Faith Expressing Itself Through Love
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.” – Galatians 5:6 (HCSB)
Paul is dealing with something much larger than circumcision. He is confronting the persistent human desire to turn our standing with God into something we can accomplish, measure, display, and compare. The Galatians had received the Gospel by faith, but now others were attempting to convince them that faith in Christ was insufficient. Something needed to be added. Some external marker was necessary to demonstrate that they truly belonged to God.
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul will have none of it.
Believing in a works-based faith actually prevents us from obeying the truth. Paul asks, “Who prevented you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7). God did not teach them this error, and Paul warns that such teaching spreads like yeast through dough. Whoever obscures the Gospel and troubles believers with it will bear judgment (Galatians 5:8–10).
Paul even points to himself: “Now brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?” (Galatians 5:11). If Paul simply added religious works to faith, the offense of the cross would disappear. But the cross leaves no room for boasting in religious pedigree because Christ has accomplished what we could never accomplish ourselves.
Then Paul turns from what faith does not look like to what genuine faith actually produces. We have been called to freedom, but that freedom is not an opportunity for the flesh. Instead, “serve one another through love” (Galatians 5:13). The entire law is fulfilled in the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14). Then comes the practical direction: walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the law (Galatians 5:18).
We must be led by the Spirit because otherwise we will inevitably be led somewhere else – by ourselves, our flesh, our religious traditions, or another person.
The old fleshly and tribal ways are obsessed with labels and external markers. Circumcised or uncircumcised. Insider or outsider. Our group or their group. Paul sweeps all of that aside with one remarkable statement: neither circumcision nor uncircumcision “accomplishes anything.” The verb translated “accomplishes” (ischyei) carries the idea of having strength, force, or capacity.
In Christ, religious pedigree has no spiritual power. It cannot regenerate the heart, justify the sinner, produce holiness, or move anyone one inch closer to God.
But Paul immediately describes something that does have power: “faith working through love.”
The word translated “working” is energeō – the word from which we derive the idea of energy or effective activity. Paul pictures faith not as a dead religious label but as something active. Genuine faith expresses itself. And the direction in which it moves is love.
That distinction matters.
Works-based religion says, “Look what I have done so that God will accept me.”
Faith says, “Look what Christ has done – therefore I am free to love.”
The first continually turns inward, measuring itself against rules, achievements, labels, and other people. The second turns outward because its standing before God has already been settled in Christ. Faith does not work for acceptance. Faith works through love because of acceptance.
That is why approval-seeking eventually stalls the Christian life. It is a closed loop. We perform in order to feel accepted, briefly feel accepted because we performed, and then must perform again to reassure ourselves that we are still acceptable. There is no rest in that system because the focus remains upon us.
Faith expressing itself through love is entirely different. It begins with Christ, rests in Christ, and then moves outward toward others through the Spirit.
So perhaps the better question is not, “Am I doing enough?”
The better question is, “Is my faith moving through love?”
That is the motion Paul describes. Not religious torque generated by external markers. (e.i., "I am saved and right with God because of my frantic efforts.") Securing God's approval does not come by some tribal identification with the right group, but Faith resting in Christ and expressing itself through love.
Reflect
Where am I tempted to measure my standing with God by religious performance, external markers, or the approval of others rather than by faith in Christ?
If my faith is genuinely “working through love,” where should that love become visible in the way I treat others today?
Prayer:Father, keep me from trying to accomplish through religious effort what Christ has already accomplished for me. Teach me to rest in Him, walk by Your Spirit, and let my faith become visible through genuine love for others. Amen.
Jesus came to "set the captives free," by the Truth.
Do you know Jesus yet?
Pray and ask Him to save you! He will.
email: mike@trainandtell.org
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