Featured Galatians 5:4

Gal 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

What is this "yoke of bondage" that Paul warns the believers of the churches of Galatia against?

Turn to Acts 15:1 "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”...5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

How did Peter respond?

verse 10: Why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

So Paul is warning believers not to get entangled with legalism, i.e., trying to earn one's way into heaven by "the works of the law". Why would he warn these churches if they were once saved always saved from under the law?

Gal 5:2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised (see Acts 15:1 - to be saved), Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised (as a means of salvation) that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

verse 4 You (believers) have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. NKJV

Gal 5:4 You (believers) who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. NIV

To fall from grace means you go back under law. To be under law is death. To be under law is to be cursed. See Gal 3:10 To be under law is to be lost and hell bound.

 

Stay to the subject....

 

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Let's back up to Gal chapter 1:

verse 1: Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters with me, to the churches in Galatia: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

6 I am astonished that you (context: the brothers & sisters in the Galatia churches) are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people (i.e., the Judaizers) are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

 

Clearly the born-again believer can, through the "deceitfulness of sin", harden his heart against the Spirit of God. If not, then why the warnings to believers?

Again, the warning remains:

Heb 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end...

How is sin a deceiver?

Your nature will tell you: yes, you've make some mistakes, but really you aren't that bad. I mean look at those heathen neighbors of yours - they are sinners, but you - no, you are a good person. In fact why do you need that Jesus guy anyway? You're a good person....

That's the deceitfulness of sin. Your own nature, unless given over to God's Spirit, will deceive you that you are really not that bad after all and that you really don't need Christ's righteousness and that you can go it alone.

But Jesus says, "without Me you can do nothing" - nothing good.

 

That decision to allow the Spirit of God to control your nature is yours. That's called free-will. The moment you try to go it alone you will always sin. After all, "whatsoever is not of faith is sin".

When tempted by your nature all you can do is say,

"God I can't resist temptation, but you can defeat my nature, so I chose for You to defeat my nature and its desires. Thank you, Amen"! That's walking in the Spirit.

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Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 

Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?" You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.

 

I'll need Biblical evidence for your statement. Just because you say so ain't good enough. Prove to me that God's creation wasn't created with the ability to reason and chose.

 

Yeah? That's nice, but it wasn't what Paul stated. Shall I quote it for you again? Yes:

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

If one isn't under grace he is under law. What does the law demand of the sinner? Answer: Damnation - the 2nd death.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse (justification of one's self through one's law performance); for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

Gal 3:13 "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us"

To be under law is to stand condemned. That's another word for being lost.

 

Agreed...

If that were the case then you would be without sin. You need to look at Romans chapter 7

 

I didn't see Bible from you, only speculation. Try again.

 

In other words faith + works = salvation