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"To testify the gospel of the grace of God" TrustingTheLordGrace 101 Bible Studies |
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Galatians Chapter Five
Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is an essential part of the doctrine to the body of Christ, and in order to have salvation by grace alone through faith alone it MUST exclude the works of the law, or for that matter, any works or any human merit of any kind. And Paul has made the strongest possible case in his letter to the Galatians for not being entangled with what he calls the yoke of bondage.
Now the Galatians, both Jews and Greeks, were people who were in the “commonwealth of Israel,” and they were in the synagogues of the Jews and they had both been taught and had practiced the law of Moses, James says in Acts 15 “of a long time.” The law of Moses was read in every synagogue every Sabbath day. But Paul had preached salvation and justification by faith alone. In Acts 13 you can read the entire speech Paul made in the synagogue of the Jews. So in chapter five he says:
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Galatians 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Galatians 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Now I think that in all likelihood that the majority of Jews would have been physically circumcised eight days after they were born, as Jesus Christ was, and as all Jews were who followed the law. In Acts chapter 16 Timothy was a half Jew, his mother being Jewish and his father being a Greek, and Timothy was not circumcised until the time of Acts chapter sixteen. Paul circumcised him “because of the Jews in that quarter.” In other words, Paul became as a Jew around the Jews and as one under the law to those under the law. He said that he became all things to all men so that, if, by any means he might win some.
But the point that I want to try to make here, is that the gospel OF the circumcision doesn’t mean the same thing as saying “the gospel TO the circumcision.” The majority of all Jews, probably, were physically circumcised. But the term OF the circumcision implies the gospel that Peter preached, in other words, the JEWISH Kingdom gospel.
Galatians 2:7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
Let’s look at a verse in 1 Corinthians that will help to demonstrate what I am talking about:
1 Corinthians 7:18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.
Now a man who was physically uncircumcised could become physically circumcised, but how could a man who was physically circumcised become uncircumcised? Physical circumcision involves a cutting which could not be physically UNCUT. Now we are getting a little graphic here but I am just trying to make a point.
It seems to me that there were some Kingdom saints at Corinth who had believed the doctrine of the circumcision gospel. As a matter of fact, in chapter one of 1 Corinthians there are some who say “I follow Cephas.” And the letter itself is addressed to the “church of God.” Now we know that it is all God’s church, but look:
1 Corinthians 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's:
Notice that he says, “called to be saints,” but that he doesn’t call them saints. The same is true in the Roman letter and we know that those Gentiles Paul wrote to in the Roman letter were Jewish proselytes. They were in an “olive tree,” and the olive tree represents Israel. So they would be those who were standing by faith, but who could be “cut off.” In other words they had faith in some form of doctrine and they had that standing. You can’t be cut off from the body of Christ. So the whole point of Paul writing the letter to the Romans was to establish them in their faith. He did that with body of Christ doctrine, which is what the whole Roman letter is about. It was to establish them.
So it seems that there are Kingdom saints at Corinth. Twice in the 1 Corinthian letter Paul says “be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ.” BUT, he does say in the same passage:
1 Corinthians 7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
1 Corinthians 7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
1 Corinthians 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
Most people seem to think that this is a reference to slaves and masters but I think that it could be a direct reference to LIBERTY in Christ. In other words if that man who had been called BEING circumcised, then BECAME uncircumcised, he would have become a believer of Paul’s gospel, the gospel of Christ, be saved, complete in Christ, and sealed. Then he would be a saint, not just “called to be” a saint.
The whole point being, that the gospel OF the circumcision is not that physical operation of circumcision and it is not that it means that Peter went to the Jews and Paul went to the Gentiles. But it is a whole DOCTRINE, and it would be Peter’s doctrine, the same doctrine Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, and the same doctrine he preached to an UNcircumcized Gentile, Cornelious, the Roman Centurian, in Acts chapter ten. So in the same way, the gospel OF the uncircumcision is a DOCTRINE. It is the doctrine of total justification in the fact that Christ died for ALL our sins, was raised for our justification and we are complete in him. The two different gospels are two different doctrinal systems. The verse in Galations does not mean what religion tries to make it mean, that Peter went to the Jews and Paul went to the Gentiles, because we know that Paul preached the gospel of Christ all the way through the book of Acts, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. There are two different gospels in the verse, and neither of them are a FALSE gospel. They are real gospels.
