This episode emphasizes the necessity of God's grace for sanctification and the keeping of God's law. The law is an excellent mirror, revealing the disconnect between ourselves and a holy God. It is nevertheless powerless to transform us and sanctify us, since we are fundamentally sinful apart from God's grace. Paul highlights this fact in Romans 8:3, "what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did.." The law reveals our weakness and our desperate need for Christ. It is the "tutor that leads us to Christ." (Gal. 3:24) Christians commonly acknowledge dependence on the grace of God in conversion and infancy in Christ, but trip up later when they revert to relying on their flesh, apart from grace. This was my experience, and I testify how God overthrew my smug self-reliance and gave me a sense of my utter dependence on His power. This gracious power transforms us, helping us keep the law. "I will run the way of your commandments, for you will enlarge my heart." (Psalm 119:32)
The Galatian Error: When Grace is Made Powerless
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.
Sanctifying Grace: Faith Working through Love
This episode contrasts the inadequacy of the law to perfect the believer with "faith working through love." Paul effectively says that emphasis on circumcision is a moot point: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love." (Gal. 5:6) Sanctification by appealing to the law is a hopeless endeavor, however sanctification directed by the Spirit leads to the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and is aptly described as "faith working through love." This total trust and dependence on God describes walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) and this is the stream by which empowering grace floods the soul. So what would occur if a believer reverts to the law as the means of sanctification? The tributaries of God's grace are damned up by appeal to the works of the law. Faith in God is replaced with fleshly works, which naturally appeal to the works of the law as the ground of justification. God's unmerited favor is set aside, rendered ineffective because it's not invited. "Fallen from grace" and "severed from Christ" both describe believers who presumptuously think they can live the Christian life without empowering grace, that their own power is sufficient. Interestingly, Paul's inclusion of sins of the flesh in Gal. 5:19-21 comes after Paul's indictment of Galatian legalism, almost suggesting that appeal to the law as the means of sanctification actually makes one's condition worse. Paul's focus on sanctification in chapter 5 underscores the conclusion that Paul is principally concerned with Galatian rejection of sanctifying grace, not the justifying grace of salvation.
The Wine of Grace and Old Wineskins
"This episode focuses on the verbs used in Galatians 5:4, ""you have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace."" Building on the previous program, in which the grace spoke of in Galatians mostly centers on the grace of sanctification, not justification, Paul is concerned that believers are cutting themselves off from the primary means of perfection, Christ Himself. He previously queried about them, ""having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"" (Gal. 3:3) The issue then is subsequent sanctification, in which we mature by continuing to rely on Christ. The Galatians who embraced circumcision sought to justify themselves by the works of the law instead of continuing to follow the leading of the Spirit in sanctification. Their embrace of circumcision instead of the grace of sanctification meant that they were unnecessarily cutting themselves off from perfecting grace. ""Severed"" here is translated from ""katergeo,"" which means estranged, alienated or rendered powerless. The verb translated ""fallen,"" [""ekpipto""] signifies losing one's grasp on something. The Galatians have therefore lost their grasp on the grace of God and alienated themselves from the power of God to perfect them. As a result of relying on the woks of the law instead of the grace of God, they have rendered powerless the grace available to them. Paul consequently tells them that if they receive circumcision Christ will not benefit them. (Gal. 5:2) Christ alluded to the incompatibility of works of the law with grace in his metaphor on wineskins. (Mark 2:22)"
The Grace of Sanctification
This episode focuses on the second possible interpretation of Galatians 5:4, which contends that believers can lose the grace of salvation. Commonly referred to as the Arminian option, this interpretation largely depends on the meaning of "grace." If grace here means forgiveness of sins, coupled with the imputed righteousness of Christ, then this verse does suggest that believers can lose their salvation. "Grace" however is multifaceted in Scripture, and many places use grace in the sense of the power of God, the unmerited gift of God to live and godly and holy life. Paul uses grace in this sense in the opening salutations when he prays that "grace and peace" be with the Galatians. He is evidently not praying for grace in the sense of forgiveness of sins. Rather, he prays that the Galatian believers be blessed with divine power, together with peace, to live a godly life. The episode also mentions Romans 8:30 in which justification and even glorification is a past act from God's perspective. Paul evidently believed in eternal security, so the grace spoken of in Galatians 5:4 is best understood as the grace of sanctification, not the grace of justification. Troublesome verses like Galatians 5:4 illustrate the broader hermeneutical principle that difficult passages shouldn't be interpreted apart from easier passages, particularly from the same author. Scripture interprets Scripture, and much faulty interpretation is avoided when the principle is applied to difficult texts.
