Previously in Galatians, we looked at how we as believers have been adopted as children into the Kingdom of God. We are His children, and as a result are heirs of all God has to offer us. Because of this, we should not want to again place ourselves back under the Law where we were in bondage to rules and regulations. The answer to legalism is to cast it out.
Paul continues on into the next chapter in talking about legalism. He told them to stand fast in the liberty by which Jesus Christ had made them free. This means believers are to make up their minds to stand firmly on the grace of God through faith regardless of the opposition, rather than being entangled again into the bondage of legalism. If believers go back to works for their justification, Jesus is no longer of value to them. If we seek to be justified by keeping the Law in one area, then we must keep it in every area, and if we seek to be justified by the Law, then Paul states we are fallen from grace. This brings up an important point: The Scriptures do not teach that a person can lose their salvation by some sort of sin they have committed; in this we are eternally secure. However, it would appear from studying Galatians thus far that believers can fall from grace by deliberately setting it aside or disregarding it in an attempt to be justified on their own merits. The author of Hebrews seems to have been writing to a similar audience who wanted to return to the Old Testament, forsaking a new and better covenant for an old one that never could truly take care of their sin. This does not seem to be a casual struggle with doubts, but, again, a deliberate choice to forsake Jesus Christ and His righteousness for their own, which is really no righteousness at all. We can only bring to Him our filthy rags that will leave us in debt to God and subject to His wrath on judgment day. Others reject Christ because they just want to live in sin. When you see big names in the Christian community renounce their faith in Jesus Christ, and then at the same time or shortly thereafter, openly promote sin, you know this just didn’t happen overnight. There are many professing believers today who are “deconstructing” their faith and leaving the Church, and at the heart of all it is they just don’t want to submit to the teachings found in the word of God.
This brings up another valid question, how do I know if I’ve crossed this line? I believe the answer is that if you still have a desire to serve Jesus and obey His teachings, this is the evidence you are born again, for the Spirit of God is working in you. We cannot come to Him unless we are drawn (John 6:44). People who have truly renounced their faith have no desire to have faith in the right Jesus, nor do they want to obey Him. Again, they have deliberately chosen not to do so. They have lost the desire to do so, and I believe the author of Hebrews explains this for us in Hebrews 6. It is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Christians have struggles with sin, and sometimes these struggles are very real and intense. However, a person with the Holy Spirit living inside of them will not be comfortable staying this way.
We need Jesus’ righteousness, guys! It’s are only hope. As my pastor likes to say, Christianity is not what you do, but what you believe.” More importantly, it is who you believe on. The Scriptures say that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5); it is we who can choose to leave Him. As I have stated before, our walk with the Lord is a continual process of trusting in the grace of God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. It is not through doing or not doing something, but faith which works by love. Again, we are not to entertain anything to the contrary, for it is like leaven in a lump of dough. A little leaven will eventually leaven the whole lump. It will spread like a disease or cancer throughout our lives and the lives of others.
Paul stated that whoever tries to persuade us from the grace of God will bear their own judgment. So frustrated was Paul with the Judaizers that he stated under the inspiration of the Spirit that if they were so bent on teaching the requirement of circumcision for salvation, he wished they were cut off. In the King James Version we miss the real meaning of what Paul is saying here. In the original language this means to mutilate or to cut off, so Paul is using a play on words. Just as they were so focused on cutting away the flesh, Paul is saying they should just emasculate themselves as an indicator they are not really part of the body of Christ. This sounds pretty rough, but it gives us an idea of how the Lord views those who have given themselves over to believing and promoting false teaching. They have already made up their minds, and they will only serve to pull others away from or keep them from a real relationship with the Lord. Remember, in the big picture this is eternity at stake, and if it were not, I don’t believe Paul would have had such a sense of urgency in his letter to the Galatians.
Paul then transitions into the role that works play in the Christian life. He states that they have been called unto liberty, but that they should not use this liberty as an excuse to walk after the flesh (walk in sin). You see it’s not that sin no longer exists or that there are things the Lord does or does not want us to do, but our reason and motivation are entirely different. We do not do good works to earn a right standing with the Lord, but because we already have been made righteous through the blood of Christ. Our primary motivator for doing so is love. The Lord loved us when we didn’t deserve it, and He has given us the ability to love Him and to love others. If we truly love one another, we will not walk in the flesh. Sin hurts you, and it hurts me. Love is not just a feeling we get from time to time, but a choice to do what is right for our own good and the good of others. The whole Law is summed up in loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Paul wrote to the Romans “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10)
So this then brings up another important question, how do we not walk in the flesh? Paul’s answer to this is to walk in the Spirit. I used to think this was some super spiritual or mystical thing, but it simply means that we choose to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit which we received through faith in Jesus Christ. The battle has already been won on the cross; all we need to do is believe on Jesus to receive this power. If we are lead by the Spirit, we are not under the Law. He then lists the works of the flesh, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and so on, and states that those that do these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The idea here is not an occasional lapse into or struggle with sin, but a practicing of sin with no repentance or signs of remorse. The Scriptures state that people who continually practice sin will not inherit eternal life. The most straight-forward interpretation of this passage is that it says what it means. Paul repeats a similar warning in both 1 Corinthians 6 and Ephesians 5, and in the Ephesians passage he tells them not to be deceived, for the wrath of God is coming on these individuals. This is not a warning to believers of losing their salvation, but that it is a cause and effect relationship. The practicing of sin is the evidence the persons are not born again. They were either never saved in the first place (probably the most likely scenario), or they have renounced Christ to walk after the world. This is where I have to part company with the eternal security folks: you cannot confidently tell me someone is going to Heaven who is blatantly living and promoting sin with no signs of remorse just because they said the sinner’s prayer when they were 10. While it is true the Lord is the only one who truly knows the heart, at a certain point we have to question what is in their hearts based off the fruit that is being born. Even Saul, who was a train wreck of a king, still had moments of remorse and repentance when confronted by David over his sin.
However, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law against these things, for they are right and true, and they cannot be spoken against. These are not things we can produce in our own strength, but it is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If you have ever tried to produce these on your own, you will quickly find out how impossible of a task it is. This happens as we abide in Jesus through faith. Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5) The branch does not have to work and strive to produce fruit; it does so because it is connected to the tree. The old man with his sinful tendencies has been crucified with Christ. If we are born again through the Spirit, then we should walk accordingly.
Reader, are you walking in the flesh today? Know that if you continue this way you will not inherit eternal life. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, do so today. Believe on Him and repent from your sins. If you have already believed on Christ and are walking in sin, the Lord has a different way for you to live. Submit yourself completely to Him, and purpose in your heart to walk in obedience to His Word. If you believe on Jesus and desire to repent, that is the Spirit of God drawing you back to Himself (John 6:44). Abide in Jesus, and allow Him to produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life. In the last chapter Paul will further his discussion on works, and will discuss how the body of Christ is to treat those who have fallen into sin.
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