galations | Grace and Truth

Following on from Grace Gleanings – 3 Errors Regarding Law & Grace

Most Christians are aware that we are justified only by grace through faith, yet a lot tend to mix Law and Grace in sanctification.

That is, they believe that once they are saved by grace, they then need to keep to some sort of code of conduct to remain saved, be it the Ten Commandments, their own set of rules or their church’s. The church where I grew up had written rules and regulations for everything under the sun. There were also unspoken rules that everybody knew, such as, getting to both services on a Sunday was a must, otherwise you would be considered weak in the faith by everybody else.

Thus often a Christian is still under the Law even though he can easily quote “I’m not under law but under grace”.

We need to understand that Law and Grace are two complete systems in themselves, and they are mutually exclusive of each other. You cannot be under both Law and Grace at the same time, neither can you mix Grace with Law. This was the error of the Galatians. But what did Paul say to them :

”O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? ²This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Galations 3:1-3

Under grace our acceptance with God is based on the fact that we are in Christ by faith and He is acceptable to God. How we live after being saved is also by grace. He saves us and He sanctifies us, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We live now not by rules and regulations but by a new principle : the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:2)

That means that Christ lives His life through us. It is His righteousness , not ours.

”and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness , which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” Philippians 3:9

more to come…

There were three errors in Paul’s day concerning Law and Grace and these three persist until today.

LEGALISM

the teaching that we are saved by keeping the Law, by observing days, rituals, ceremonies and the Ten Commandments.

This is the false doctrine of WORKS.

“…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ…for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” Galations 2:16.

The book of Romans counteracts this false teaching.

ANTI-NOMIANISM

the teaching that because we are saved by GRACE we can live however we want and it makes no difference how we behave.

“Even so Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” James 2:17

The book of James counteracts this false teaching.

GALATIONISM

the teaching that we are saved by GRACE but are kept by the WORKS of the LAW afterwards. This makes our salvation dependent on our WORKS rather than the GRACE of God.

”And if by grace then it is no longer of works: otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work” Romans 11:6

The book of Galations counteracts this false teaching.

”Salvation is not a matter of LAW and GRACE, but it is a matter of LAW or GRACE, for it cannot be both” M.R De Haan

more to come…