Galatians 5:4-6 Hope in Christ Lest You Fall from Grace

Galatians 5:4-6 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by 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.

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, if you seek to be justified before God on the basis of obedience to the Law, seeking to obtain a righteous standing before God upon your own merit, you are “severed from Christ”—Christ does not benefit you. This is Paul’s argument against the Galatians, who were trying to be justified before God upon their adherence to the Law (specifically their keeping of circumcision). It is the same way with you, Christian. Even if you “prayed the prayer,” as many call it, or if you have even seemed to have been walking for a while, your true end is shown by your lack of endurance—you have proven that you yourself are not one who has abided in Christ (John 15:4-6). If you do not abide in Christ (in the case at hand, this abiding means trusting in Christ as your righteousness, not in your own merit), you will be cut off from Christ, you will spiritually dry up, and you will be cast into the fire to be burned (John 15:6).

This is what Paul means by telling the Galatians that they have “fallen from grace.” This is a warning to them (which Paul states as though it has already definitely happened). Because they have sought to be justified by keeping the Law rather than by abiding in Christ, they have lost their position in God’s grace—i.e. proven themselves to have never truly been saved. If they would have remained in Christ, they would have remained in God’s grace. However, their lack of perseverance proves that they were not the recipients of God’s saving grace (Scripture is sufficiently clear that God’s saving grace cannot be annulled—they had come short of God’s grace (Hebrews 12:15)). They were holding God’s grace in Christ Jesus to lack sufficiency, and so were cut off from it. This warning remains against us today, fellow Christians. Make sure you abide in Christ and continue in God’s grace.

Why can you not hope in being justified by the Law and continue in God’s grace? Because by the power of the Spirit, holding on to Christ by faith, Christians are waiting in hope, trusting in God to justify them by the imputed (credited, in a legal sense) righteousness of Christ. We do not hope to attain to any righteousness on our own through keeping the Law, but we trust God’s promise, hoping in Christ (with a sure hope) that God will count on to be righteous and so allow us enter His presence. We are hoping in the promise that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Those who seek to be justified by their own merit by keeping the Law do not have this hope. Rather, they hope in their own ability to keep the Law; thus they dishonor Christ.

Brothers and sisters, when we speak of being “in Christ,” it does not matter that a person has been circumcised or has not received circumcision. Both Jew and Gentile are welcome. It does not matter whether a person worships in corporate fellowship on Saturday or Sunday, or even on Tuesday at 4:17 PM for that matter. “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). What matters is that we have hope that is evidenced by love. “For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men” (Romans 14:18). This love means that we are seeking to build up the Body of Christ: the Church (Romans 14:19). It means that we bear with one another’s weaknesses. It means that we seek to put others first. It means that we realize and seek to live out the principle: “It is so not about me.” And that is the truth, dear Christian, “It is so not about you.” The principles of “do” and “don’t” of legalism do not matter; what matters is that you have love (cf. John 13:35, 1 John 3:11). Love is the evidence of faith in Christ.