Repudiating God's Grace

 Paul was very upset with the believers in Galatia who had listened to the Jewish believers who came to them saying that they needed to return to keeping the Law to be Christians. He knew how absurd that was, and he did not want them to get off track by following these false doctrines. Therefore, Paul explained to them that going back to that old rule-keeping, peer pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in our relationship with God. (Galatians 2:21) Paul made it plain that he refused to do that because that would be a repudiation of God's grace. In fact, if a living relationship with God come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily. I believe we need to hear this message loud and clear.

As Bible believing Christians, we believe that salvation comes by grace through faith and not by works. (Ephesians 2:8,9) The Bible is clear that salvation is a free gift, no one can earn it or deserve it. (Romans 6:23) However, even people who claim to believe this and claim to have been saved by grace through faith, have a tendency to want to return to a rule-keeping, peer pleasing religion as their way of living the Christian life. That is a repudiation of the grace of God. We can't have a living relationship with God by keeping rules and pleasing people. We must continue each day to live by grace through faith in the Lord. We must tell Jesus daily that we can't live the Christian life on our own. It will have to come by His power as a gift of grace, as we continue to trust in Him as Lord every step of the way. That is the only way to have a living relationship with the Lord, not by keeping rules.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Galatians 3-6.