Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Be Free (Galatians): Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality
    Be Free (Galatians): Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality
    Be Free (Galatians): Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality
    Ebook158 pages2 hours

    Be Free (Galatians): Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality

    By Warren W. Wiersbe

    3.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    More than just a guide to understanding Galatians, best-selling author Warren Wiersbe's Be Free is also a guide to embracing freedom in Christ.  As a man who is known as the "pastor of pastors" and has studied the Bible relentlessly, gleaning relevance for today for his readers and listeners, Wiersbe has so gripped the hearts of his wide audience that he has sold over 4 million copies of his "Be" series alone!


    His accessible, at times quirky and comical, style of writing is perfect for any age group to crave more of the Word of God.  He opens up Paul's epistle, explaining Paul's approach to the Galatians and putting ancient traditions in perspective for Christians today.  Most importantly, he illustrates through Paul's writing how the Gospel can only remain the Gospel of Christ if it is solely for God's glory alone.  Just as the Galatian church was slipping back into the dangerous rituals of the Jewish religious system, Christians today add parameters around Scripture that hinder them and that Christ never intended.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid C Cook
    Release dateJan 1, 2010
    ISBN9781434700216
    Be Free (Galatians): Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality
    Author

    Warren W. Wiersbe

    Warren W. Wiersbe, former pastor of the Moody Church and general director of Back to the Bible, has traveled widely as a Bible teacher and conference speaker. Because of his encouragement to those in ministry, Dr. Wiersbe is often referred to as "the pastor’s pastor." He has ministered in churches and conferences throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Central and South America, and Europe. Dr. Wiersbe has written over 150 books, including the popular BE series of commentaries on every book of the Bible, which has sold more than four million copies. At the 2002 Christian Booksellers Convention, he was awarded the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement Award by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Dr. Wiersbe and his wife, Betty, live in Lincoln, Nebraska.

    Read more from Warren W. Wiersbe

    Related to Be Free (Galatians)

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Fake News, Fake Gospels!

      Dec 31, 2021

      Fake News, Fake Gospels!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Jun 12, 2020

      This lockdown has really shaken a lot of people and caused them to stop relying on themselves and the things of this world. Jesus is our only hope and I am so grateful that I know Him as my Lord and Saviour and best friend and protector. I have peace

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jul 21, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Sep 24, 2021

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Jul 30, 2021

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Dec 29, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      7 min read

    • Article

      How Should We Respond To Celebrities Coming To Christ?

      Dec 30, 2019

      If you’ve been following the news lately, you will have noticed a significant wave of celebrities who are turning to Christ. In what is referred to as a massive spiritual movement, the sinful city of Hollywood is turning more and more stars away from

      5 min read

    • Article

      Forward March!

      Sep 4, 2020

      Forward March!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 7, 2020

      Greetings in the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In your July issue of JOY! you asked what we are grateful for. I’m grateful for the fact that Jesus Christ saved me and my family. My third born son suffered severe burns on his body, and my last b

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Mar 8, 2024

      Send your letters to editor@joymag.co.za Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Apr 22, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      Worldview?

      Dec 30, 2022

      Worldview?
      3 min read

    • Article

      God Uses Imperfect People

      Sep 29, 2023

      God Uses Imperfect People
      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘Socially Acceptable’ Sins

      Apr 22, 2022

      In the church today, there are many sins that are seen as ‘socially acceptable’. Are we changing the Bible to fit our culture, or are we changing our culture to fit the Bible? While the sin of worry, for example, may not seem as severe as murder, it

      6 min read

    • Article

      WHO’S In The NEWS?

      Jul 22, 2022

      We need the moving and operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives and churches like never before. It is critical for the harvest of souls to come in. Johan Brits – Gospel singer and member of worship duo, Frank and I – and his wife, Elzaan, are expec

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Dec 30, 2019

      Letters To The Editor
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 19, 2019

      Thank you for your wonderfully illustrated Biblical series of articles that you regularly publish. I find that I can’t concentrate like I used to, and love the short, precise, and factual articles. I have learnt so much from reading them. I was fasci

      7 min read

    • Article

      Women Of Grace

      Oct 21, 2019

      Many who read the above scripture are usually quick to grab the promises of prisons shaking, stubborn doors opening, and chains falling away. However, upon deeper study of this scripture, it is evident that the “Suddenly” in verse 26 was a direct res

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Dec 1, 2023

      Send your letters to editor@joymag.co.za Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Be Free (Galatians)

    3.5/5

    20 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Apparently I was reading two of Wiersbe's Be books at the same time without really noticing it. In my defense, they were two drastically different editions, they were never in close proximity to one another, and I had never actually heard of Wiersbe before reading these books. So far I continue to be impressed with the Be series in general; this volume got a higher rating than the other simply because the topic is perhaps slightly more controversial (and he handled it well) and because it came along at exactly the right time.

