Chuck Larsen

The first verse in Paul’s letter to the Galatians begins with a defense of his ministry. He preached a salvation “apart from the Law” and that greatly enraged the Jew’s. It even enraged the Jewish converts to Christianity because they were insisting that the Gospel included training in righteous living, i.e., living up to the standards of the law.  Believing in who Jesus was and what Jesus did was insufficient for salvation. One must also strive to keep the laws of Moses. If the Jewish converts to Christianity permitted Paul to preach the pure, unadulterated Gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone, apart from the law, then any pagan any gentile any gross sinner could be saved without having to conform to the standards of Jewish righteousness. Therefore the legalists of the day attacked Paul and his message. They argued that Paul taught license to sin. Paul only proclaimed half of the Gospel. It wasn’t enough to believe one must also obey the law.

The conflict wasn’t just between Paul and the legalists.  It wasn’t just a conflict between personalities or preferences. It was a conflict over the heart of the entire Gospel message. It was a conflict that began in the very first generation of Christianity as witnessed in the book of Galatians which is the first letter written chronologically as well as many episodes in the book of Acts.  It is also is a conflict that continued through every generation and brought the church to a radical revolution over the issue in what is known as the Protestant Reformation. The reformers argued for “sola fide” which means one is saved by faith alone. The established church argued that faith is not enough. Good works are essential for salvation.

The conflict continues today. Many sects and denominations still argue that works are essential for salvation, but what is more dangerous to me is the pastoral focus on works. While some preachers and teachers argue for salvation by faith alone their preaching and teaching takes the focus off of what has been done for them on the cross and focuses more attention on what we do. They pay lip service to salvation by grace through faith alone and say that works are not essential yet week after week continue to preach a message of good works and righteousness. This essentially turns Christianity into just another religion. All religions teach ethical and moral standards. All religions have rituals, regulations and resolutions. Paul’s argument is essentially that Christ did not come to set up another religion but to destroy all religion and open the doors of heaven to all people alike based on a finished work that he accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary.  When Jesus said, “it is finished” he meant it.

When one first experiences God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness through faith in Jesus it is a wonderful thing. But something happens to our human psyches after some time passes. We begin to take things for granted and look for a new, different, and more earthly pleasure. It doesn’t take long for the aura of our initial salvation to wear off. As a matter of fact it didn’t take very long for the Galatians to turn their attention from their Savior to their own efforts again. Paul says so in Galatians 1:6. He writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”

The term translated by “deserting” in many modern translations was always confusing to me when I studied the King James. It says, “Removed from.” But it has been widely acknowledged that the phrase “deserting” is actually a Military term. It’s used of those who deserted in time of war. According to Richison, “The Galatians changed from the gospel of grace to the gospel of works. They became renegades from the true gospel and capitulated to another gospel. The present tense indicates that the defection of the Galatians from the gospel of grace is not yet complete. They are still in the process of shifting to another gospel. They are transposing the gospel from grace to legalism. They are altering the gospel itself and thus were deserting or turning apostate from the true gospel. This changes the nature of the gospel into a works gospel.” The late James Boice said, “It is not merely that they have deserted an idea or a movement; rather, they have deserted the very one who had called them to faith. This one is God the Father. Embracing legalism means rejecting God, according to Paul’s reasoning, because it means substituting man for God in one’s life.”

We are “called in the Grace of Christ.” This means that it is the Grace that comes through faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross to which we’ve been called to come for salvation. Christ procured our salvation for us on the cross. It comes to us as a gift. That means it’s all of Grace not of works. Richison adds, “It comes from the unadulterated generosity of God with no strings attached. Christians are the objects of God’s eternal favor. To revert to law is to completely miss this truth. God saves and sustains us by the finished work of Christ on the cross.” Some people today, much like the Galatians of Paul’s day, believe that some form of religious ritual, performance, or sacrifice is essential in order to receive God’s grace. This is patently false! Others might believe that they are saved by Grace through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross but that works must sustain their salvation. That is also patently false and simply makes our salvation dependent upon ourselves and not on the wonderful, marvelous grace of our God and Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Along the way in life we can adopt the attitude that we’re either blessed or cursed. I know people who say that if anything bad can happen to them, it will. Others say that if anything good can come today, it will come to me! These represent two different attitudes towards life. The pessimistic outlook sees bad even in good things. When something good comes their way they just wait for the other shoe to drop (so to speak.) The optimist finds the good even in the bad things. Thomas Edison was a well-known optimist. Thomas Edison’s manufacturing facilities in West Orange, N. J., were heavily damaged by fire one night in December, 1914. Edison lost almost $1 million worth of equipment and the record of much of his work. The next morning, walking about the charred embers of his hopes and dreams, the 67-year-old inventor said: “There is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew.”

Paul argues in Galatians 3:9-11 that people of faith should live their lives expecting great blessings. On the other hand those who live by the law find nothing but cursings. He writes, “So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” God loves us! He has our best interest foremost in mind and regardless of our current situation everything is going to work out for our good. With the law, we know we’ve blown it and we’re discouraged and dejected and defeated most of the time. It’s a matter of faith and trust in a good God or a condemning God.

Those who live by faith or much happier and really are more successful in life. Psychologist Martin Segilman of the University of Pennsylvania advised the MetLife insurance company to hire a special group of job applicants who tested high on optimism, although they had failed the normal aptitude test. Compared with salesmen who passed the aptitude test but scored high in pessimism, this group made 21 percent more sales in their first year and 57 percent more in their second. A pessimist is likely to interpret rejection as meaning “I’m a failure; I’ll never make a sale.” Optimists tell themselves, “I’m using the wrong approach,” or “That customer was in a bad mood.” By blaming failure on the situation, not themselves, optimists are motivated to make that next call. It’s that way with people of faith. God is not out to get us (curse!), He’s out to bless us! Now, it’s our choice. We can live under the curse of the law, or we can live under the Grace of God. He expressed His love and concern for us on the cross. If He loved us that much, is there anything He won’t do for us?