Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever
of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace (Gal. 5:4).
ARMINIAN
ARGUMENT:
“Grace is not irresistible! Men can ‘fall
from grace’ (Gal. 5:4).”
(I)
Ronald Hanko & Ronald Cammenga
[Source: Saved By Grace: A Study of
the Five Points of Calvinism (RFPA, 2002), p. 162]
Paul is speaking to those who wanted
to make circumcision a condition for salvation and for membership in the
Christian church, and he tells them that if this is what they believe, then not
only is Christ become of no effect to them, but they are fallen from grace.
The correct explanation is very
simple. Paul is not saying that these people once received the grace of God and
have now lost it and are perishing, but that they, by their belief in salvation
through law-works, have separated themselves from salvation by grace and from
the cross of Christ. They stand by their own teaching as those for whom the cross
is of “none effect” and to whom grace is meaningless.
-----------------------------------------------
(II)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
[Source: Justified Unto
Liberty: Commentary on Galatians (RFPA)]
The
Scriptures never speak of a falling away of saints, and this verse cannot be
interpreted as referring to a falling away of the elect saints in Galatia.
Scripture is clear that once God begins his work of salvation in the hearts of
his elect people, he will complete that work (John 10:28–30; Phil. 1:6).
Rather, the meaning is that the Galatian Christians had confessed that their
salvation was to be found in Christ alone. If they listened to the alluring
songs of the heretics among them and consented to be circumcised, they were
repudiating their confession that Christ was their only Savior. They were
severed from Christ in the sense that they themselves no longer confessed him
as their salvation.
The Galatians would no longer have a part in grace if they followed the
Judaizers and were circumcised. This was the inevitable conclusion of the
position that was being advocated in the Galatian churches. And this is finally
the rock-bottom truth of the whole dispute. Is salvation by works? Or by grace?
It is one or the other. It cannot be both. There is no middle way, no
compromise, no insane talk of partly grace and partly works.
Man is totally corrupt, unable to keep the law in any respect. He is a slave to
sin. In that perilous and hopeless condition, he can do nothing to aid in his
salvation. He cannot even will to be saved, but flounders in the quagmire of
his depravity. He turns away with revulsion from every effort to save him and
would rather sink in quicksand than be rescued and brought to safety.
God comes in Christ Jesus to save man not by man’s work, but by mere grace. Man
is saved by an act of sovereign good pleasure, by an irresistible act of
unmerited favor, by a powerful, rescuing act that God performs through Jesus
Christ. God himself saves. Works and grace always stand as exact opposites
(Rom. 11:6). Works merit. Works put God under obligation to do something for
us. Works are of man’s initiative, power, and innate goodness. Works are a
ladder that, when climbed, bring us to God. And God is bound to open heaven’s
door to such outstanding examples of exemplary behavior. Man has succeeded in
salvaging his own pride and putting God in debt to him.
Grace is the opposite. Grace is not from man, but from God. Grace is God’s
eternal attitude of love, favor, benevolence, and mercy toward his people in
Christ Jesus. That attitude of the sovereign and living God is a powerful
saving grace that comes to the sinner and lifts him from the quagmire of his
sin, which ultimately would suck him down to hell. Grace brings him into the
glorious perfection of heaven. Grace changes a sinner so completely that he
becomes a willing, joyful, obedient, and thankful child of his Father in
heaven. Works bring glory to man. Grace brings glory to God.
-----------------------------------------------
(III)
More to come! (DV)
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