Apart from being accursed for preaching a gospel contrary to the
Apostle Paul’s version (Gal 1:8-9), let’s briefly look at the two byproducts of
being in league with either trafficking or embracing a very serious spiritual
error of a corrupt gospel. Since Judaizers or their followers have never been
regenerated, we can see these two descriptive spiritual conditions from a
proper angle in what it means to be “estranged from Christ” or “fallen from
grace,” than the forced view of “had it and lost it,” and all of the
confusion that comes along with that!
(1) “You have become estranged
from Christ” (Gal 5:4a). The verb
“estranged” (Gk, katargeo, G2673) has
various meanings, null and void, useless, neutralized, abolished, done away,
destroyed, dissolved, separated, or severed.
Those seeking to be justified by the law (or applicably anything considered
necessary in addition to faith for salvation) have become “severed” (NASB) or
literally cut off or separated from (Gk, apo,
G575) Christ.
Note that “you” in Gal 5:4a is
plural which involves an unspecified number of so-called believers seeking to be justified by keeping the law and
observing things pertaining to the law in the churches established by Paul throughout
southern Galatia (Gal 1:2) but not all. In Gal 5:5 Paul uses the pronoun “we”
in referring to the true believers –
“For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith (not by law, emphasis mine).”
“Hope” (Gk, elpis, G1680) never carries the meaning of uncertainty in the New Testament, but
always an expectation or anticipation of a positive reality.
“Eagerly wait” is used 7x in the NT in reference to the return of Christ and
the completion of our salvation, the long-awaited glorification or ultimate
sanctification (cf.1 Cor 15:51-52; 1 Jn 3:2). Another result of attempting to
be justified by law is this.
(2) “You have fallen from grace” (Gal 5:4c) or “You did fall out
of [the sphere of, added] grace” (A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament). If rites such as circumcision
or any legal observances were necessary for salvation, they were leaving the
domain of grace for the sphere of a works-related system. They had in effect
willfully let go of grace (“fallen,” aorist active indicative) and entered the
sphere of law to be justified in the sight of God. They had essentially
annulled or abolished grace for law.
“You have fallen from grace” is hardly descriptive of a saved person falling into sin and losing their
salvation because those seeking to be justified by law were not intentionally
living lawlessly though there were apparent fleshly activities going on in
these churches (cf. Gal 5:19-21). These legalists or their followers were probably
deemed as “good, moral, and ethical” people trying to distance themselves from persecution and immorality which may have appealed to those
who professed but never possessed. Here is the kicker; being good, moral, and ethical cannot
save anyone because having a good character is not a remedy for sin. Only Jesus’ death on the
cross is the only cure approved by God.
Ironically, those who rejected salvation by grace through faith were also mistaken about the nature of the
Mosaic law itself (Gal 3:23-24)! Have you noticed that the blind attracts the
blind; both are ditch-prone and ditch-bound (Lk 6:39) who ditch grace for human
effort!
Any person who has turned their back on God’s gracious offer of
salvation for another way to glory is insulting, ungrateful, and not to
mention, self-destructive. Such desertion of the true Gospel message results in
separation from the only Person who has atoned for man’s sin. Salvation was in
their grasp, but they let go of it by deserting the sphere of unmerited favor
where atonement for sin and justification by faith alone is to be found for a
domain of law where there is no atonement for the penalty of sin (Heb 10:4,10,
12), no justification, no mercy, only condemnation, and certainly deserved wrath
for sin. A “different gospel” leads to a miserable, insufferable end.
Such a person advocating and/or receiving a different gospel
than what the Apostle Paul delivered is in essence declaring that God’s Son had
died for nothing; the Godhead had it all wrong! Can you see why the salvation of works is so offensive to God? If you believe you can lose your salvation,
it is tantamount to attempting to be saved by works; in such case, Christ died for nothing because it is erroneously believed it can be circumvented. Man doesn’t need Christ’s death to get to heaven. This is
of great offense to the holiness and integrity of the Godhead.
“Christ must be everything or nothing to
a man; no limited trust or divided allegiance is acceptable to Him. The man who
is justified by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is a Christian; the man who
seeks to be justified by the works of the law [or being obedient out of a fear
of losing salvation, added] is not” (Believer’s
Bible Commentary on Gal 5:4, quoting Hogg and Vine).
Let me quickly talk about the confusion in all of this. Can
believers become confused about spiritual truth? Of course, they can; I can
testify to that. Does this mean we are lost? No, as long as we are clear
concerning salvation. Some interpreters want to place those confused
“believers,” in the “weaker brother” category because some serpent-spun speaker
convinced them that only by law can one be justified, and now they are confused about which gospel is right, Paul’s or the Judaizers’!?
