I’m on a quest! I’m seeking to understanding God’s grace. When a friend told me about a Bible study on Galatians that had “changed her life,” I recommended it to my ladies small group. I knew that Grace is the main focus of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
I was raised in churches that seemed to focus a lot on fear: fear of God’s wrath, fear of backsliding, fear of not measuring up, fear of not performing enough to meet “God’s” expectations (or was it really just other peoples’ expectations?). Bottom line: fear of being rejected by God. We were taught, at least what I absorbed, was that we had to work really hard to hang on to our salvation. Maybe I heard it more because I was a highly sensitive kid.
Faith was taught but it was mainly in the context of believing God for physical healing –not as much about simply trusting in Jesus for salvation. Oh we had to do that too, but it didn’t seem to be the main thing and it didn’t seem to be quite enough.
Somehow, despite all that, I really did love God. I even wanted to become a missionary. But I always felt like I never measured up, that God was displeased with me, that he was always about to reject me.
It wasn’t until I was at University and living with Christians from other denominations that I started hearing more about God’s grace. It intrigued me. I wondered if I was missing something. I longed to understand God’s grace more. Now I realize from my own study of Scripture that salvation by Faith in Jesus Christ alone is THE Main Thing! And it is enough!!
But even though I believe that, I still find myself tending toward fear and legalism. I guess I absorbed it so much for so long it is hard not to default to that. I'm afraid of being too "grace-y."
In fact, it seems like most Christian teachers I’ve met seem to lean that direction too. No one wants to give the impression they are easy on sin. So even if they teach a little about grace they quickly ladle on a generous dose of legalism. They don’t want people to get the “wrong” idea. It seems most Christian teachers don’t really trust God’s Spirit to lead believers. Freedom seems to worry them. Guarding their flocks’ behavior is more important than guarding their freedom.
Paul seemed to have the opposite priority. Protecting the freedom of the believers was a big deal to him. He wrote the letter to the Galatian believers because he heard they were becoming legalistic and were losing their freedom in Christ. False teachers had convinced them that they had to keep certain rules and regulations in addition to believing in Christ in order to be saved. But Paul said that is no gospel at all! He urged them to get back onto the right path: the path of trusting in Christ alone for their salvation.
This wasn’t the first time their freedom in Christ had been in danger. In Galatians chapter two he relates that during the time he had lived and ministered among them the same thing started happening. But Paul stood against it. He would not give in for a moment. He was so determined that nothing would steal away the truth of the gospel that he was teaching to them that he even took a trip to consult with the apostles in Jerusalem about the problem.
Trips in those days were no small undertaking! It wasn’t just a weekend away. He didn’t have airplanes or smooth super highways to travel on. Google says it would take 230 hours to walk from Turkey (what was Galatia) to Jerusalem. That would take 28 days if you walked 8 hours per day. He may have sailed but I don’t imagine that would be too pleasant or safe either. The point is he went to an enormous amount of effort and risk to protect the believers’ freedom in Christ.
No wonder he was so upset when he wrote the book of Galatians. He had poured out his life to teach them the truth and did everything he could to protect their freedom but they were throwing it away.
I don't want to do that!
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