Galatians 2:7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
Now the gospel of the circumcision is basically the same message as the gospel of the Kingdom. The only difference seems to be that the gospel of the circumcision, being about the second coming of Christ, doesn’t have a date associated with it. In other words, when Peter preaches the second coming of Christ, he doesn’t say that the “kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Because he doesn’t know WHEN the Lord will come again. The Lord had told Peter and the 12 in Acts chapter one that it was “not for them to know the times and the seasons.” So when Peter preaches he says repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing come, and Jesus Christ comes again. He doesn’t say his coming, or the Kingdom, is AT HAND. Basically, that’s the difference between the gospel of the Kingdom and the gospel of the circumcision.
So I hope that we can see that the gospel OF the circumcision is basically the same message as the gospel of the Kingdom which was preached in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The same message is preached by Peter right on up to the time of Acts chapter twelve. Then Peter’s message “fades away,” and Peter disappears from the pages of the book of Acts and the account is all about Paul’s ministry and message. Paul’s message is the gospel OF the uncircumcision and it’s about justification by faith alone, apart from the works of the law. Peter’s message, which is the same as that of James and John, is very much involved with the law. They are keeping the law and zealous of the law.
So Paul tells the Galations to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. He tells them to not be entangled AGAIN with the yoke of bondage. When he says “if any man be circumcised and to every man that is circumcised,” it doesn’t mean that those Jews who heard Paul preach, or the Gentiles too, for that matter, if they had been proselytes and had been PHYSICALLY circumcised, that they were a debtor to do the law. He means don’t go back to the DOCTRINE of the circumcision gospel. He says to do that is to be fallen from grace. Now “fallen from grace” doesn’t mean they lost their salvation. They wouldn’t be fallen from Christ because in chapter three they had been baptized INTO Christ and they can’t be UNbaptized back out of Christ.
The verse doesn’t teach that a believer can lose his salvation. There is a lot of confusion in religion about it because they don’t understand the truth of a believer’s position IN Christ. Nine times in Galations, Paul refers to them as “brethren.” Now most of them are Gentiles so the use of the word “brethren” is not a reference to Jewish kinship. It’s a reference to being brothers in Christ. Sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ. If they could be lost how could he call them brethren? Is God going to “unadopt” them and have Christ not to have died for their sins? That’s what somebody called “stinkin’ thinkin’.
To “fall from grace” means that a believer has put himself under a performance system, the Law of Moses, as a way of living and in that condition he can’t be following the leadership of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit does not lead people “according to the law” in the age of grace. The Holy Spirit was not given to help you keep the law but to lead you in the love of God. God gave you grace and it is the GRACE that teaches you, not the law. The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit:
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
The love of God, peace with God and the peace of God is far more important to the believer than any kind of religious rites he could perform, including the works of the law. So now to continue:
Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Galatians 5:8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
When he says “ye did run well,” it is as if you are in a race but it is yourself you are competing with. You are not trying to win against somebody else. The battle is with your own sinful self, and to try to get sinful flesh to perform up to the standards of the law was a hinderance. They were being hindered.
1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
The “one” who will obtain the “prize” as in the reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ, is the one who follows the leadership of the Holy Spirit and not the works of the law. So this persuasion was not of Him that calleth you. Now him who called you is God, he called you by His grace, through the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and you trusted the Lord. So the persuasion was deceptive. It was not of God:
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Galatians 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
So how could the law, which is holy and right and good, how could it be deceptive? When it is taken from it’s own time frame, when it is taken from the gospel of the Kingdom and used to deceive believers about the doctrine of salvation in the body of Christ.
