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We are all born
sinners. From the moment we are born our
sinful nature is in constant rebellion
against God. We are born spiritually dead
and unable to save ourselves. The desires of
our flesh are at odds with what God wants
for us from the moment we come into this
world. We were cut off from God, with no
hope of doing anything to restore our broken
relationship with Him. But God loved us
enough to take the initiative to save us
from our hopeless condition by sending
Christ to die in our place so we could have
our sins forgiven and our relationship with
God restored.
When we accept Christ, the Holy Spirit
regenerates us and gives us the power to
live our lives for God. To be regenerated
means, “to be born anew.” When we are born
again, we are spiritually re-created by God
in Christ’s image (John 1:13; 3:5; Titus 3:3-7; James 1:18;
1 Pet. 1:23; cf. Ps. 51:10; Ezek. 11:19). Without regeneration,
sinners remain in their hopeless state and
are incapable of experiencing spiritual life
(John 3:5-6). This kind of transformation
can only take place when we submit our will
and desires to Jesus Christ and trust in him
alone for forgiveness and eternal life
(Eph. 2:1; 2:5; Titus 3:5).
Some
people think they can overcome their sinful
desires by keeping God’s law.
The church in Galatia was being tempted to
believe in the false gospel of
works-righteousness. They were being taught
that Christians were required to keep
circumcision and the holy days from the Old
Covenant law. Paul said in Galatians 1:6-7, “I
am astonished that you are so quickly
deserting him who called you in the grace of
Christ and are turning to a different
gospel—not that there is another one, but
there are some who trouble you and want to
distort the gospel of Christ.” The false
teachers were trying to persuade the
Galatians to submit to the Old Covenant law
to be saved (Gal. 2:3-5; 4:10-11).
Paul
said that it was foolishness to place
yourself back under the Old Covenant Law!
Galatians 3:1-3 says, “O foolish
Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was
before your eyes that Jesus Christ was
publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask
you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by
works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the
Spirit, are you now being perfected by the
flesh?”
The false gospel of the
Judaizers.
Paul had to warn those
being tempted to believe in a different
gospel about the danger they were in.
Galatians 5:2-4 says, “Look: I, Paul, say to
you that if you accept circumcision, Christ
will be of no advantage to you. I testify
again to every man who accepts circumcision
that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
You are severed from Christ, you who would
be justified by the law; you have fallen
away from grace.”
Paul said the
Galatians’ desire to go back under the law
was like they had fallen under a bewitching
spell, even though they had heard and
accepted the true gospel of God’s grace.
When you insist on keeping the Law you have
fallen from God’s grace and are believing
the false gospel of works-righteousness that
will only lead you to spiritual ruin and
death.
Galatians 3:10-12 says, “For
all who rely on works of the law are under a
curse; for it is written, “Cursed be
everyone who does not abide by all things
written in the Book of the Law, and do
them.” Now it is evident that no one is
justified before God by the law, for “The
righteous shall live by faith.” But the law
is not of faith, rather “The one who does
them shall live by them.”
Striving
to keep the law brings a curse on everyone
who fails to keep it perfectly. The law has
nothing to do with faith, and whatever is
not of faith is sin.
Galatians 3:13-14 says,
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us—for it is
written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged
on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the
blessing of Abraham might come to the
Gentiles, so that we might receive the
promised Spirit through faith.”
We
are saved by God’s grace alone!
Ephesians 2:8-9 says,
“For by grace you have been saved through
faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, not a result of works, so
that no one may boast.” Did you get that?
Our salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ alone (see: Rom. 3:28; 4:5; 5:1; 11:6; Acts 16:31;
Gal. 2:16; 3:24; Eph. 1:13; and Phil. 3:9).
The Law is an impossible standard to
live up to.
Most of Paul’s churches
had the same problem with Judaizers
insisting the Gentiles had to live according
to the Law of Moses. The Old Covenant Law
had blinded them to the truth of the gospel.
2 Corinthians 3:14-18 says,
“But their minds were made dull, for to this
day the same veil remains when the old
covenant is read. It has not been removed,
because only in Christ is it taken away.
Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil
covers their hearts. But whenever anyone
turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And
we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the
Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his
likeness with ever-increasing glory, which
comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
(NIV)
Those who still preach
Moses have rejected the gospel of Jesus
Christ, and the transforming power of the
Holy Spirit in their lives.
The
other apostles agreed with Paul’s teaching
that the Law was not to be made a
requirement for the Church. The Apostle
Peter stood up at the first church council
in Jerusalem and said, “Now, therefore, why
are you putting God to the test by placing a
yoke on the neck of the disciples that
neither our fathers nor we have been able to
bear? But we believe that we will be saved
through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as
they will.” (Acts 15:10-11). The council
determined that keeping the Law was an
impossible standard for God’s people to live by,
and the only way a person can be saved is by
grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone
(see: Acts 15:28-29; Gal. 5:1-4; Rom. 2:17-24). By grace alone means that God
loves, forgives, and saves us, not because
of who we are or what we have done, but
because of what Christ has done for us.
Christians live under the New Covenant,
not the old.
We are not required to
keep any of the legal requirements from the
Old Covenant law under the New Covenant.
They are two separate, and mutually
exclusive legal agreements. You can live
under one, or the other, but not both at the
same time. If someone says you need to keep
the laws from the Old Covenant, they are
teaching the same false gospel that the
Galatians were being taught.
Galatians 4:10-11 says, “You observe days
and months and seasons and years! I am
afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”
And Colossians 2:16-17 says,
“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by
what you eat or drink, or with regard to a
religious festival, a New Moon celebration
or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the
things that were to come; the reality,
however, is found in Christ.” (NIV)
Paul was Christ’s apostle to the Gentiles
(Gal. 2:1-10), and he never told anyone to keep the Mosaic
Law, or the Sabbath under the New Covenant,
and none of the other apostles did either.
The New
Testament very clearly teaches that
Sabbath-keeping along with all of the other
ceremonial requirements of the Old Covenant
Law are not required for Christians living
under the New Covenant (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8;
Acts 15:1-20; Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12;
Eph. 2:11-18; 2 Cor. 3:3-11; Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25).
Our righteousness is not based on what
we do!
Romans 3:20-21, “For by works of the law no
human being will be justified in his sight,
since through the law comes knowledge of
sin. But now the righteousness of God has
been manifested apart from the law, although
the Law and the Prophets bear witness to
it.”
The Law can only point out our
sin, but has no power to help us overcome
it. Everyone sins at some point and are
judged guilty and worthy of death according
to the law. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages
of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
No one has ever been saved, or kept
saved, by keeping the law!
The only way to keep from being deceived by
a false gospel is to understand the true
gospel.
We have
to die to sin, to live for
God.
Romans 6:1-7 says,
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue
in sin that grace may abound? By no means!
How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Do you not know that all of us who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were buried therefore
with him by baptism into death, in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life. For if we
have been united with him in a death like
his, we shall certainly be united with him
in a resurrection like his. We know that our
old self was crucified with him in order
that the body of sin might be brought to
nothing, so that we would no longer be
enslaved to sin. For one who has died has
been set free from sin.”
We
have been released from the law to live by
God’s Spirit.
Romans 7:6-8 says,
“But now we are released from the law,
having died to that which held us captive,
so that we serve in the new way of the
Spirit and not in the old way of the written
code. What then shall we say? That the law
is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been
for the law, I would not have known sin. For
I would not have known what it is to covet
if the law had not said, “You shall not
covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity
through the commandment, produced in me all
kinds of covetousness. For apart from the
law, sin lies dead.”
Christ
wants to live His life through us.
Galatians 2:20
says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It
is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me.”
Because we died in Christ when we became His
followers, the law no longer has
jurisdiction over us (Rom. 7:1-8; cf.
Rom. 6:4-8; 6:11; 8:13; 1 Cor. 15:31; Luke 9:23;
Gal. 2:20; 5:24).
Whenever someone is focused on
keeping the law they are focused on their
performance, not on what God wants for us,
which is for us to walk by the power of the
Holy Spirit on a moment-by-moment basis.
Christ broke the curse of the law for us.
Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law by becoming a
curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is
everyone who is hanged on a tree.”
The
Law was meant to lead us to
Christ.
Galatians 3:24 says, “So
then, the law was our guardian until Christ
came, in order that we might be justified by
faith.”
The word “guardian” in
Galatians 3:24 comes from the Greek word,
“paidagôgos” which means,
“disciplinarian,” “custodian,” “tutor,” or
“guide.” It described a slave who took
care of a child as their tutor until they
reached adulthood. They watched over the
children at school and at home and were
often very strict causing those under their
care to look forward to the day when they
would be free from their tutor’s custody.
The law served as a tutor to show us our
sinfulness and our need for the Savior,
Jesus Christ.
The Jews under the law
were like young children under the control
of a guardian, but this was only until
Christ came. Once He came, those who put
their trust
in Him were completely forgiven for the sins
they had committed against the law and were
made right with God. Instead of being
children under a guardian, they could now
enjoy the freedom of full-grown children of
God (Gal. 3:23-26). Since Christ has
come, all those who believe in Him are
united together as God’s children,
regardless of their race, sex, or social
status. In Christ, we are completely
forgiven and justified by faith and are
Abraham’s true offspring (Gal. 3:27-29).
God wants to make us into a whole
new person.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “You were taught,
with regard to your former way of life, to
put off your old self, which is being
corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be
made new in the attitude of your minds; and
to put on the new self, created to be like
God in true righteousness and holiness.”
(NIV)
Paul was comparing the
Christian life to someone ripping off their
sinful, filthy clothes, and putting on a
brand new
set of clean, white clothes that only Christ
can provide for us. This will only become a
reality in a person’s life when they set
their minds on doing God’s will and strive
to be the kind of person He wants us to be
(Col. 3:9-10).
Romans 12:1-2
says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in
view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as
living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God’s will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will.” (NIV)
The Holy Spirit renews our hearts and
minds and helps us to overcome the evil
desires of our sinful nature by giving us
the power to live the Christian life (2 Cor. 5:17;
Gal. 6:15; Eph. 4:24; Phil. 4:8). As Christians grow
in maturity, we should gradually notice that
our thoughts are being changed, moment-by-moment, into the image of Christ’s likeness.
Our transformation does not happen
overnight. When we are born again our
regeneration is instantaneous, but our
transformation, or sanctification is
continuous. We are gradually conformed to
Christ’s image as we spend time in
fellowship with Him and seek to be
transformed by Him (2 Cor. 3:18).
Our focus needs to be on the Spirit’s
leading.
Romans 8:5, 13
says, “For those who live according to the
flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who live according to the
Spirit set their minds on the things of the
Spirit . . . For if you live according to
the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit
you put to death the deeds of the body, you
will live.”
And Galatians 6:8 says, “For the one
who sows to his own flesh will from the
flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows
to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap
eternal life.”
We are told to walk
according to the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-18 says, “But I say, walk by the
Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires
of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh
are against the Spirit, and the desires of
the Spirit are against the flesh, for these
are opposed to each other, to keep you from
doing the things you want to do. But if you
are led by the Spirit, you are not under the
law.”
Being born-again means we have
received a new, Spirit controlled nature.
God begins the process of perfecting us from
the moment we are converted from unbelief to
faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit regenerates
us and gives us new hearts with new, holy
desires.
Speaking about the New
Covenant, Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give
you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.” (NIV)
The Holy Spirit transforms our
stubborn hearts and opens our minds to
embrace the truth of the gospel rather than
reject it. God gives us a hunger for
righteousness and a desire to please Him.
Our inner person is transformed through the
miracle of the new birth and from that point
on, God uses everything that occurs in our
lives to make us more like Christ
(Rom. 8:28-30).
When we walk in the Spirit
we will grow in the fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25 says, “But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such
things there is no law. And those who belong
to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires. If we live by
the Spirit, let us also keep in step with
the Spirit.”
