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Galatians Chapter Three: Justification through Grace Brian Sallee Prepared for: Dr.

William Tolar 12/09/2010

Galatians chapter three has been- and still is- a hotly debated piece of scripture that has sparked almost as much controversy as Romans chapter five among church fathers. This may seem heretical, but the law is totally and completely dead, justification does not come through faith either. The key issue within this passage that many overlook is that salvation comes through grace. Look at a chair for instance- why is it that one can sit on it with the belief that it will hold your own weight? The typical answer is faith, but what if the chair collapses when you sit upon it? The chair did not have the stability (and likewise loosely using the term grace) to support your faith. Faith comes through grace and grace is both the starting and ending points of faith. So throughout this paper the issue of justification through grace will be shown and also why justification through faith and the law both fail miserably when held up to both scripture and the writings and commentaries of church fathers. The context in which Paul wrote to the Galatians was concerning how Gentiles should convert to Christianity and likewise how then both Jew and Gentile alike should go about living out their newfound faith in Christ Jesus. The tone in which Paul writes to the Galatians is also very unhappy1 at the fact that Jewish proselytizers were spreading misinformation and heresy saying that the law had to be followed in order to be saved2. The law that was passed down to Moses from God was regarded as the ultimate authority in day to day affairs, religious, and political matters. In typical everyday life in Jerusalem during the time of Christ and after his death, the law was followed to the letter. However, the main issue that arose for Paul and many of the gentiles looking to become converts of Christianity was that Jewish proselytes still wanted to hold onto the law3- as a child often wishes to hold onto their blanket- and disregard the fact that through Christs death, the law was abolished. The idea of the law being abolished might strike some as complete and total heresy but it is indeed a logical

implication of Christs death on the cross. Christ claimed that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it- however, as the fulfillment of the law- He was crucified and as He was crucified, the law was put to death with him. Christ was much more than the fulfillment of the law; He was the embodiment of the law. So when Christ died, the law died with him- when He rose, death was defeated, but also the law did not rise with Him. The Law is incapable of offering righteousness, and likewise justification with God. The Greek verb pisteuo- which the Greek word for faith, pistis4, is derived from- can be translated as a conviction of religious truth. Conviction, especially within the way that God convicts man, requires grace from God. Thus, in terms of justification; in order to be made right with the law (the law being God) one must be first convicted and serve his sentence, and then once having served the sentence, he is justified and he is made right. For ourselves, the law dictates that we must die, however to even be made aware of the law and the steps to justification requires grace on Gods part. Because it is the gift of God that you do not deserve, it is then by grace that faith is offered and taken in. Justification comes through the grace of God; if it were any different we would all stand justified before God based on our own merit. It is just the same as limited atonement- if Christ did die for all, all would be Christians- if we believe that salvation and justification are both gifts from God that we cannot receive on our own works we must then attribute them to grace. Though often times we try to create a singularity between salvation and justification when there is in truth a distinction we must continue to reexamine our beliefs and thoughts on the matter. This is true because in order to even come before a holy, just, and righteous God we must first be made right with him- this is justification, this is what Christ did on the cross. Within this aforementioned event, we then see that salvation comes as a result of justification and

likewise righteousness comes as a result of sanctification and purification. God does not play with dice and by virtue of not playing with dice, does not rely upon chance; God deliberately chose each one of us that he would call to Himself5; this election is the ultimate demonstration of grace6. Just as there are many who will never be convicted of the crimes that they have committed, there are many who will never be justified and be in right standing with God. Though very sound and logical reasoning has been laid as to why grace brings about justification, this paper has not actually delved into the reasoning behind the implied statements that faith and the law are incapable of justifying ones self before God. Let us first look at the law and why it is incapable of bringing about justification and righteousness. The law was handed down to condemn and create a standard that its adherents were required to live up to- but even in our own present time, what separates one law abiding citizen from another? If a man were to never speed, never murder, never steal; never commit any transgression upon the law, would he be considered a righteous man? No, he would be no different than your average law abiding citizen, but if he were to break the law just once by speeding, he would then, according to the law, be considered a criminal. This is what is meant when Paul says in verse 22 saying that the scripture (the law) has shut us up in sin (in even the simplest terms, we are literally utterly incapable of offering a defense for our actions). Such it is with us, the law was never meant to bring righteousness, but rather set guidelines for man to live by. The law is dead, Paul says so in Ephesians 2:157; and because the law is dead we are no longer forced to uphold it in view of the conviction of our faith in Christ in which we will next look. Let us then look at faith. Faith is the evidence of our conviction of religious truth (Greek word being pisteuo) this conviction of religious truth is only because of grace. Faith however must come after justification as it is the result of grace, this is the same rationale used when

