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21But now the righteousness of God (1)apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22even the righteousness of God, (2)through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on (3)all who believe. For there is no difference; 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 (4)being justified (5)freely by His Grace (6) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God set forth(7) [as] a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
10 comments:
Bob George (www.realanswers.net) often points out that if it's the truth that sets you free, then it's error that will keep you in bondage. I've personally experienced this. One example (of way too many) would be how I used to see Jesus' words "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect."
I knew I couldn't be perfect in all my actions, but yet I thought of these words of Jesus as something I should "aim for." In doing so, I ended up ignorantly setting my own standard for what perfection is (instead of perfection being what it really is: perfection!).
Because of this, I sometimes thought I was doing pretty good in my Christian life. I was doing fairly well in living according to my own conception of Christlikeness. But other times (most of the time), I felt pretty low because I wasn't achieving all the things I thought I needed to achieve to grow in this so-called perfection.
But whether I thought I was performing well or whether I thought I was performing poorly, I was off the mark fully and completely, simply because I was trying to perform something that's impossible for me to perform! And I was aiming at something that is impossible to achieve!
By not rightly dividing Jesus words to be perfect, I truly missed out on the freedom that He offered me freely through His own perfect performance and through me simply trusting in it!
Jesus preached Law to its fullest measure, and if we take those words of His as God's words to Christians rather than God's words to the self-righteous and to unbelievers to lead them to Christ, then we'll fully miss the whole point and lose out on the true freedom of Christ.
Any thoughts?
Hi Joel.
Thank you once again for taking time out to share your thoughts and wisdom
I have two thoughts.
1) I wish I could articulate my thoughts and feelings as well as you do.
2) The second thought is quoted directly from Act 15:10 Now therefore why do you tempt God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Although I feel inadequate to share my thoughts, since I just journaled on this very topic, I felt led to share it. Sin is missing the mark - whether "big or small." That said, I "miss the mark" when I aim incorrectly based upon my beliefs and not what God has clearly stated about me. I can never be more lost than before I got saved, and can never out-sin His grace. I can, however, operate as if the latter were untrue, thereby putting myself back into the "slave market of sin." 2 Peter 2:19: While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage." Let us not forget that the enemy comes to "kill, steal, and destroy." Satan still uses scripture today to christians, as he did with Jesus. Of course, he uses it inaccurately, but often (most) times we succumb to the lie, because it was wrapped in religious jargon. I must compare scripture to scripture, and then must apply it rightly to my life. Truth = Freedom. Lies = bondage. If christian could not be led astray, Paul would not have said, "do not be deceived." Remember, Galatians is written to christians who were going backwards, not forwards. The hard part of this is that you can spot someone else in bondage, but often not in ourselves. My husband calls it "comfortable bondage." It's not right, but it is what we have come to know. Therefore, we must be diligent to present ourselves approved unto God" and "encourage one another while it is day." I will close with this thought-provoking piece of scripture from Corinthians:...they that compare themselves among themselves are not wise..." Can you see how that fits into your question?!!!
Redeemed
Hi Anonymous
Thank you for your comment. I had to read it a couple of times to get my mind around it. Much wisdom in so few words.
Just one thing. When you say that you must compare scripture with scripture. How do you compare the truths of one covenant with another?
I am keen to hear what Joel thinks about what you wrote.
Bless you
odear anonymous. i would also just like to add that according to my own personal revelation, paul is saying that we should not be deceived by those who are preaching law. yes do not be deceived, you cannot mix a bit of old (law) and a bit of new(grace) and expect to live in the perfection that God sees us in. As i said my own personal revalation. Galtions was writteen to those who were slipping back into the law and were not livivg in grace, the true freedom of Christ. and when paul speaks about standing firm and not being burdened by the yoke of slavery (Gal 5) i believe he is telling us to stand firm, not against sin but against those who pull you back into bondage by conditions that the law requires. We all sin. none of us will ever be perfect. there are no scales to sin. you cannot weigh one sin against the other. God sees us who
who are saved has holy pure vessels. Rightly divide the word, is a key to setting more and more people free from the bondage that so many pasters are keeping there people in. Pucky
the above was suppose to be (Dear)not odear. Love you all. And remember. LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE. Pucky
Hi friends,
I guess I essentially agree with both types of deception and both types of bondage that have been brought up here.
Paul said "do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good character" (1 Cor 15:33) and he also said, "do not be deceived, God is not mocked, a man reaps what he sows" (Gal 6:7). This is just simply true... our actions have consequences, even as we're fully in grace. And it's also true that Paul talked about not being a slave (in bondage) to sin and the lusts of the flesh, and to be their master rather than them being our master. The seeming paradox is that Paul says that he who has died (and he makes the case that we have died) is free from sin (Rom 6:7). But I think this is a great example of why we need to 'rightly divide' the word of truth.
Under the Old Covenant, or when people are still in Adam, they have not died to sin. They are alive to sin and dead to God. Under the New Covenant, and in Christ, we have died to sin and have been made alive to God in Christ. I believe we need to correctly divide that truth: to reckon it as fact (count it as true because it is true!).