Millions of people in the denominational religious system are deceived into trusting water baptism, trusting fake wonder workers, and trusting their own physical efforts and not trusting in the fact that Christ died for our sins, all of our sins and that the very bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the living proof that our sins are buried and gone forever and that God has forgiven us not part, not some, not just those in the past, not just those up to yesterday or this morning, but ALL trespasses. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Leaven, in the bible, is evil. It is sin. Look at what Paul says about leaven:
1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1 Corinthians 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Leaven is like yeast that is used to make bread. In order for it to work you mix it in the dough and let it sit there. It takes time but over a period of time it ferments. In other words you mix a little error into the message, get it stirred up real good among a group of believers, and pretty soon it has leavened the whole lump. You cannot mix law with grace and call yourself a “grace believer.” You cannot mix law with grace and claim that you are a “grace preacher.” Because when you do, you are not teaching grace any more but a watered down, compromised and confused message. God is not the author of the confusion in the churches today. Watered down grace messages do not give the glory to the Lord.
Galatians 5:10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
Paul says he has confidence in them through the Lord. In other words these people were called into the grace of Christ and through the Lord grace teaches us. We are not taught by the law but by grace:
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Titus 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
So Paul not only had confidence in the Galatians, but he had confidence in the grace message. Grace preachers and grace believers need to have this same confidence, because grace comes from God and living and walking in grace builds confidence. It causes you to truly trust the Lord. So the confidence Paul has here is ON the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what he later told the elders of the church at Ephesus:
Acts 20:32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
So grace instructs us, it teaches us, it will build you up and give you confidence. Trying to perform under the law only shows your failure. And the law cannot save you it can only condemn you.
Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
The preaching of the cross was an offense to the Jews and it is no different today to religious people. How many times have you ever heard, “Oh, I believe that Christ died on the cross….but there’s more to it than that.” In other words, walk the aisle for Jesus, repent of your sins, pray through at the alter, join the “church,” he that believeth and is saved must be baptized, and on and on. The cross is offensive to religious people.
Physical circumcision was a part of the law of Moses. Water baptism is a part of the fundamental, denominational religious system. The end result of all the arguments about water baptism and all the different ways it can be done and different ways each organization teaches it and practices it, has the same effect today as circumcision did then. It is offensive. It has a negative influence on the cross…on the message of grace. Water baptism AND circumcision BOTH belong to the Jews, not to the body of Christ.
Galatians 5:12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
Now it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell somebody who practices water baptism, “I wish you would just drown,” but that’s what this means here. In other words Paul says “it would suit me if they which trouble you just went ahead and castrated themselves and became eunuchs. Paul was angry with them because of the confusion they were causing to the body of Christ. By the way, we should be angry and sin not:
Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
This looks like an example of “angry and sin not” because Paul doesn’t threaten to go and make them eunuchs, but it seems that they are doing it to themselves. In other words it’s like “cutting off your nose to spite your face,” as the old saying goes. Religion can make a mess of the grace message.
Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Now you know what happens when you talk about salvation by grace alone through faith alone. The answer you get is “well, if I believed like you do I would just go out and rob a bank, commit adultery and live like hell,” and so on. In other words if I believed that I would just do what I want to. The answer to that is you already do what you want to whether you admit it or not. You do what you want to do and you rationalize it religiously, or else you repent of it and confess it, trying to claim the truth of 1 John 1:9 which is not even about the body of Christ. Paul had the same problem about the same thing.
Romans 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
Grace is liberty and Paul says all things are lawful to me but all things are not expedient. Just because I am at liberty it doesn’t mean that I am going to take the liberty to just go out and rape and pillage and rob and murder, because grace teaches us. When you understand grace then you understand that grace is your teacher, not the old schoolmaster of the law.
