03 March, 2020

Galatians 5:4—“ye are fallen from grace”


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


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.


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(II)

Prof. Herman C. Hanko


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.


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(III)

More to come! (DV)






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