Charles Spurgeon Commentary Galatians 5:13

"For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only [use] not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another." — Galatians 5:13 (ASV)

For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Do not let liberty become license; do not say, "I may do this or that, and therefore I will do it because it pleases me." You are not to do anything because it pleases you, but you are to do everything because it pleases God. When a person is no longer a slave to sin, or self, or Satan, let them begin to serve their brothers and sisters: By love serve one another.

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh,

"Do not make licence out of your liberty. Remember that liberty from sin is not liberty to sin."

For, brothers, you have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Do not turn your liberty into license. The apostle, in this Epistle, had begun urging the Galatian Christians to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ had made them free, and never again to be entangled with the yoke of legal bondage. He warned them against that error into which many have fallen. But you know that it is often our tendency, if we escape from one error, to rush into another. So the apostle guards these Christians against that Antinomian spirit which teaches us that freedom from the law allows indulgence in sin: Do not use your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.