Finishing with Grace
Paul was flabbergasted. He couldn’t believe it. Of all the mind-boggling, foolish things for a church to do, the Galatian churches did it. It’s practically inconceivable. “Ok, who was it? Who put a spell on you and bewitched you? Because that’s the only way that I can think of that someone who heard the gospel and received God’s grace in Christ could turn around and forsake it for hope in keeping the law. You must have been bewitched, to have Christ Jesus set before you in the glorious gospel, that the Word came and lived for you, and died for you on the cross, and rose for you, and by grace, through faith, you are saved, pardoned, forgiven, clean, and justified, and then turn you back on it to find salvation through the law.” Paul asked them in Galatians 3:2-3, did the Galatians receive the Holy Spirit through works of the law or faith? Are you born again by grace, or are you born again by works? Did you earn the Holy Spirit? The Bible’s answer is clear; we are born again by the Spirit. We are saved by faith, receiving Christ in hearing the gospel.
Paul then asks if they are fools. Ouch. They had started in the Spirit but expected to be made perfect by the flesh. They were born again by the Spirit of God but will try to finish the course through human effort in keeping the law? We are saved by grace, and we are perfected by grace. We are justified by grace, and we are sanctified by grace. Christ for pardon. Christ for power. All the appeals to holy living are not for nothing. The call to godliness is true, authentic, and urgent, but not for salvation. The Christian is not without law, but the law we have is there for a different purpose. It’s to guide us in our walk with Christ, to show us evil and good that we may walk well pleasing to the Lord.
Beware those who blur or confuse justification and sanctification. The law is not grace, nor is it gracious. It never has been, and it never will be. Run for your life when you hear someone say there is grace in the law or with the law. The law is good if used lawfully, which means there is a bad way to handle the law. The wrong way is to think you can earn God’s love by keeping it. The good way is to understand how we are to walk in the Spirit following Christ and how to love. There is no condemnation for those in Christ. We died to the law, so it cannot judge us anymore. We are set free. We have liberty in Christ to love God and our neighbor without fear of damnation. It’s foolish to say you are forgiven and justified by the gracious work of Jesus Christ and then want to enter glory on your works. You started by grace and you will finish by grace.
