Study of Galatians Part 15 - Galatians 5:13

Paul said it again, as Galatians 5:13 begins. “You were called to freedom.” He was referring once again to what he had been saying throughout Galatians - that salvation comes to us purely by the grace of God through the gift of faith, of trust in Jesus and His saving work for us. Our human works cannot save us or ever contribute to our salvation. Jesus has done all that we need, as we stay in faith in Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Listen again to a little of what we have already heard in Galatians:

• “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” (Galatians 1:3-4)
• “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16)
• “Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith, just as ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?’” (Galatians 3:5-6)
• “The promise by faith in Jesus Christ (will) be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:22)

The focus is always on Jesus and trusting what he has done for us to save us - not on what we need to do for our salvation. This could be summarized by what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21ff: “But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe… (who) are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… (God) is the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what become of our boasting? It is excluded… For we hold that one is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law” (portions of Romans 3:21-22).

Why did Paul keep saying these same things, and why am I emphasizing this so much in what I say and write? Because this is the central teaching of the Christian faith. It was being challenged by false teachers in Paul’s day, and it is still being challenged by so many people and groups still today. I have said I would give you current examples, and that is what follows here. I can only give brief descriptions and a few quotations, but am trying to be fair in what I say. If anyone wants more explanation, let me know.

Obviously, atheists do not believe in any god or higher being and can only trust in themselves and other human ideas. Agnostics are not sure if there is a god or not, and what to think about Jesus, and ultimately have to trust themselves and whatever they think. Non-Christian religions and groups will not talk about Jesus at all, or only as a kind of prophet or teacher, and certainly not as the Savior of the world.                                    

Groups that call themselves Christians will talk about Jesus, but not necessarily accurately and according to what the Bible says. There are very liberal churches and groups that question many things in the Bible and would see Jesus, at best, only as a good teacher, whose example and ideas we should follow, if we can sort out what he really said and what is really true. Such people will accept only what seems rational and reasonable to them and to human thinking today. Modern media likes these non-traditional and controversial ideas. All such views are very different from Paul’s, who was an eyewitness to what he described and what Jesus directly taught him and claimed that what he said and wrote was true and accurate.

Traditional Christians will take more seriously what the Bible says, but can mix in what they see as our own human responsibility for our salvation, as well. Sometimes this happens because churches and people accept additional and later traditions and writings that they make equal to and almost more important than the Biblical revelation.

The Roman Catholic Church is an example of this, saying that Jesus paid for the “eternal” consequences for our sins, but we must pay for the “temporal punishment” of our sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Every sin… must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state called Purgatory.” How do we accomplish this purification (according to the Catholic Church)? “By works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer, and the various practices of penance” (things that people are required to do by a priest, after they have confessed their sins to him). In the Catholic view, people also have obligation to pray for and do good works on behalf of their dead relatives to help pay for their sins and get them out of Purgatory more quickly. People can also pray to Mary and to other saints, especially holy people, to get help from the “treasury” of their “prayers and good works.” These saints have already “attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body” (The Church). 

The Roman Catholic Church clearly says that God gives us “the initial grace” we need. But then, “Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.” The Roman Catholic Church’s Council of Trent condemned in several ways the Biblical doctrine of justification by God’s grace through faith alone. Here is one example: “If anyone saith that by faith alone the impious is justified, in such wise as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to the obtaining the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will, let him be anathema” (cursed and condemned).

Clearly, in the Roman Catholic Church, one is saved not only by faith in Christ, but also by one’s own work and efforts and merits and by gaining the merits of others. And these ideas are not in Scripture but were developed in the traditions of the Roman church in later centuries.

The same thing is said in the Eastern Catholic or Orthodox Churches. An Orthodox Confession reads, “What must an Orthodox and Catholic Christian hold and observe in order to inherit eternal life? Answer: Right faith and good works.” “We believe that a man is justified not simply by faith alone, but by a faith which is active through love, that is, through faith and works.” Faith is simply assent to Orthodox or Catholic doctrines - rather than confidence in Jesus and His completed, saving work for us.

Many Protestant churches also emphasize our cooperation with God in the work of our salvation, to one degree or another. Churches that are influenced by Arminian ideas tend to downplay the seriousness of our original or inherited sin, from the fall into sin by Adam and Eve. They would say that we are not “dead in our trespasses and sins, by nature,” and that God must therefore make us spiritually alive, as Ephesians 2:1-7 says. Instead, these groups say that we are capable of and must make the first moves toward God, by opening the door to Him and confessing our sins and saying prayers a certain way, “as an act of our own will.” Only then will God respond to us and make us His own. As one prominent Baptist preacher said in the past: “God casts a vote. The devil casts a vote. And you cast the deciding vote.” in this view, your decisions seem to be the real deciding factor in your being saved - more than the decisive saving work of Christ for you.

The Christian life is important, but some Protestant churches put such tremendous emphasis on what we now do as Christians that it almost sounds as if our salvation depends on how holy our life becomes. Some go so far as to say that we can stop sinning, though we may make “mistakes,” whatever that means. Others say that we can become perfect if we try hard enough - and that is what we should try to be doing. The emphasis switches from “Christ crucified” and what He has done for us, to what we are doing for Christ and how well we are following His rules and expectations, almost as if our salvation depends on doing it all well enough.

We also have so many cultic groups around. The Seventh Day Adventists still insist that we must worship on Saturday and not do any work that day and must follow many other Old Testament rules, just as the false teachers were saying in Galatia.

The Mormons have the Bible plus their own Scriptures, which are really more important, in their view. They call themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; but Joseph Smith seems more important than Jesus in much of what they say. Becoming a “saint” by following all of their rules and regulations is really most important. They even say that you could become a “god” just like Jesus and have your own planet, some day, if you work hard enough at it all.

I also receive a mailing from another group called the United Church of God, an offshoot of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God. They have Saturday worship and focus on many Old Testament festivals. They talk about Jesus and His millennial reign here on earth (an idea most Christian do not believe in - rather, He will return to raise the dead and take all believers in Christ to eternal life in heaven, etc.) But their focus again turns to what good works we are doing. “We can follow God’s commands today, celebrating the Day of Atonement and all of His Holy Days and completely submitting ourselves to His will in our lives.” Again for them, faith in Christ our Savior is not enough to save us.

I could go on and on with more false and confusing ideas around today, too. That is why Paul spent so much time talking about salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s work already done for us. It is still important for us to hear today. Christ stays at the center of the Bible for us, and our confidence about our eternal future is in Him, not our performance.

At the same time, beginning next week, we will hear Paul talking about the right understanding of how doing “good works” does fit into our life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our “freedom” in Christ is not a license to do whatever we feel like. That is how many look at “freedom” today, as an old poem by William Ernest Henley said: “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” But that is not what Christ or Paul taught. Join us next week to hear more about all that.