requires purpose of heart and self-judgment to keep from being brought under its power — "the sin which doth so easily beset us" (Heb. 12:1). Each of us knows "the plague of his own heart" (1 Kings 8:38). How we need to watch in these cases that our freedom does not become a base of operations for the flesh, our bitter enemy.

But though we are free, and the Apostle could hardly speak more strongly of our freedom, he urges us to hold it fast; yet in the very next sentence he tells us to make it a habit to be slaves. By means of love, or on account of love, let it be your habit to be slaves to one another. The Galatians had wished to return to slavery. Do so, says the Apostle, make it your habit to be slaves; but slaves to one another — not to the law! Slaves, yet free men! Love, true love, makes slaves of each one of us. We have seen our Lord rise from supper, lay aside His garments, take a towel and gird Himself, and do the work of a slave, for love to His own people. We are to follow His steps; on account of love, we are to serve one another, to serve as slaves. True love delights to do this. Watch a mother serve her husband and her children; she is a slave to them, but free — a slave in the bonds of love. Indeed, as the Apostle points out, the entire law is filled to the full in the one word, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." One who truly loves his neighbor will do his neighbor no wrong, and so he keeps the law towards his neighbor. "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Rom. 13:8. But read 1 Corinthians 13 and see how far, far beyond the law does love go! The law is filled to the full, and love has only begun her work of being a slave to others. How different is God's way from man's way.

We are to serve one another by love. This service is the service of a bondman, just as the Lord Jesus Christ served, and what an example this is for us! You remember in Philippians 2 it says clearly that He took a bondsman's form, served in that way, serving the will of God. Now here as bondsmen we are to serve each other, and we have the example that the Lord Jesus Christ set as He served His God, as He did His Father's will. It is not a case of setting my will against your will or you setting your will against my will, but together we are to submit to each other in the fear of the Lord and seek to love each other in this way. Now I know that we say, 'We cannot do this, there are all sorts of problems and difficulties and trials', but I think we will see in a few moments, thank God, there is power to do this.

He then touches on the point of the practical consequences of this doctrine, and explains how the doctrine of perfect grace was connected, without the law, with a walk worthy of the people of God. Ye have then been called, he says, unto liberty: only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh — which the flesh would readily do. God gave the law to convince of sin; the flesh would use it to work out righteousness. He acts in grace, that we may be above sin and outside its dominion: the flesh would use grace as an occasion to sin without restraint. The Christian, truly free from the yoke of sin, as well as from its condemnation (for Christ risen is his life as well as his righteousness, and the Spirit is the power and guide of his walk towards glory, and according to Christ), instead of serving his lusts, seeks to serve others, as free to do it in love. Thus the law itself is fulfilled, without our being under its yoke: for the whole practical law is summed up in this word: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

If, yielding to the flesh, and attacking those who were not circumcised, they devoured one another, they were to take heed that they were not consumed one of another. But the apostle would give something more positive. "This I say then," he continues, after the interruption of his subject, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." It is not by putting oneself under the law that one has power against sin. It is the Spirit (given in virtue of the ascension of Christ our righteousness, to the right hand of God) who is the Christian's strength. Now the two powers, the flesh and the Spirit, are antagonistic. The flesh strives to hinder us when we would walk according to the Spirit, and the Spirit resists the working of the flesh to prevent it from accomplishing its will. But if we are led of the Spirit, we are not under the law. Holiness, true holiness, is accomplished without the law, even as righteousness is not founded on it. 'Nor is there any difficulty in judging between what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit; the apostle enumerates the sad fruits of the former, adding the sure testimony that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The fruits of the Spirit are equally evident in their character, and assuredly against such things there was no law. If we walk according to the Spirit, the law will find nothing to condemn in us. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh and its lusts. This is what they are, inasmuch as they are Christians; it is that which distinguishes them. If these Galatians really lived, it was in the Spirit: let them then walk in the Spirit.