      I (and many other people I am sure) would love to mature in our Christian faith, but it's not always clear what this looks like. This book is not the end all be all of Christian maturity obviously, but it certainly is very inspiring. I may have more clear thoughts later, right now I just need to step away and digest all I've been taking in. Definitely a book I am interested in rereading though.
    • 4/5
      Years ago I owned most of Wiersbe's "Be Series" in print. I got rid of the collection in one of my moves, and I often regret some of the radical downsizing. Wiersbe's books are perfect for personal or group Bible study. His writing still speaks to Christians today. I read a chapter each day, although I read a couple of chapters on a couple of days, of the Galatians volume. Wiersbe frames everything from the historical context in which Paul wrote the letter. The Galatian Christians, influenced by the Judaizers, became too legalistic. Paul reminds them of the freedom in Christ they enjoy. I enjoyed revisiting this volume in my daily quiet time.

    Book preview

    Be Free (Galatians) - Warren W. Wiersbe

    BE FREE

    Published by David C. Cook

    4050 Lee Vance View

    Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

    David C. Cook Distribution Canada

    55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

    David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

    Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

    David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo

    are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

    All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

    no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

    without written permission from the publisher.

    Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James

    Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.) Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken

    from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman

    Foundation. Used by permission; NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International

    Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used

    by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved; and WMS are taken from The New

    Testament in the Language of the People by Charles B. Williams, © 1966 by Edith S.

    Williams. Used by permission of Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

    LCCN 2009923013

    ISBN 978-1-4347-6747-9

    eISBN 978-1-4347-0021-6

    © 1975 Warren W. Wiersbe

    First edition of Be Free by Warren W. Wiersbe published by Victor Books®

    in 1975 © Warren W. Wiersbe, ISBN 978-0-89693-733-8

    The Team: Karen Lee-Thorp, Amy Kiechlin, Jack Campbell, and Susan Vannaman

    Series Cover Design: John Hamilton Design

    Cover Photo: Veer Images

    Second Edition 2009

    To Fred Brown, Lee Roberson,

    and Lehman Strauss—

    friends in the ministry

    who have been

    an encouragement

    along the way

    CONTENTS

    The Big Idea: An Introduction to Be Free by Ken Baugh

    A Word from the Author

    1. Bad News about the Good News (Galatians 1:1–10)

    2. Born Free! (Galatians 1:11–24)

    3. The Freedom Fighter—Part 1 (Galatians 2:1–10)

    4. The Freedom Fighter—Part 2 (Galatians 2:11–21)

    5. Bewitched and Bothered (Galatians 3:1–14)

    6. The Logic of Law (Galatians 3:15–29)

    7. It’s Time to Grow Up! (Galatians 4:1–18)

    8. Meet Your Mother (Galatians 4:19–31)

    9. Stop! Thief! (Galatians 5:1–12)

    10. The Fifth Freedom (Galatians 5:13–26)

    11. The Liberty of Love (Galatians 6:1–10)

    12. The Marks of Freedom (Galatians 6:11–18)

    The Big Idea

    An Introduction to Be Free

    by Ken Baugh

    Saving Private Ryan is one of my favorite World War II movies. Three out of four brothers are killed in action, and then a search is launched to find the fourth, Private James Ryan, so that he is not killed, leaving his mother childless. Eight men are sent out to find Private Ryan, who is missing somewhere in Normandy. As these men wander through the French countryside, they have a running dialogue of angst: Why is the army risking the lives of eight men to save one? Their anger and frustration only increases as they experience one life-threatening situation after another. Then, one evening, before they sack out for the night, Captain John Miller says to his sergeant:

    This Ryan better be worth it, he better do something important with his life, he better become a doctor and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something.

    Captain Miller hopes Private Ryan will be worthy of the risks that he and his men are taking to find him. Eventually, Miller and his Rangers locate Ryan, but he is duty bound to stay and defend an important bridge from German forces. Miller agrees to join Ryan and his makeshift unit, but in the battle Miller and most of the men who came to find Ryan are killed. In the final moments before Captain Miller dies of his wounds, he says to Ryan in a low and shaky voice: Earn this. Earn it. In essence, Captain Miller is telling Ryan to live his life from that moment on in such a way that it is worthy of their sacrifices.

    At the end of the movie, an elderly Ryan is seen visiting the graveside of Captain Miller and the other Rangers who sacrificed everything for him. Turning to his wife, he says, Tell me I’ve led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man. As the scene fades out you realize that Private James Ryan has lived his entire life with Captain Miller’s words echoing in his mind: Earn this. Earn it.

    The end of the movie is powerful because it strikes a chord deep inside that many of us struggle with in our journey with Jesus. We often feel like we have to earn God’s love or do something that makes us deserve what Jesus went through on the cross. Yet these feelings contradict the clear teaching of the Bible that God’s love is unconditional and that our salvation is free. But we sure struggle with that, don’t we?

    The apostle Paul penned his letter to the churches in Galatia to correct their misunderstanding of grace. A group of Jewish Christians whom Paul refers to as the circumcision group (2:12 NIV) has somehow convinced the Gentile Christians in Galatia that they have to both believe in Christ and practice Jewish laws and traditions in order for God to be happy with them. So Paul writes to them a stern letter of rebuke not to accept any other gospel than that which he has preached to them, because any other gospel is no gospel at all (1:6–7 NIV). What makes salvation good news is that it is free.