speaking of those who do not hear the gospel and still go to hell because of ignorance. Faith is required for salvation, as it is a consequence of being made right with God, which also fits our own understanding of faith within the English language being that of the action of living out a conviction- this is the same understanding that we have when examining other religions. Because faith is something lived out, it is true that faith without works is dead, and because faith without action- or the living out that faith- is dead it is then implied that in order to have faith we must act out our faith. As stated before with the example before, faith in a chair can only go so far as the structural integrity of the chair will go, such as with grace. Faith can only go as far as grace allots. Those who were justified by faith such as Abraham8 were given the conviction of religious truth by Gods grace (Galatians 3:6), God revealed to Abraham that one day Christ would come9 and atone for sin. Abraham thus having that conviction then went and lived out that conviction and it was allotted as righteousness to him10. Abraham followed no law, but rather lived by faith and likewise lived by his conviction that came to him through Gods grace11. In order for justification to happen, God must extend his grace to the individual12- if it were faith, it would be our own works that saved us and not Gods grace. Faith does not justify, just as faith does not allow the chair that cant support ones weight to remain intact. However, once the chair has been shown to support ones weight, it may then be faithfully sat upon. Once we have evidence of Gods grace in our lives it is then that we may live in faith of the conviction placed in our lives that Christ Jesus is indeed our lord and savior. The application of this new way of thinking about justification has some serious consequences for theological doctrine. The first being that it blows Arminianism out of the water in its belief of salvation by works, it also however destroys Calvinism as it rejects the traditional

concept of faith alone to reconcile man to God and likewise its application of irresistible grace in achieving righteousness. The truth is that righteousness is attained through firstly grace, and then through the living out of that conviction- which is faith. Faith brings about sanctification and purification which leads to righteousness in Christ. The other implication is that it forces us to rethink everything we have ever written about in regards to salvation and justification in which we have traditionally thought to be through faith alone. The overall application however is what might become the bridge between Calvinism and Arminianism that gives God ultimate sovereignty but man the choice to live out his conviction by faith. This bridge would allow God to exist in time while simultaneously letting God exist outside of time in eternity. It allows for the reconciliation of both reformed and non-reformed theology in letting man live out his conviction of religious truth in that once having this conviction and likewise subsequent faith in Christ alone we then become a single body. In the simplest terms if we all could view justification in this manner there could be no difference in what Protestants and Catholics believe in regards to soteriology. This view allows God to still be completely sovereign while still allowing man to retain the image of Gods will, it explains the concept of imago dei and rationalizes it with Calvinism and many other leading theologies that men subscribe to. Not only does it rationalize theologies, but it also explains the salvation by faith or works paradox in a way, saying, that faith is the living out of ones conviction of religious truth. Lastly this view rationalizes and expresses the most complete thought on many issues in scripture that many books have been written about that none could accurately answer because the authors did not necessarily hold this view, it also reinvents ecclesiology to a new definition that says that the local church is a body of believers that are living out their religious convictions because of Gods justification through his grace. In other words, upon our conviction

as to who Christ truly is, and placing our faith in Christ- Abrahams promise- we are neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man, neither male nor female; for we are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ then you are Abrahams descendants, heirs According to promise.13

Bibliography 1. Lenski, R. C. H. The Interpretation of St. Pauls Epistles to the Galatians To the Ephesians to the Philipians (Minneapolis, Minnesota Augsburg Publishing House) p. 123 2. Smith, William Smiths Bible Dictionary (Old Tappan, New Jersey, Flemming H. Revell Company 1967) p. 197 3. Hoven, Victor E. The New Testament Epistles (Grand Rapids, Michigan Baker Book House) p.53 4. Burton, Ernest A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Epistle To The Galatians (New York, New York Morrison and Gibb Limited) p. 147 5. Lenski, R. C. H. The Interpretation of St. Pauls Epistles to the Galatians To the Ephesians to the Philipians (Minneapolis, Minnesota Augsburg Publishing House) p. 172 6. Wuest, Kenneth S. Wuests Word Studies From the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) p.51 7. Ephesians 2:15 8. Bayes, Joshua Matthew Henrys Commentary (New York, New York, Flemming H. Revell Company 1811) p. 663 9. Bayes, Joshua Matthew Henrys Commentary (New York, New York, Flemming H. Revell Company 1811) p. 663 10. St. Jerome The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey A Pearson Education Company) p. 786 11. Bayes, Joshua Matthew Henrys Commentary (New York, New York, Flemming H. Revell Company 1811) p. 663

12. Bayes, Joshua Matthew Henrys Commentary (New York, New York, Flemming H. Revell Company 1811) p. 663 13. Galatians 3:28, 29

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