The Application of the Gospel of Grace

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To Bring Salvation

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The last two chapters of this book deal with seven results that you can expect if the Gospel of Grace is applied by the Holy Spirit. The first and most important is salvation. These 12 verses are often used to support the view of Apostasy, the view that believers can fall out of Grace and loose their salvation. Paul seems to be saying here that any man who receives the Law is severed from Christ. We, who are part of the Judo-Christian community must choose between the Law and Christ. Paul is saying that if you choose the Law, you cannot choose Christ.

To those who have chosen the Law, he reminds them that they have no advantage for the only way they can be saved is to keep the whole Law which was impossible. But those who, by the gift of Faith from the Holy Spirit, believe on Christ, have righteousness imputed to them as a gift. So it is not a matter of weather you are Jew or Gentile, it is a matter of what route you have chosen to follow. The Law is of now, no avail. It makes no difference either way now for salvation is the product of faith not of observances of the Law.

I find no apostasy in these verses. Paul was not speaking to believers who had been led astray by those who were seeking to impose some Jewish tradition upon them. He was speaking to those who had denied Christ and choose to live by the Law. That denial severed them from Christ and the salvation that is offered by faith. Salvation is a gift from God. We can do nothing to merit it nor can we do anything to loose it. It is God's to do with as He pleases.

Lets put this in a very simple way. We go down to the river. There are two ways to get across. We can use the bridge or we can swim. No one has ever been successful in swimming the river. Many have tried but no one succeeded. Once you start swimming, there is no turning back. Now the bridge is there but there is a charge. You must believe that it will hold you and get you across, in other words, you must have faith in the bridge because, like the other route, once you start across, there is no turning back. The question then is do you trust yourself or the bridge (Christ)?

Now it is inevitable, all who start across the bridge, look down at the water from time-to-time, it looks so inviting particular when things get "hot". All we see down there is cool water, we do not see all the thousands drowning. The Galatians were looking down at the water. They were led to do so by the Judizers. They forgot that down there they were severed from Christ.

They had wavered from the truth and Paul wanted to know why. He suspected that a "little leaven" had gotten into the church and he warned that it would permeate the whole group. "Certainly", Paul says, "It did not come from me." "Whoever they are who are troubling you, will face their judgment." "I wish they would mutilate (circumcise) themselves."

Then Paul renounces a false rumor that had been circulated about him. People were saying that Paul was a believer in circumcision. Where did they get that idea? Perhaps it was because Paul had Timothy circumcised so that he, Timothy, would be more acceptable to the Jews. But Paul certainly did not believe that it was necessary for salvation. Paul did subjugate many of his beliefs from time to time that some might be brought to Christ. This was the case with Timothy.

Paul would remove what ever "stumbling blocks" to Christianity that he could but there was one that he could do nothing about. That was "death". The Jews could get over the humble beginnings of Jesus. They were ready to accept Him as their King on Palm Sunday, but they could not get over the cross. The cross and the resulting death, was a stumbling block to the Jew. Paul could do nothing about it. So the first application of the Gospel is to bring salvation. GALATIANS Page 10

To Instill Love for One Another

The second application of the Gospel of Grace is to instill in us love for one another. Paul had been expounding the freedoms that we have in Grace, now he warns that being under God's Grace also brings responsibility. "Do not use your freedoms to abuse or take advantage of someone else."

We should not think that our freedoms in Christ will allow us to live as the world lives, to do as we please. Responsibility says, do only those things which honor God and will not offend your brother. Therefore, the key to our actions in Christ is love. Love should motivate all that we say and do. Love makes us servants not taskmasters. Love does not seek revenge.

Verse 15 describes a divided church. "If you bit and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another." Taking shots at fellow Christians will destroy our usefulness. It also destroys the usefulness of the church. So the second application of the Gospel of Grace is to bring about love for one another, for the welfare of each member as well as the welfare of the church.

