(GRACE AND DISGRACE - Day 3 of 7)
“You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
“You have been severed from Christ” and “you have fallen from grace” are parallel thoughts, each defining the other. Why is that important? Because it shows us that falling from grace is a severing of relationship with Christ Jesus, and to be severed is to lose all of the blessings therein; especially the hope of heaven. And that’s exactly the point the Holy Spirit is driving home here.
However, while we mostly consider “falling from grace” as it relates to immorality in/of the flesh, that is not the case here. Rather, it is the adoption of another avenue of justification in addition to Christ (or in place of). In this case “you who are seeking to be justified by the law”. The “law of Moses” is what we know this to be talking about by virtue of the point on circumcision. It was not immorality to be circumcised, but it was not the gospel, and that’s the point.
It was the point from the beginning of the book. “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)
And so we have teachers who sought to distort and change the gospel/grace of Christ, and thereby were severed/lost/fell from the gospel. You cannot change the gospel of Christ. When one changes it then it loses all power because it is no longer of Christ, it is no longer of His authority, and so it loses all power to save because it is not Christ’s. Even if you want to add to it self-perceived deeds of righteousness you cannot do that and it still be the gospel. Man has no right/authority to change the gospel. The second we do, it becomes something else entirely.
We as Christians can be in danger of doing this just as first-century Judaizers did. Sometimes we do that by bringing in elements of the old law - like you cannot go to heaven if you get a tattoo. Sometimes we can do this by bringing in our own personal judgments - like you have to wear a suit and tie (men) or a dress (ladies) to church. Sometimes we do it by bringing in politics - like if you want to go to heaven you have to be a Christian and a Republican/Democrat etc. Each of these illustrations shows how we can bring in an additional “law” for justification, and in our holier-than-thou self-righteous pursuit of Christianity, end up severing ourselves from Christ and falling from His grace just as the Judaizers did.
Those who seek to be justified by anyone other than Christ and His one true gospel will find themselves fallen from Christ and severed from His grace. May we ever humble our hearts to serve Christ and His gospel first, only, and always.
I recall reading something where it was claimed that we cannot lose salvation because it is a gift of God. (Once saved always saved.) I believe it's not the loss of the gift but the destruction/severing of the relationship that causes the loss.