The main ingredient is love, the love of God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians that the abiding gifts were faith, hope and charity. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy and said the END of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of faith unfeigned. We are under grace, not under law. But just because we are under grace doesn’t mean we have a license to sin. Grace doesn’t teach you to sin. Grace teaches you about the love of God. Love overlooks faults. Love is longsuffering. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. I would be working ill to my neighbor if I told him to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins instead of telling him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. There again, repent and be baptized was Peter’s message and was Jewish and that water baptism is positively Jewish.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Galatians 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
If you love your neighbor you will tell him the truth. Especially the truth of the gospel. Now I think that the “biting and devouring” one another has a lot to do with what Paul says in the next few verses, and what we will do is just read the entire passage all the way down to the end of the chapter and then come back and look at some individual things in the verses. Paul is making a plain contrast here between law and grace. The law was given to Israel about 1500 years before Christ. Paul says it was “added because of transgressions.” Those transgressions had to do with the lusts of the flesh:
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Galatians 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Galatians 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Galatians 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
So Paul has made a direct contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. And there is quire a contrast. He has listed about 17 works of the flesh and then he adds “and such like.” In other words, he says, the works of the flesh are manifest, they are plain, here are 17 of them and there are a whole lot more, “and such like,” he says. But he says “they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Now all of the commentaries I have seen and most all of the preaching that you hear on this subject says that what this passage means is that a saved person won’t “habitually” do these things and that if you see a person habitually doing these things that it is a sign that they are not really saved. That kind of thinking has spawned a whole new office in the body of Christ that the bible never mentions: FRUIT INSPECTORS. There is no such thing in your bible as a FRUIT INSPECTOR.
The bible says” ye shall know them by their fruits,” and John the Baptist said, “bring forth fruits.” But what are fruits? Religion has it that fruits are a person’s physical actions and activities. That is SO not true. Fruits are words, not physical actions. There are no fruits of the flesh. The bible never talks about fruits of the flesh. There are nine FRUITS mentioned in the passage but they are FRUITS of the Spirit not FRUITS of the flesh. Fruits are WORDS. They are things that come out of the mouth. Look at this. John the Baptist is baptizing:
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Matthew 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Matthew 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Now look at what James says in the book of James:
James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
So what John the Baptist is talking about that are fruits meet for repentance are words that come out of your mouth. What James is talking about that defileth the whole body are words that come out of your mouth. Jesus Christ said:
Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
I cannot know what is on your heart by watching what you do. The only way I can know your heart is by the words that come out of your mouth. So fruits are words, the things that you say, not physical actions. The things that you do are the works of the flesh. Now Paul says THEY which do such things cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Well, what is it about you that cannot inherit the Kingdom of God? It is your flesh:
1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Before you can get to where God is, your flesh has got to go. It cannot go where God is. Flesh and blood cannot go there. And neither can the WORKS of the flesh. Now Paul says that the works of the flesh are MANIFEST. In other words, they are plain. They are visible. We all know what they are. In case we were not sure about it Paul spelled out a sample list of them.
Did you notice some of the things on that list? Adultery. Fornication. Murder. Now the good ole fruit inspector wouldn’t dare commit adultery. He wouldn’t commit murder. He wouldn’t rob a bank, or rape and pillage and plunder and murder. But have you ever noticed how fruit inspectors can HATE with a passion? They hate the new song leader and they hate the new carpet and they hate the plaster of Paris dove over the baptistry and they ENVY the person who got picked for the position and they didn’t, and they have STRIFE and they have JELEOUSY and on and on. Every one of those things are on the list. It is not a list of people who are not going to heaven, it is a list of the works of the flesh and that’s all of us. Look here:
1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1 Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Now look at the verse again. What does it say? That the UNRIGHTEOUS shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It DOES NOT SAY that if a righteous man sin that he will not inherit the kingdom of God. Read on:
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
If you are saved, you are IN CHRIST and you are washed, sanctified and JUSTIFIED and there is no condemnation:
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Like we have said so many times, if you are in Christ you are not in the flesh. There is condemnation in the flesh. The flesh is condemned already. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But a saved person is not in the flesh he is in Christ. A lost person is in the flesh. He is not in the Spirit and for him there is condemnation because he is yet dead in his trespasses and sins. He needs a Saviour.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Now that’s exactly what Paul is talking about in Galatians chapter five. It is a contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. The whole case in the book of Galatians is don’t put yourself under the law. The law is weak and beggarly. Not that the law is weak and not that the law is wrong. The law is right, the law is holy, but I am carnal sold unto sin. The good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not that I do. So it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Then what is the answer.