    Herein lies the Big Idea that runs throughout the book of Galatians: God’s love is unconditional, and salvation is a free gift from God that can only be received by faith and responded to with love. But that truth is a tough pill to swallow, even for us today, because we have been so conditioned to believe that nothing is free. We have to do something, we have to perform in some way and earn what we get. Phillip Yancey says:

    As early as preschool and kindergarten we are tested and evaluated before being slotted into an advanced, normal, or slow academic track. From then on we receive grades denoting our performance in math, science, reading and even social skills and citizenship. Test papers come back with errors in red, not correct answers highlighted. All this helps prepare us for the real world with its relentless ranking. (What’s So Amazing About Grace, 36)

    The truth is that God’s grace and love being free and unconditional seems just too good to be true. Because of our conditioning, we feel compelled to do something to earn them. But the gospel that Paul personally received from the Lord Jesus stresses that grace cannot be earned, it can only be received. There are no spiritual hoops to jump through, no list of rules and regulations that need to be obeyed, no amount of biblical knowledge or helping the poor or going on some crusade for a righteous cause—there is nothing you can do to earn salvation or to make God love you any more than He does right this minute. His salvation is free, and His love is unconditional. But still, with all that being said, there is something inside us as human beings that makes us reluctant to accept God’s love as it is freely given.

    For centuries people have tried to make themselves deserving of God’s love. Even today we find Christian groups sending the message to new believers, Great! Now that you believe in Christ and are saved, here’s a list of things you need to start doing to make God (and us) happy. And here’s another list of things you need to stop doing in order to be acceptable in our fellowship. It seems like trying to earn God’s favor is a persistent struggle for God’s people.

    A couple of years ago I was staying at a hotel in Jerusalem on a Saturday. As I was taking the elevator down from my room to the lobby, it stopped by itself on each floor. The door opened for about thirty seconds, and then it closed, proceeded to the next floor, and did the same thing all over again. I thought something really weird was going on, and then I remembered that it was Saturday and Saturday is the Sabbath in Jerusalem. I was on what Jews call a Shabbat elevator. You see, Orthodox Jews believe that it is against the law of Moses to do any work on the Sabbath, including pushing an elevator button. Therefore, the elevators in every hotel in Israel stop automatically at each floor so that Orthodox Jews can keep their Sabbath free of any work. Thankfully, I’m not an Orthodox Jew, so the next time I took the stairs. I guess I’m just too impatient. I believe that Shabbat elevators are just another form of a legalistic, works-oriented salvation for the person who is trying to earn God’s favor.

    True salvation is free of works and totally dependent upon God’s grace. And once you get this, once you allow the truth of the real gospel to penetrate your heart, you begin to live in freedom. Freedom from fear of losing God’s love, freedom from guilt, shame, and condemnation when you do something that doesn’t measure up, freedom from the frantic urge to perform for God so He will love you more. The gospel is the good news, and the good news is that God is for you, not against you, that God loves you right now as much as He will ever love you, and that salvation is a free gift that He makes available to anyone who will receive it by faith. This is Paul’s gospel, and this is truly good news! I hope and pray as you read through Galatians and this commentary that you will find freedom in God’s gift of grace and come to truly understand His amazing, unconditional love. The true gospel sets us free!

    ***

    Dr. Wiersbe’s commentaries have been a source of guidance and strength to me over the many years that I have been a pastor. His unique style is not overly academic, but theologically sound. He explains the deep truths of Scripture in a way that everyone can understand and apply. Whether you’re a Bible scholar or a brand-new believer in Christ, you will benefit, as I have, from Warren’s insights. With your Bible in one hand and Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary in the other, you will be able to accurately unpack the deep truths of God’s Word and learn how to apply them to your life.

    Drink deeply, my friend, of the truths of God’s Word, for in them you will find Jesus Christ, and there is freedom, peace, assurance, and joy.

    —Ken Baugh

    Pastor of Coast Hills Community Church

    Aliso Viejo, California

    A Word from the

    Author

    Galatians is a dangerous book.

    It exposes the most popular substitute for spiritual living that we have in our churches today—legalism. I didn’t say among the false cults. I said in the churches because that is where much legalism is today.

    Millions of believers think they are spiritual because of what they don’t do—or because of the leader they follow—or because of the group they belong to. The Lord shows us in Galatians how wrong we are—and how right we can be if only we would let the Holy Spirit take over.

    When the Holy Spirit does take over, there will be liberty, not bondage—cooperation, not competition—glory to God, not praise to man. The world will see true Christianity, and sinners will come to know the Savior. There is an old-fashioned word for this: revival.

    After spending months studying Galatians, I am humbled and challenged. Humbled because I don’t think God is too impressed with our ministries, no matter how impressed men may be. Challenged because I myself need to start living deeper and ministering deeper. I need to dare to let the Holy Spirit have His way, whether my life or ministry fits the current pattern or not.

    So, I say: Galatians is a dangerous book. It was dangerous for Paul to write it. It was dangerous for the Galatians to read it. Perhaps my writing this study of it will prove to have been a dangerous thing. (I might lose some friends and some invitations to preach!)

    So be it.

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1