Old/Adam = Alive to sin/Dead to God.
New/Christ = Dead to sin/Alive to God.
Then, having correctly divided that word of truth, we are now FREE to apply the truth: "therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts" (Rom 6:12).
But if we haven't first "reckoned" (counted as fact) the truth that we are dead to sin (Rom 6:11), we have no basis by which to apply the truth.
Pucky I think you are so very correct that pastors today are keeping people in bondage! The main type of bondage that Paul fought against wasn't the bondage of a sinful lifestyle, but the bondage of legalism. Many pastors preach, "don't let sin reign in your mortal bodies" without having first helped the people to become established in "you have died and you are free from sin!"
I agree that Galatians was written to Christians who were going backwards instead of forwards, but what were they going backwards into? It's not that they were going backwards into sinful lifestyles. They were going backwards to dependency upon the law again! They had apparently previously known that "Life" was not by law, but by Spirit, but the had turned from walking in the Spirit to walking after the flesh again... to walking after the law.
I think it's interesting how the church of today has completely turned around Paul's words about the Galatians having "fallen from grace." Today, when someone sins, especially a high profile pastor or "Christian celebrity," the church gasps and screams about how that person has "fallen from grace!" Talk about incorrectly handling the word of truth! Those who had fallen from grace were those who had gone back to the law!
Lastly, that verse brought up by Redeemed (anonymous). 2 Cor 10:12. I'm not quite sure where that verse is being taken here, but in the context of the surrounding verses, I see Paul coming against the idea of being proud or boastful about his position of authority, "which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction..." (verse 8). He wasn't about to "class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves" (verse 12). He knew his place of authority was solely for the sake of building others up (and not pulling others down) and that he wasn't placed in that position because he was better than anyone else. He wasn't about to commend himself like others were doing, or to compare himself to them. That indeed would not be wise!
I found this on a newsletter I receive from www.gracefortheheart.org
I think it is brilliant.
P is for Perspective
“You mean peanut butter isn’t green?” That was my response when I learned, sometime in my 30’s, that my perspective on peanut butter had been wrong my whole life. I said something like, “You know, green – like peanut butter.” My wife was shocked. We had been married over ten years, but she had never known that I thought peanut butter was green.
I have always been “color-impaired.” I struggle with the meaning of brown, green and red. Since I don’t discern colors in the same way most people do, I have a perspective that is different. I would reason things out and had decided that, since peanuts were a plant, peanut butter must be green. It didn’t particularly bother me that it was green; it was just “my perspective.” I may even have argued the point at first (like I did on other items I had categorized wrongly!)
My perspective had already led me to other errors, of course. When I was very young I automatically colored the bark of the tree green because the leaves were green. I always thought mustard was a yellow-green shade. The same reasoning process had led me to these mistakes, but it still made (and, I confess, makes) sense to me. Plants are green and plant products or associates should be green.
I have met other people with the same perspective. In fact, I suppose we could suggest a minority opinion that has a right to be acknowledged. Perhaps when parents teach their children colors they should be required to say that some people see peanut butter as brown and others see it as green. We could suggest that our perspective is just another way of looking at the truth. That isn’t quite right, of course. Color-blind people will tell you that they don’t see a different color, but they don’t really know what color they see. It is harder for us to identify colors and that’s why we rely on reason.
And that’s the problem. When we don’t know the real answer, we feel forced to try to reason toward it. If our idea of truth is flawed from the beginning, our conclusion will be flawed as well.
This is what we see so much in the church. Some people look at Scripture and see performance everywhere. They see the anger of God at sin and the disappointment He feels toward His people. The reason they see all of this is because of their perspective. There is much that they do not understand and they reason through Scripture according to the performance expectations they have in their own lives. They see failure in their own lives (and in others) and feel the call to try harder to measure up to God’s standards.
Is this perspective wrong, or is it just another way of looking at truth? Is it appropriate to suggest that there is a performance way of looking at the Christian life and there is a grace way of looking at it? Some people try to find a middle ground between these two perspectives, as though they were equal in accuracy and value. Is that what we should be looking for – some place of balance? Like saying that peanut butter is sort of a greenish brown?
No, this perspective is simply wrong and it leads to wrong conclusions. The reasoning process of performance spirituality will bring a person to discouragement and defeat. It will lead him or her to miss the real teachings of the Scriptures and see things that are not there. I was truly amazed at what I learned from the Scriptures once I began to see the truth of God’s love and grace.
When we interpret Scripture, we have to be sure that we are standing on truth. In other words, we let the plain teaching of Scripture provide the interpretation of the difficult passages. If you find yourself facing a puzzling passage, be sure that you step back to the firm footing of what you do know before you jump into what you do not know.
Thanks for your post once again Joel.
Wow... I like the peanut butter illustration! I just heard about gracefortheheart.org yesterday, as Dave (from gracefortheheart) left a comment on my video blog along with that link. I'm going to link to this article on my blog, since it not only goes along with what we've been chatting about here but also with some things I've been posting about lately. Thanks for sharing this!
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