To Install the Christian Life

The third application of the Gospel of grace is in the area of Christian living. Paul asks that we separate our two lives, our spiritual life and our worldly life. We must separate the desires of the flesh from the desires of the spirit. This will aid us in making the right decisions, seeking the right goals, setting the right priorities and worshipping the right God.

All the decisions of life should be made in light of our Christian vocation. All of our goals should take into consideration our Christian obligations. And what god are you worshipping, money, prestige, sports, leisure, work, or are these secondary to the worshipping of the one true and living God. Paul is saying that the Gospel should be used as a guide in the making all the right decisions of life.

To Identify the Works of the Flesh

The fourth application of the Gospel of Grace is to aid us in identifying the "works of the flesh". There are four types of sin in these verses that are identified as "works of the flesh".

1. Sins against the 7th. Commandment. The sins that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The sins of adultery, fornication and homosexuality.
2. Sins against the 1st. and 2nd. Commandments. The sins of idolatry, witchcraft and sorcery.
3. Sins against your neighbor. The sins of hatred, enmity, strife, jealousy, dissension and envy.
4. Sins against our selves. The sins of drunkenness, carousing, fighting and murder, all forms of sin that do harm to our bodies and our souls.

Verse 21 should make us examine ourselves. "I warned you before and now I am warning you again, those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven." This is not an easy verse to explain. Those who believe in apostasy are quick to explain that as "falling out of Grace". Their belief is that Christians, by their own actions, can loose their salvation. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, makes the case for those of us who believe in the eternal security of the believer. He says, "The sins spoken of in the above verses, are sins that Christians will not purposely commit." "The kind of person that would commit these sins is not re-born or regenerated by the Spirit." "This is not to say that born again Christians will not sin, only that they will not accept it as a way of life."

To Identify the Works of the Spirit

The fifth application of the Gospel of Grace is to aid us in identifying the works of the Spirit. In these verses we see identified the efforts of the Christian that are the result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. These works are called by Paul as the "Fruits of the Spirit".

These efforts, on our part, are evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and indicate that we are allowing Him to activate and motivate us. We saw in the previous verses how we might act if left to our own normal decisions. Here we see how we should act when we are "spiritually motivated.

Lets look at those "fruits of the Spirit" and see their application.

1. Love and joy. These two go together. All the rest are predicated on our having these two. God delights in our having and demonstrating these two fruits of the Spirit.
2. Peace. Peace comes with the knowledge and assurance of all that God has promised those who believe in Christ. The acceptance of this brings peace, peace with God and with our fellow man.
3. Long suffering, or patience, gentleness, or kindness. Matthew Henry calls this "Sweetness of the temper", it also makes us easy to get along with.
4. Goodness. This is not "piety" or self righteousness. This is a readiness to do good as we have the opportunity.
5. Faithfulness. (dependability) This is a big one. It means being tried and true. It means knowing what you believe and sticking to it. It means being faithful in our duties and obligations to God and to others.
6. Meekness. (gentleness) This has to do with temperament. It means you are not easily provoked, or if you are, you are soon pacified. It does not mean that you are a "pushover".
7. Self-control or Temperance. Doing all things in moderation. It does not mean total abstinence.

Well. how did you make out? Do you have 7 out of 7? Paul says that these gifts of the Spirit will not be found under the Law. These are only found in those who are a part of the Gospel of Grace.

It is not easy to understand the change that Paul believes takes place in a person when they accept Christ. Paul believed that the influence of the Spirit in a Christians life would lead to the dislike and the forsaking of all things of the flesh and put in its stead the desire and the seeking after of the things of the Spirit. Perhaps, never ever completely forsaking the things of the flesh, but certainly sincerely trying to do so, and I might add, as God gives you the strength to do so.

Paul ends the chapter with some good advice. "If we live by the Spirit, it will be reflected in our lives." How? There will be no self-conceit, no provoking one another, no envy of one another. Is that true of us?

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