(As usual, my remarks here are in red.)

    What probably is the most controversial Scripture in all the “New Testament” is Galatians 5:18 (paralleling Romans 6:14). Simply put, this Scripture (and the like) has been a stumbling block for virtually the entire Christian/Catholic world, and so being the foundation of their own folly due to their lack of having circumspect priests. Nevertheless, some advocates for keeping the “Old Testament” Laws of Mosheh have even resorted to rearranging this verse to fit the doctrine. And so this leaves them in no better standing than the former, since it should have been against their conscience to establish a lie.

    When researching this verse, I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t find any commentaries in all of my thousands of digital books to show that the verse had been manipulated. So the next step was to look at this verse and similar ones in their syntactic structure and pin point how key words are being used semantically, so that I can determine the precise definitions and know if it has indeed been manipulated. But once again, I had to deal with the fact that they showed to be syntactically correct. So I was stunned with having to deal with a verse that appears to say “you are not under the Law” (which does not make sense, since the Laws of Mosheh are moral Laws).

   However, after pondering the theme and then narrowing down the definitions accordingly, the key was finally evident in its context: a critical word choice was overlooked in respect of its context.  I have even found a few commentaries that confirm the theme and the moral implications for taking Galatians 5:18 and similar verses in such a manner as quoted above. These commentaries in effect will support my conclusion of correctly rendering an “in bondage to” translation or else force a note conveying this. This proof will no doubt create the most controversial reexamination of a Scripture and reproof of the religions whose faith has been based on that former misconception.

   And so now, here is the technical difference:

The ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament (Galatians 5:18)

The Arthur Pink anthology (Chapter 41, The Law and the Saint)

2. The Negative Side

In the Galatian Epistle there are quite a number of verses which are used by those who affirm the Law has no relation to believers today—e.g. 2:19; 3:13; 3:23–25; 4:5; 5:18. Now it is impossible to understand these verses unless we first see what is the theme and character of the Epistle in which they are found. The theme of Galatians is the Believer’s Emancipation from the Law. The special character of the Epistle is that it was written to confirm the faith of Christians, who had been troubled and shaken by Judaisers. But a careful reading of the Epistle should show the Emancipation here viewed is not from the Law as the standard of moral conduct, but from the curse or penalty of the Law… (Notice how it is admitted that it cannot be that we are free from the moral Laws of Mosheh. Emphasize the Law’s penalty (i.e. its call to have you enslaved or killed etc) for breaking it. Also point out that emancipation is a release from slavery and bondage)

Concise Oxford English dictionary (11th ed.)

emancipate /IÈmansIpeIt/

■ v. set free, especially from legal, social, or political restrictions.

†     free from slavery.

Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary

eman•ci•pate \i-ˈman(t)-sə-ˌpāt\ vt

-pat•ed; -pat•ing [L emancipatus, pp. of emancipare, fr. e- + mancipare to transfer ownership of, fr. mancip-, manceps contractor, fr. manus hand + capere to take — more at manual, heave] 1613

1           : to free from restraint, control, or the power of another esp : to free from bondage

Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary

bond•age \ˈbän-dij\ n

[ME, fr. AF, fr. bonde customary tenant, fr. ME] 14c

1           : the tenure or service of a villein, serf, or slave

2           : a state of being bound usu. by compulsion (as of law or mastery): as

     a      : captivity, serfdom

A Biblical Theology of the New Testament, page 276

A significant question for early Christians concerned to what extent, if any, these stipulations to Israel applied to them as well, particularly since the Bible they read and studied was the Old Testament. Though portions of the New Testament seem to support those who wish to continue living in accord with the Old Testament laws (e.g., passages in Matthew and James, along with some recorded events in Acts), these letters of Paul have a different emphasis. (Emphasize how it is widely admitted that the NT supports the keeping of the OT Laws as well as the fact that the Galatians only had the OT and could not have had any problems with any of these later teachings from the NT, but only a letter from Shaul)

An instructive passage in this regard is in Galatians where he wrote, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law” (5:18). Since Paul viewed all Christians as led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14–15), it follows that he did not believe the stipulations of the law applied to them. This conclusion might be denied on the grounds that a qualification of some sort needs to be attached to Paul’s statement about not being under law, such as “you are not under the Law’s condemnation” or “you are not under a legalistic misinterpretation of the Law.” While qualifications such as these are not unreasonable interpretations of Paul’s view, they suffer from the fact that they are not qualifications Paul himself made. (Notice how it is admitted that something specific in the Law of Mosheh must be intended rather than its entirety. Emphasize the Law’s condemnation (i.e. its call to have you enslaved or killed etc) for breaking it, not that you are condemned for keeping it, for they are MORAL LAWS!  –Do not commit adultery, do not have sex with an animal, do not defraud one another etc)

Click here to download entire pdf version