ONE WAY TO SALVATION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?

Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?

So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

Galatians 3:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Chapter 3 of Galatians opens, we find the Apostle Paul fiercely rebuking the Galatian Christians. The scathing comments were sparked by news that the churches in Galatia were following the guidance of Jews in their midst who were proposing that compliance with the Law of the old covenant was required in order to gain salvation. The attempts to move the churches away from the Gospel Paul brought was nothing more than a perversion of the salvation plan set forth by God through His Son Jesus.

This is why we find Paul calling the Galatians foolish. They had allowed themselves to be deceived and led astray, sinning against God in the process. If the ways of the old covenant had been so great, God would never have had to put a new plan in place. If the Law showed anything, it revealed that no person could carry it out perfectly and therefore no one could find their way to eternal life.

And so God, out of His deep love and mercy for all people, Jew and Gentile, willingly allowed His Son Jesus to be sacrificed, the perfect Lamb of God was sent to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). After that, anyone who chose to believe in Him wouldn’t perish but gain eternal life.

It was God’s perfect plan to save humanity and it didn’t involve adherence to any of the Law. Only someone engaged in wickedness would try and lead someone away from it. Only a fool would allow themselves to be led astray. This was Paul’s point.

In the end translation, Jesus wasn’t crucified for nothing. It was the greatest act of self sacrifice in human history and still is. It was the only thing needed to atone for the sins of all people and as Jesus said Himself, no one could come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). He didn’t say anything about complying with components of the old covenant law. Salvation came by belief in Him and Him alone. Nothing more, nothing less.

Today, we need to be wary that the same Satan who attempted to thwart God’s plan to save His people in biblical days is the same Satan trying to lead people astray today. The only difference is that our enemy is working hard to convince everyone that God is a fantasy and Jesus is a fabricated fairy tale. And so people should live any way they want to bring them happiness and anything this world can offer. In this alternative, non-Christian lifestyle, all a person needs to do is be “good” and they will surely go to Heaven. It’s a false hope as cunningly deceitful as the words from the serpent to Adam and Eve as it assured them they wouldn’t die if they violated the one thing God told them not to do, to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We know how that worked out.

Sin entered the perfect world God created and has infected it ever since with evil and wickedness. One needs only watch the news at a local, national, and world level every day to be reminded of this.

As we approach the Christmas holiday, let us give thanks to God for the gift of His Son Jesus, the One who died to save us, the only One who can bring us to everlasting life with Him and the Father.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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