Is justification a one-time event?
(Galatians 5:1-15; Rom. 8:1; Heb. 2:14-15) Blog Sep. 3-9, 2017
Prepared by Richard A. Marin: Present Truth PO Box 700, Fallbrook CA 92088-0700 USA
REVIEW: Peter, Paul, and the first council of the Christian church taught that it was NOT necessary to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved. Some Jewish believers taught the contrary and went about trying to get gentile converts to keep the laws of Moses, especially circumcision. In Galatians Paul presents convincing evidence that obedience to any law will not bring God’s acceptance, not because obedience is bad, but because our obedience isn’t good enough to meet God’s standard. Justification is by faith alone for our faith grasps the righteousness of Christ that is good enough to meet God’s standard. Paul writes that this truth is worth dividing the church over and that those that teach that faith is an insufficient means for receiving God’s acceptance (and God’s Holy Spirit) should be disfellowshipped from the church. They are in slavery for they seek God’s acceptance by their performance. We who are justified by faith alone are free for we are accepted into God’s family in Christ his beloved Son.
Freedom (Galatians 5:1-4; Acts 15:10; Rom. 2:13; 5:1; James 2:10-11)
1. What is the freedom that believers have in Christ?
2. What is the yoke of bondage that all of us were under by nature?
3. Why does Paul say that Christ will be of no benefit to a gentile who gets circumcised?
4. According to verse three what is God’s requirement for acceptance into his family?
5. What happens to those who seek to be justified by their obedience after having once been justified?
6. What about Christ becomes useless if we seek to be justified by our obedience?
7. Is justification a “one time event” or a daily necessity?
Faith (Galatians 5:5-10; Rom. 8:4; James 2:17-18)
8. What kind of righteousness do believers already have and for what kind do they wait?
9. What does Paul mean when he says that circumcision has no value?
10. Is faith the same as love?
11. How were the Galatian believers doing before the judaizers introduced their legalism?
12. Why is heresy so dangerous?
13. Through whom did Paul have confidence that those affected by this heresy would return to the truth?
Flesh (Galatians 5:11-15; Rom. 7:14-25)
14. What is offensive about Paul’s doctrine of the cross and so brings persecution?
15. What is the correct and the incorrect use of our freedom in Christ?
16. According to verse 14 what place does the law have in the Christian life?
17. What does Paul say will happen to the church whose members criticize one another’s actions?
18. What terms does Paul use in these passages to oppose synergism (the combination of two or more things to bring about a desired result)?ANSWERS: 1.The freedom of divine acceptance solely by faith apart from any behavior of their own & free to obey God’s Law with the help of the Holy Spirit; 2. It is the obligation to perfectly fulfill God’s Law in order to be accepted by him & so places all under the condemnation of an unfulfilled law & for the Jews it was the ceremonial law as Peter stated in Acts fifteen; 3. Because circumcision would be a demonstration that Christ’s life & death are insufficient for his justification before God; 4. Perfect obedience to the Law; 5. They fall from grace – lose their justification; 6. Christ’s example is NOT what becomes useless, but rather his vicarious (in our place) substitution becomes useless for we seek to be justified by something other than (or in addition to) Christ’s perfect life & cruel death; 7. Justification begins with an event & continues to be an ongoing daily necessity; 8. Believers already have the imputed righteousness of Christ put to their account in heaven but they wait for their imparted righteousness (the righteousness of the law) to be completed in them at glorification; 9. He is not speaking medically but rather he is saying that ceremonies & rituals cannot place you into Christ nor can they increase your standing before God – rather it is faith that places a person into Christ & being there it is faith that works by love that pleases God, not some ceremony void of faith; 10. No, rather true faith will demonstrate its validity by acts of love; 11. They were running well – living the Christian life as it should be lived; 12. Because it spreads like leaven; 13. The Lord who was working together with Paul; 14. The cross is offensive because it teaches that Christ alone without our help or participation suffered, bled, & died for our salvation& that his offering was a complete atonement for sin, thus excluding our obedience or rituals from the basis or means of our justification before God; 15. The incorrect use is that we use it to serve our sinful desires while the correct use is that we use it to serve others (for we no longer use our energies to be accepted by God – this we are by faith alone; 16. The law tells Christians how they are to love others & how they are to love God; 17. It will destroy itself; 18. “If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing,” “he is a debtor to do the whole law,” “Christ is become of no effect unto you,” “For all the law is fulfilled in one word,” by this Paul is saying that God will not accept a mixture of faith & love, nor Christ’s obedience plus your obedience, nor grace plus works as a means nor as a basis for our justification.