Part 2~

Notice carefully:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness [immorality], idolatry, sorcery, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21). Consider the above passage.

Is the passage speaking to unsaved people or saved people?

Obviously it is speaking to saved people, to those who have received the Lord Christ. Unsaved people cannot inherit the Kingdom of God by refraining from the works of the flesh, so the passage has no meaning to the unsaved. The unsaved need to hear only of the redemption that is by faith in the blood of the Lord Christ.

Let us return to the second verse of the first chapter in order to determine to whom Paul was writing. We discover that Paul was writing "unto the churches of Galatia."

Therefore Galatians 5:19-21 above is speaking of those who have received Christ.

Not only had the Galatians received Christ but they also had received the Holy Spirit.

This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:2)

Consider the implications of what Paul has stated here. "You have received salvation through Christ. You have received the Spirit of God. You are not to go back under the Law of Moses. I am travailing until Christ is formed in you so you will begin to experience and manifest the power and glory of the new covenant.

"However, let me exhort you along this line: You are to cease, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the practices of lust and violence that characterize the unsaved. You are to stop your adultery, your fornication, your worshiping of idols, your wrath. If you do not, you shall never inherit the Kingdom of God!"

It is clear from the writings of the New Testament that if we do not begin to show the righteousness of Christ in our daily behaviour we are not being saved at all. We hold the ticket but we are refusing to get on the ship. What does it mean to be saved through grace by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

It means to come to Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Then we are to keep coming boldly to the Throne of God so we may obtain the Divine power and wisdom we need in order to live as a Christian should.

If we do not put on the Lord Jesus Christ and then make no provision for our flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, we are not a Christian at all. We are professing Christ but not possessing Christ. If the fruit of righteousness is not beginning to appear, if the new creature is not coming forth, salvation is not working in our life.

If someone says to a Gentile Christian, "You must keep the commandments of the Lord if you would enter the Kingdom of God," his answer will be, "I am not under the Law but under grace." What he means by this, although the statement is taken from the Scriptures, is unscriptural. He means that he does not have to live righteously in order to go to Heaven because God has forgiven his sins "by grace."

He ought to say, "I am not under the Law of Moses but under the law of the Spirit of God, and the righteousness of the Law of Moses is ascribed to me as I follow the Spirit." Then he would be scriptural (Romans 8:4).

The formation of the image of Christ in us requires time for its achievement. Each day we must press forward, through the Holy Spirit, into increased godliness of behaviour.

We can know today if we are being saved. We are being saved if the Spirit of Christ is working in us and we are turning away from the world.

If the Spirit of Christ is not producing in us the aspects of the Kingdom of God, which are, righteousness, holiness, and obedience to the Father, we are not being saved at all. We have a head knowledge of Christ. We have assented mentally to the facts of the Christian salvation.

But we are not being saved!

Salvation is not belief. Salvation is transformation!

As we continue our study of the Book of Galatians, beginning at verse sixteen of Chapter Two, let us keep firmly in mind that Paul is speaking against the teachings of the Judaizers who were attempting to add elements of the Law of Moses to the Gospel of Christ. When Paul was contrasting the works of the Law and the faith of Christ he was not implying that righteous, holy, and obedient behaviour are not a truly vital aspect of the Christian redemption, for that would contradict Paul’s own statements in Chapter Five of the same epistle.

Paul is teaching that we cannot mix the Law of Moses and the Christian Gospel. If we hold firmly to this understanding we will have no contradiction when we come to the admonitions to righteousness and holiness contained in Chapter Five.

It is an established fact that neither a Jew nor a Gentile can be made righteous in God’s sight by continuing in the works of the Law of Moses. The reason is that God has given us His own righteousness in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that this is true, God is not interested in our attempting to bypass His provision so we may come to Him through the Law of Moses. This is Paul’s argument in his Epistle to the churches of Galatia.

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