It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Look! I, Paul, tell you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who has himself circumcised, that he is obligated to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough”(Galatians 5:1-8, NASB1995).
What is Real Obedience?
We hear a lot about obedience in the churches. Obedience is, of course, an important thing. As God said, “I desire obedience rather than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). But what is real obedience? Many who speak frequently of obedience are constantly falling short of the very standards they espouse. We are all grossly unaware of just how short we fall!
The reason they fall short is not because they are bad people – we are all bad in ourselves (See Romans 3). It is because they have a wrong understanding of obedience. The mere doing what we have surmised – in our own estimation – God wants us to do is not consistent with the New Testament idea of obedience.
In Hebrews 4 we are told that failing to enter His rest by ceasing from our own works through faith, is disobedience. This idea trumps what ever contrary ideas of obedience we might have. It is often assumed that we can just do what God asks us to do, but Jesus tells us explicitly, that apart from Him we can do “nothing” at all (John 15:5). Paul also confesses that he cannot obey God at all (Romans 7:18).
Awakening to the Good News
This really throws a wrench in our ideas of obedience. It is, however, a wonderful thing to awaken to. It allows us to enter into Christ in truth. Apart from abiding in Him, we are still living from our old (sinful) self and our works are worthless; dead to God.
Only His works are the works that are eternal. Our works must come from Him, come down from above, in order to be His works. The works that come from God are perfect. They are also incorruptible. It is “love without hypocrisy” (Romans 12:9). No human can produce such a thing. Moreover, partaking in such perfect love is honor and privilege of the highest order! It is Christ; Christ manifested in us. This is a most awesome thing.
In Galatians 5, Paul describes our “freedom” from slavery. Slavery to what? To human limitation, motivations, and to the power of sin. We cannot produce the kingdom of God. It is His Spirit alone that does this.
The Stumbling Block of the Gospel
Paul goes on to identify a believer’s reliance upon circumcision for righteousness disqualifies them for the inheritance of that very “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17). Attempting to add to the gospel in this way is tantamount to “seeking to be justified by the law (Galatians 5;4). The obvious principle here is that we cannot add any condition to qualify us other than faith in Christ’s own blood without completely undermining God’s own terms for that covenant. We don’t get to try to renegotiate them.
Again, in Galatians 5, Paul points out that compromising (the terms of) the message of grace causes us to be “severed from Christ. This then, will result in making Christ of “no benefit to us.”
A More Firm Foundation
So, what is grace? It is the unmerited favor of God, and since it is “by grace we are saved through faith, not of works” (Ephesians 2:8), it can be the only basis for our inheritance. This, my friends, is an absolute truth and cannot be violated without the consequences of death – Christ becoming of “no benefit” to us. In short, adding any condition to grace, undermines our receiving it.
Thankfully, Paul offers God’s gracious alternative. It is “by faith,” that we are “waiting for the hope of righteousness” (Galatians 5:5). Also, this hope is that same hope which the writer of Hebrews says, “enters within the veil” (Hebrews 6:19). Where, then, is our hope/faith to be placed? It is wholly in His grace, which comes by believing and relying on the death that He died for us. “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), he says.
If there was any confusion about his point, he reinforces it with the question, “who hindered you from obeying the truth.” This is the perfect summary of the above discussion. Paul is identifying obedience with reliance on the “truth.” There is your action step – resting. Thus a “repentance from dead works” as the writer of Hebrews instructs us is the essential (and inviolable) foundational to our faith and for our inheritance (Hebrews 6:1)
Out Way to Abundant Blessing
Do you want to inherit Christ in yourself today, dear believer? Then place your hope completely in His grace – and nothing else. Not your obedience to an external requirement of any kind. This will guarantee us Christ because it depends on what He did not on what we do.
Thus through faith, we are sanctified before God and the life of God authentically produces real righteousness in these earthen vessels. We walk afresh in the newness of life, just as we did when we first believed. If you diligently obey this truth of the gospel in all things, you will see the heavens open in your life and your “light will spring forth like the new day” (Isaiah 58:8).