I know the works of the flesh, they are manifest. I’ve got them. You’ve got them and the fruit inspector has got them too. So what is the answer. Well the answer is not to put yourself under the law and try to reform the flesh through the law, because the flesh is unreformable. You can spend your life trying to reform the flesh and you will never get it done. The answer is not to change the flesh, it is to EXCHANGE IT.
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Notice that he says that they that are Christ’s HAVE CRUCIFIED the flesh. Not to “crucify the flesh” not “I die daily to the flesh.” In order to have the flesh die daily you would have to resurrect the thing so that you could spend the day trying to crucify it all over again. He says you HAVE CRUCIFED the flesh. How? By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Know ye not that so many of us as have been baptized into Christ have been baptized INTO HIS DEATH?
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Now that is a judicial, spiritual condition and position. That’s the way God sees it. God sees you as crucified with Christ, buried with Christ and raised with Christ. Everything that went on at the cross in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is put to your account by faith. That’s the way God reckoned it. You reckon it to be so, BY FAITH. If we live in the Spirit, and we do, if you are saved, let us also walk in the Spirit. Here’s where to start:
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Now there are a couple of things that we need to note about Galatians chapter five. What Paul says here is not at all the so-called Armenian position that a believer can lose his salvation. People who claim you can lose your salvation also claim that you gain your salvation or maintain your salvation by good works, and they will always, consistently pervert the gospel of Christ by adding doctrine to the grace message from OUTSIDE the books of Romans through Philemon and THAT is the only place you can find the grace message, salvation by grace alone without works of any kind through faith alone in the finished work of Christ. Stay with the doctrine committed to the church, the wholesome words of the RISEN and glorified Lord Jesus Christ committed to Paul.
Paul also DOES NOT TEACH so-called anti-nomianism which says that the believer is not under any laws at all. That the believer is outside the realm of law at all. When Paul refers to the law he is not referring to law as a PRINCIPAL. He is referring specifically to the law of Moses. He does not mean that a believer is LAWLESS or outside the realm of law. As a matter of fact he says in Galatians 6:2 to fulfill the law of Christ:
Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Well, then, if you are bearing one another’s burdens what are you doing? You are loving one another. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Love is the fulfilling of the law. The END of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience and faith unfeigned. So we fulfill the law of Christ which is love. God is love and he so loved us that when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for us. We had no strength to do good enough to get to God, we needed a Saviour.
Now the love of Christ constraneth us, and Romans chapter 13 teaches us to obey the law of the land as well:
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Romans 13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
In other words if you violate the law of the land you can look for the deputy sheriff to be knocking on the door and the damnation you get will wind up being a shorter or a longer jail sentence depending on the severity of the crime. A sequence of events always results in a CONsequence.
So Armenianism, the doctrine that you can lose your salvation is false. Anti-nominianism, the doctrine that a believer is without law, totally out of the realm of the law, is false. And there is no such thing in the body of Christ as a fruit inspector.
There is an entire religious system with a form of Godliness but denying the power. Now we know what the power of God is, unto salvation. It’s the gospel of Christ. We know where the righteousness of God is revealed. The Law of Moses witnessed the righteousness of God but it is REVEALED in the gospel of Christ. Christ died for our sins and was raised again for our justification.
Colossians 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Colossians 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Colossians 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Colossians 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Colossians 2:19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
This will conclude our study of Galatians chapter five.
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