Lesson 49
September 29, 2002
5:4 Result of legalism - Christ becomes
inoperative in life
You have been severed from
Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Severed katarge,w [aor.pass.ind.]
"to render useless, powerless,
ineffective, to nullify,
inoperative," hence, idea
"to be unemployed" or "to be severed from some
beneficial thing": in today's vernacular
"to be out of business.”
By their choice to pursue legalism, the Galatians are in
the process of putting themselves under the law for acceptance before God. And it has a negative result.
you who are seeking to be
justified by law
Summary
5:4
1. The
believer who adopts a system of law performance, that is merit works,
(legalism) either for salvation, or for living the Christian life is rejecting
the very basis of both, grace/faith.
2. What
Paul says here in no way implies that anyone can loose their salvation, their
position in Christ.
3. What
Paul is emphasizing is that as believers we can drift off of the course of
grace in our life.
4. What
Paul is describing with the phrase "seeking
to be justified by law" is a desire to be righteous before God to be just
before God but not on the basis of His provision in Christ but through our own
self efforts, works.
5. By doing this we have moved away
experientially from our anchor for life.
6. Grace
sets a straight course for us in life,
and when we choose to wrap our life in
law performance merit works, we have chosen to drift off the course of grace
and go our own direction. Titus 2:12
7. Believe
Paul has concluded that the Galatians had really not understood or realized the implications
of moving to law performance living.
- its total devastation of the spiritual life.
8. How is
it possible for the believer to drift off the course of grace? What motivates this kind of action?
9. I
believe that the main ingredient for
most believers is indifference or apathy towards the Word of God, that is
negative volition towards the word of truth.
10. It
begins with either no intake of truth or failure to concentrate while assembled
with the result that we are ignorant of Word of truth, God's grace provision
for life.
11. It can
also occur when we choose to not apply the truth we know, no application or as
is often referred to as disobedience.
12.
Negative volition is often tied to failing to deal with the pressures
and tests of life and seeking to solve
them with our own solutions.
13. Paul's
objective is to make perfectly clear to them the total incompatibility between
the grace/faith way of life and the law/works merit way of life of the
legalist.
5:5 Our hope and the means of realizing it
For
we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
What's
the focus of the faith here? are waiting for the hope of righteousness.