The fruit of the Spirit
is the outpouring of the Spirit’s influence
in our life that comes about when we yield
our will and desires to Him. As we grow in
Christ, the Spirit begins to produce good
fruit that can be seen in our behaviors and
relationships with other people. None of
these fruits are the product of our good
works, they are the product of being under
Christ’s control. The fruit of the Spirit is
an outward sign of the internal change that
has taken place in our life and will become
more obvious as we grow closer to Christ
(see: John 15:1-8).
We gain the
power to overcome sin when we are born from
above and made new in Christ.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “put off your
old self, which belongs to your former
manner of life and is corrupt through
deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the
spirit of your minds, and to put on the new
self, created after the likeness of God in
true righteousness and holiness.”
Christ has given us
the honor to be His ambassadors to a
lost and dying world that is in desperate
need of a savior (2 Cor. 5:17-21).
God sanctifies us
(makes us holy), through the power of the
Holy Spirit’s indwelling.
In
Christian theology, the term sanctification
is most often used to describe God’s act of
setting believers apart for holy use. God
does two things in our lives through
sanctification. First, God places us in
Christ when we accept Him as our Lord and
Savior; and second, the Holy Spirit begins
the process of gradually transforming us
into Christ’s likeness as we submit more and
more of our lives to him.
Romans 6:8-11
says, “Now if we have died with
Christ, we believe that we will also live
with him. We know that Christ, being raised
from the dead, will never die again; death
no longer has dominion over him. For the
death he died he died to sin, once for all,
but the life he lives he lives to God. So
you also must consider yourselves dead to
sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:19-22 says, “I am speaking in
human terms, because of your natural
limitations. For just as you once presented
your members as slaves to impurity and to
lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so
now present your members as slaves to
righteousness leading to sanctification. For
when you were slaves of sin, you were free
in regard to righteousness. But what fruit
were you getting at that time from the
things of which you are now ashamed? For the
end of those things is death. But now that
you have been set free from sin and have
become slaves of God, the fruit you get
leads to sanctification and its end, eternal
life.”
And 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
says, “Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you completely, and may your whole
spirit and soul and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
who calls you is faithful; he will surely do
it.”
No one can
reach sinless perfection in this life.
Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not
that I have already obtained all this, or
have already been made perfect, but I press
on to take hold of that for which Christ
Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken hold of
it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is
behind and straining toward what is ahead, I
press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
The Greek word
for “perfect” in Philippians 3:12 is “teleioô’”
and it means, “mature,” or “complete.” It
does not mean moral or sinless perfection.
Paul was talking about growing in maturity
as a follower of Jesus Christ. He stressed the
fact that even though he had not yet
achieved perfection, he pressed on to grow
in
maturity as a Christian because of his love
for Christ, and the knowledge that he would
be with Him for eternity (1 Jn. 1:9-10; 5:4;
1 Cor. 9:24; 15:50-58; Phil. 3:14; Col. 1:28-29; 2:18;
Heb. 5:14).
Those who accept
Christ are not under the Law’s condemnation.
John 3:18 says, “Whoever believes in him
is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe is condemned already, because he has
not believed in the name of the only Son of
God.”
And Romans 8:1-4 says, “There is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of
life has set you free in Christ Jesus from
the law of sin and death. For God has done
what the law, weakened by the flesh, could
not do. By sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he
condemned sin in the flesh, in order that
the righteous requirement of the law might
be fulfilled in us, who walk not according
to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The only way to overcome our sinful
nature is through faith in Jesus Christ
alone!
1 John 5:4-5 says,
“For everyone who has been born of God
overcomes the world. And this is the victory
that has overcome the world—our faith. Who
is it that overcomes the world except the
one who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God?”
Christians need to understand that they
have the fullness of the Holy Spirit living
inside them from the moment they accept
Christ into their lives. To walk in the
Spirit means that we yield to His control,
we follow His lead, and we allow Him to
exercise His influence over us. When we walk
in the Spirit, God gives us Christ’s love in
our hearts and the desire to obey Him more
and more each day.
Many Christians
don’t fully understand the freedom they have
in Christ.
Christians need to
understand that they have been set free from
having to keep the Law to live God-honoring
lives by walking in His Spirit. When we do
that—we are fulfilling the law of Christ
(Mark 12:28-31; Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 9:21).
“So I say, walk by the
Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires
of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16 BSB)
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