Justified AND Sanctified by Faith in Christ
This episode adds more context to Galatians 5:4, a verse that COULD be interpreted as losing one's salvation. Building on the previous episode, in which Paul categorically rejects all forms of legalism as the basis of justification, Paul also rejects legalism as the basis of sanctification. The central issue of the book of Galatians is subsequent appeal to the Law for righteousness AFTER one is saved. Paul contends that Galatian believers were saved by faith in Christ, they began "by the Spirit." (Galatians 3:3) So the larger context of sanctification must be the lens by which we evaluate the troublesome verse of Galatians 5:4.
The Old Self: Dead Man Walking
This episode applies the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to sanctification, which rests on the historical fact that "the old self was crucified with Christ." (Romans 6:6) The result, the verse concludes, is "that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin." All sanctification rests on this fact, so believers do well to KNOW this and subsequently CONSIDER themselves "dead to sin, but alive to Christ. (Romans 6:11). "Knowing" which goes on to "Considering" is the process of applying the death, burial, and resurrection to our new life in Christ. The episode emphasizes that this new life in Christ is not automatic. Christians must do the work of knowing and considering to benefit from the historical fact that our old self was crucified with Christ. The result, that "the body of sin MIGHT be done away with," largely depends on Christian identification and application of this fact. This "already/not yet" dynamic largely explains why many believers are still, to some extent, slaves to sin.
Identify with the Costs as Well as the Benefits
This episode applies the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to sanctification, specifically how we gain the victory over sin. Romans 6:7 states that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Victory over sin begins with identification with the historical fact that our old self was crucified with Christ, and the result is that we are no longer slaves to sin. The key variable linking this historical fact with liberation from sin is the degree we identify with Christ's death, burial and resurrection. The goal, that "the body of sin might be done away with," largely depends on our active application of the death of Christ to our own sin. And the application of the resurrection, as we learn in later episodes, is that we rise to the newness of life. So before we naturally identify with the resurrection of Christ, we should also readily identify with Christ's death, which energizes us to mortify the flesh.
Get a Life
Coming mostly from Romans 6:4-6, this initial episode affirms that Christ is the model for sanctification, and the natural application of the resurrection of Christ to everyday life is the vigilant pursuit of His life. Identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ leads to walking "in the newness of life." While the passage mostly addresses the Christian hope of physical resurrection, our future resurrection is foreshadowed by regeneration and subsequent embrace of the life of Christ. Sanctification largely corresponds to the realization that "the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63) and needs to die--hence we unite ourselves to Christ in the likeness of His death. This self-mortification clears the way for the life of Christ to become more prevalent, as we progressively walk more and more in the newness of life.
God Won’t Fit in Your Comfort Box
This final episode merges the lessons of affliction learned by the psalmist with the role of discipline spelled out in Hebrews 12:4-13. Affliction/discipline are the divinely sanctioned means of conforming believers into the image of Christ. Just as the psalmist didn't wholeheartedly follow God and His Law without affliction, so Christians don't surrender fully to the Lordship of Christ without discipline and affliction. The results, according to Hebrews 12:10-11, are very consequential: sharing in God's holiness as we enjoy the "peaceful fruit of righteousness." This is the New Testament equivalent to the psalmist's plea that God establish his ways to keep God's statutes. (Psalm 119:5) So when Christians affirm their desire to be like Christ (establish their ways), they shouldn't be surprised when God answers through affliction.
- 1
- 2