In Galatians 5:10, Paul expresses his confidence in the Galatians. He believes in them. He is confident that they will not fall from the grace principle into the works principle as a means of relating to God. Paul writes, “I have 12 survey the crossconfidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.” Those teaching the “grace plus works” false-gospel will be accountable themselves. I expect there will be many people surprised in the end when they hear, “depart from me your “workers” of iniquity. I never knew you.” The Lord never knew them and they never knew Him and the grace and love He poured out on them. Today, it seems that the legalists are honored! The self-righteous get the accolades and the places of position and the respect of the world. Please notice that Paul had none of that. That’s because of what he says in Galatians 5:11. He writes, “But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.”

The Cross is always offensive to religious people if it’s understood and proclaimed correctly as Paul and the Apostles did. Religious legalists will always make life difficult for those who live in the rays of God’s grace. To remain under grace will almost always result in some kind of persecution, derision, or division. Thus we try to merge the two, grace and works, to accommodate others and to keep from having any kind of confrontation. I hate confrontation. I actually don’t know many people who would say that they thrive on division, confrontation or extreme life drama. Most of us love to live at peace with each other. But often the peace we enjoy is at the expense of truth.

Grant Richison explains it this way, “We can merge doctrines together and blur the truth because we do not hold on to truth ourselves. Christ’s cross plus anything is legalism. We do not hold that truth unalterable. We think it is Christ plus tears, Christ plus the Lord’s Supper, Christ plus walking down the aisle, Christ plus catechism, Christ plus repentance, Christ plus sincerity, Christ plus joining the church. All these things are legalism to curry brownie points with God. A person under grace must junk all attempts to gain God’s approbation by what he does to become a Christian or to live the Christian life. The more religious we are, the greater an offense it is. The cross offends people because it does not cater to the pride of man’s self-righteousness. It humbles us to fall at the mercy of the grace of God.”