Straying Christians

In Gal.1, Paul accuses the Galatians of having been led astray. If we ask what they had done, the answer is that they sought to observe the ceremonies of the law as if they were necessary. Yes, it is true that these ceremonies had been ordained by God. Of course; yet, they were a temporary condition for the people of old, for at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ all this had to cease. Because the Galatians were mixing old figures and the shadows of the law with the pure light of the gospel, Paul, unable to bear it, says that they have rebelled and turned away from God. But there was something worse: namely, that they were making the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ altogether void, by believing that man can merit and acquire his own justification before God, and make himself acceptable in God’s service. When these deceivers introduced this particular error of keeping to the ‘former shadows’, it led the Galatians to believe that they were presenting God with meritorious service. Yet, our salvation must be free, or Jesus Christ is no longer anything. We call it free salvation simply because it is given to us by God, and we come to him to be fed, with nothing but a hungry desire for what we are lacking. We should approach God as miserable beggars, if we would be justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For if we imagine that we have one drop of merit, we will not be motivated to come to him. One of the learned ancients said, and not without reason, that we cannot receive the salvation offered to us in our Lord Jesus Christ unless we can first erase the memory of all our merits, and acknowledge that we are only full of wretchedness. Paul, therefore, was completely justified in saying that the Galatians had fallen away from Jesus Christ and from God the Father.

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Oh, the danger of mixing ‘old light’ with ‘new light.’  Oh, the foolishness of mixing good ingredients into the Gospel cake, with poisonous ones.  It might look like the real thing, but once you taste it, you’re a dead duck!  When you make the grace of God null and void, you are then open to anything.  But our salvation which is ours in Christ Jesus alone, must be a free salvation or else it is nothing.  It must be free because it was given to us by God; and in any case, we could never have bought it, not for all the good works in the world.  And to receive it, we must come to God as miserable beggars, and with nothing but a hungry desire to get it at all costs.

Are you like that?  Are you hungry?  Do you see yourself as a beggar?  Hungry beggars receive good things from the Lord, and not least His free salvation.  It’s for you; take it!