I maintain that this really muddles up the way to salvation. Is
someone truly saved being confused about salvation? How can one fully trust in
the Lord in a state of confusion or uncertainty? Again, no one stumbles into
heaven on their own, confused, mistaken, or accidentally (cf. 2 Tim 1:12). I
once was spiritually blind, but now I see. Salvation is simple and
straightforward; if not careful we can make it complicated for others, and
these Judaizers did that very thing by adding to the gospel and not recognizing
Paul’s authority as an Apostle. The bottom line is found in Jn 6:44a,
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”
There is no record of anyone being drawn by God the Father to
the Son leaving this world lost. The tone of Gal 1:8-9 strongly suggests Paul
made the gospel very clear to the Galatians. This is not a message to those who
are honestly confused but to those who had intentionally deserted grace for law.
Paul declared, “I do not set aside [to make null and void,
disannul, neutralize, or make meaningless] the grace of God; for if
righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain [needlessly, without
a cause, for nothing, unnecessarily],” (Gal 2:21). It was in eternity past that
God planned to redeem sinners through Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Tim 1:9; Rev 13:8).
This explains the supercharged negative action on Paul’s part, “I do not set
aside” (Gal 2:21); Paul knew the theological ramifications of those seeking
righteousness through the law; it called into question the credibility of God
and resulted in souls being misled.
It is a typical cultic practice to build a major doctrine on
controversial passages such as Gal 5:4. It is only controversial because of the
number of varied interpretations. We could make a general statement and say the
whole Bible is controversial for that matter! It is radical and revolutionary to those caught
up in the world system of human effort for everything, including heaven.
Through the camouflage of controversy and convolution, intellectually dishonest
and spiritually blinded people will violate the context of Scripture in order
to stay true to the context of their own serpent-spun theology.
Our theology should be derived from the historical/grammatical
context of Scripture, a tried and true hermeneutics (a system of interpretation of the Scriptures), and not from some
anti-historical, non-evangelical interpretation of Scriptures by false teachers
claiming to be speaking for God. They will make claims to be rooted in
Scripture, but they had essentially rooted God out long ago and acted independently
of His authority ever since.
Before talking about how should we then live in light of eternal
security in Christ in Part 7, let’s entertain how should we then live in light
of temporal insecurity if the premise is true; there is no eternal security.
You would have to be; should I say – perfect (sinless) or entirely without a trace of
sin for life! We cannot commit sins of omission (cf. Jas 4:17) or commission, mentally
(cf.Mt 5:28) or physically, secretly (Psa 90:8), or publicly.
The stringency is seen in those who would be justified by the law (cf. Gal 5:3; Jas 2:10). Show me one person who has never violated the ten commandments, and I will show you, God! Only the God-Man kept the entire scope of the Law perfectly (Gal 4:4-5); no one before or after Him has ever done what Jesus had done, for He was sinless. No human can make that claim whether they believe in salvation by grace or by effort.
The stringency is seen in those who would be justified by the law (cf. Gal 5:3; Jas 2:10). Show me one person who has never violated the ten commandments, and I will show you, God! Only the God-Man kept the entire scope of the Law perfectly (Gal 4:4-5); no one before or after Him has ever done what Jesus had done, for He was sinless. No human can make that claim whether they believe in salvation by grace or by effort.
Since we are born with a sinful nature (Psa 51:5; Rom 3:10, 23) we
are all going to die one day (barring the rapture) because we are sinners (Rom
5:12). We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners! Since only one Man
propitiated the just demands of the holiness of God for sin, only Jesus could
have paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. The law or human effort of any
kind will not impute to us the desperately needed righteousness of God (Rom
8:3, 4). It is only through faith in Christ that the righteousness of God in
Him is imputed to us by His Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:21).
This whole idea of achieving salvation apart from Christ or in
conjunction with Christ’s work on the cross is spiritually arrogant, ignorant,
disrespectful, absurd, burdensome, and a death wish. How should we then live if temporal
security is true? Frankly, we can’t; no one can or ever will. This is why Jesus
came to die (Mt 20:28; Lk 19:10; Jn 10:10b; Gal 3:13).
If man was to be redeemed
at all it was not going to be by the law or human effort, God the Father would
have to send God the Son (Jn 3:16) as the only propitiation for sin (1 Jn 2:2;
4:10). And the wonderful words of Jn 3:16, 17 have under inspiration the
authority of God’s Word upon it – “whoever believes in Him (His Son) should not
perish (Jn 3:18) but have everlasting life,” unconditionally now and forever. Did
God send His only begotten Son? Yes, He did (Lk 1:31, 35; 2:7, 11).
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| To Part 7 |
