Tag: Galatians 3:3

This episode spells out the spiritual loss incurred by believers when they adopt a legalistic approach to sanctification. The problem, according to Galatians 5:4, is that persistent appeal to the law for justification cuts the Christian off from the grace power source for sanctification. The Christian is no longer relying on the Holy Spirit and His power to walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), he's now relying on works of the law for maturing in Christ. This is the fundamental error of the Galatians cited in Gal. 3:3, of whom Paul asked, "having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" This approach to sanctification repudiates grace, resulting in being "severed from Christ" and "fallen from grace." This strong language doesn't refer to one's position in Christ, but rather to the believer's rejection of the grace of God present in sanctification. "Severed" is the translation from "katergeo" and means estrangement or made ineffective. It's the same verb in Romans 6:6, where Paul contends that the "old self might be done away with." There the old self continues to exists but is rendered ineffective. So "severed from Christ" doesn't mean the believer has lost his salvation, but he has in fact made the sanctifying grace of God ineffective by his appeal to works of the law. The result is that the believer has "fallen from grace." The grace of sanctification is available, but the believer prefers perfecting himself without it.