“For ye have been called to liberty, brethren; only do not turn liberty into an opportunity to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” (5:13)

Christian liberty is superior to the law system, and here we see how there is also this contrast between the Spirit and the flesh. Again we find this call, God’s call, being stressed. It is a beautiful thought, to meditate upon the privileges connected with the power of God’s call, and where it leads to. It leads to true liberty. Now, if we have a privilege we also have a responsibility and this is what comes out in the second part of this verse. There is the danger of license, the enemy is very subtle. If he cannot catch believers in legalism he will try to catch them in license. “No,”Paul says, “do not use the liberty as an opportunity to the flesh.”We will see in the next chapter that we are under a new rule, we are not in bondage, but it is a system of things that we can now serve one another by love. This word “serve,”means ‘to serve as a bondservant.’If we want to be a bondservant, Paul says, “do not be bondservant of the law, but be a bondservant of one another.”The point that he is making is that what these false teachers were doing was not through love. But the new rule, the law of Christ, goes together with love. It goes together with what the Lord says in John 13 about the love one for another. That characterizes this new order of things.

Paul wrote to the Galatians that they had been called to liberty, but that they should not abuse this Christian liberty and turn it into an opportunity for the flesh (the old nature). On the contrary, they should serve one another through love (5:13). This is also the main lesson of our chapter: love should be the motivation of every Christian service. It should propel us to serve one another.

Paul then goes on to show how liberty according to the Spirit would express itself. Liberty according to man is every man doing that which is right in his own eyes, the free expression of his own will, every restraint removed that would fetter his unbridled self-will, a liberty that results in lawlessness. But we are called to quite another kind of liberty, not for the activity of the flesh, but in which we can serve one another according to the will of God. "His service perfect freedom is." The Gospel brings a law of love — love with its constraining power, not the restraining power of a law which gendereth to bondage.

In verse 13 the apostle guards an important point. Liberty must not be taken to mean licence. Christian liberty is not licence for the flesh to act but liberty for Divine love to act. We stand in the liberty of the sons of God and our nature as "sons" is the Divine nature, which is love. The "flesh" is the nature which attaches to us as children of Adam. If we as Christians are living thus in the happy liberty that characterizes our relationship with God, and our hearts are consequently filled with love, we shall fulfil, as verse 14 tells us, what the law demanded but failed to produce from the flesh. Verse 15 seems to infer that, on the contrary, the Galatians who had turned back to law were far from keeping its demands; they were biting and devouring one another rather than loving and serving one another.

(Vv. 12-15.) Seeing, then, the evil effect of this false teaching, the Apostle can only wish that these troublers were cut off from the saints. His love for the truth and the welfare of believers made him intolerant of those whose teaching was destructive of Christian truth, robbing the saints of true liberty, and leading to practice, not only inconsistent with Christianity, but entirely contrary to the law to which they were turning back. "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." But while the law demands love, it gives no ability to meet its demands; and, being holy, it can only condemn us, seeing we have all failed to meet its demands.

In contrast to the law, Christianity gives us a new nature that loves to obey and do the will of God, and a new power, the Holy Spirit, to carry out the desires of the new nature. This is liberty, not, indeed, to be used for an occasion to the flesh to exalt itself, but to serve one another. The flesh likes to be served; but love delights to serve. The self-righteousness that seeks to exalt itself by its own works has no love or compassion for others. As with these troublers, who had sought to set the saints against the Apostle in order to attract to themselves (Gal. 4:17), so the vanity of the flesh will ever lead to fault-finding, and the belittling of others, in the effort to exalt self. In this way strife and contention is raised among the people of God. And when once brethren start biting and devouring one another, they may well "take heed," for, if this spirit is unjudged, it will not be long before they are consumed one of another. Alas! how many companies of God's people have been broken up and scattered by individuals contending with one another, and insulting one another, rather than serving one another in love.

What a trumpet note of the Spirit to our souls we next hear: "For, brethren, ye have been called to liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). The apostle is so angry with the legalist teachers — the men that put the Christian under law, and consequently into bondage — that he adds, "I would they were even cut off which trouble you" (ver. 12). Paul knew that love effects what law fails to produce, just as the gospel takes you much further than the law. The law says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" The gospel teaches us to "lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). For this the believer in Christ has power, by the Holy Ghost; for the gospel gives you life, power, and an object, life in Christ, power by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and then Christ personally as the object for the heart. The law did not give you any of these; the gospel gives you them all. Well may Paul say, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free" - i.e., hold firmly the very elements of the Christian calling — and then adds" only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13).