Maybe we think that if grace is wonderful, and it is, why not add some human effort to my salvation to make my standing before God even more secure. That won’t work and the apostle Paul explains why to the Galatian believers. “Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:3-4).
First, if you’re going to depend on obeying the law for your approval from God you have to obey it all. If you’re pulled over for speeding it would do no good to explain to the officer that you passed a bank without robbing it. With the law it’s all or nothing and no one ever has or ever will keep the whole law but Jesus. The law can’t save us. We can’t keep it by our own efforts. As Paul said, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The other issue is that Jesus’ death and resurrection was enough for our salvation. To try to add our efforts to that is to act as though Jesus didn’t do enough. We are saved by His grace or there is no possibility of salvation at all. Paul says that trying to add our efforts to salvation means we have “been alienated from Christ” we have “fallen away from grace.” Our salvation is a pure gift of God’s grace that we receive simply by faith. Our performance has nothing to do with it.
What about our behavior. It will change because the grace that at first covered a lifetime of sin will work for us the rest of our lives. Paul, in Galatians spent the first part of the book contending that Christ alone, without the law, secured our salvation and we activate His grace when we believe.
When he finishes his letter to the Galatians he turns to our Christian behavior with a powerful argument. He describes the Christian behavior as fruit of the Spirit. He doesn’t call our improved character fruit of our best efforts and enhanced performance. He says our improvement isn’t because of keeping the law; he says, “but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). Then he lists the fruit of the Spirit’s activity in our lives.
We aren’t saved by grace only to live the Christian life under the bondage of the law and religious rules. The writer of Hebrews gives a title to the Holy Spirit that only occurs once in the New Testament, but it’s a title full of significance. He calls the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29). We are saved by grace and for the rest of our lives the Spirit of grace works in us to make us what God intends us to be. It’s grace from start to finish.
Wally | GG Team
