QUOTE

"One poster asks: Can a born again Christian really even fall out of his Grace?"

"Absolutely Not!" ---Savannah

The Holy Bible says:
Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Yes! The Holy Bible does say in Gal.5:4 those very words.

Gal.5:4 is not to be interpreted to mean,as Trekker and others suppose:

Fallen from grace = loss of salvation

Read this letter very closely and you will quickly see the common theme that runs throughout. According to Paul, there were "false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage" (Galatians 2:4). Peter himself "began to withdraw and hold himself aloof (from the Gentiles), fearing the party of the circumcision" (Galatians 2:12) and the consequences he might face from them for enjoying his freedom in Christ. This in turn put others back in bondage to law as "the rest of the Jews joined him (Peter) in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy" (Galatians 2:11-13).

The issue at hand continues as Paul writes that "by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified" (Galatians 2:16) and that "if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly" (Galatians 2:21). He goes on to ask several rhetorical questions juxtaposing the works of law against faith in Christ, perhaps for the purpose of waking the Galatians from their foolish state of mind (Galatians 3:1-5). Paul goes on to point out that "those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer" while those who "are of the works of the law are under a curse" (Galatians 3:9-10). Like a tenacious bulldog, Paul presses on with his mission of dispelling any notion that a man can be right with God through his performance. He reminds the people "that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident", that "the law is not of faith", and "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law...so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:11-14).

"Christ is become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace."

This whole passage here has to do with the contrast between law and grace. What he's saying in a very general sense is if you try to mix law with grace, you have fallen away from grace as a principle. And he's talking in broad theological terms. The issue is not the security of the believer. That issue's covered in a lot of other passages. That's a very important issue and it's in detail covered in many places in the word of God. Not here. This isn't the issue. What he's saying here is you can't mix law with grace. If you try to mix law with grace you have wiped out grace. Romans 11:6 says,"And if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace."

In the verses preceeding Paul says, in Gal.5:2,3 "Behold, I Paul say to you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law."

And James says,in James 2:10 "Whosever shall keep the whole law and offend in one point is guilty of all."
And then in 3:10 James says,""As many as are under the works of the law are under the curse."

If you're under the law, you're under the curse. If read in context this should now make more sense to us if we're familiar with Paul's intent in writing this letter. The false brethren or judaizers were attempting to persuade the true brethren to mix law and grace and consequently place them under the curse and in bondage again.

The context is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, not salvation. Galatian's theme is not salvation from the penalty of sin, but an appeal to live in the liberty of grace, instead of law bondage. This teaching by the Judaizers deprived these Galatian Christians of their dependence on the Holy Spirit's work of grace in their lives. This is what is meant by "fallen from grace."

The context is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, not salvation. The cure is to: "walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." Galatians 5:16. Galatians 5:22,23 describes the result of walking in the Spirit, which is to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit.

These Galatian Christians had fallen from grace in the sense that they had deprived themselves of the Holy Spirit's ministry of giving them daily grace for daily living. (2 Corinthians 12:9).

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobediance received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him." (Hebrews 2:1-3).

We cannot neglect our salvation until it is ours. This is speaking of Christians who neglect their salvation. A man may be married and neglect his wife, but she is still his wife. Christians do not lose their salvation by neglecting it, but they do lose their joy and fellowship with the Lord. They are also chastened in this life by God.

Krautfrau, i am trying hard to understand what you mean and how it is done. Could you please explain or elaborate more? Please explain it to me as if i am a kindergartener, cuz i think that is the only way i am gonna grasp it...: )

Hi Trekker

I will try. The reason so many have spiritual problems is because the power to live the Chistian life is in proportion to the faith one has in Christ to supply that power, and it takes a while till the message gets through because for some time we do not understand how we are to be dead to sin. We try to resist it instead but that old nature has not been dealt with and put out of action. We use our will power instead of Gods power and find it does not work and even worse, leads us to think that God is unfair.

Perfection is the state where we are walking in that power and the power of sin is destroyed. When we reach that stage, we find that the new creature does not sin and has no desire to do so. The battle depicted in Romans is prior to the realisation of the perfect state. Our minds are so corrupt that we will work our way around the fact that we still sin and twist the scriptures. To the new creature, it is as naturalnot to sin as it is to speak Chinese if we are Chinese (borrowed from Watchman Nee) For a thorough treatment of the subject read The Normal Christian Life by Nee.

The following is a quote by krautfrau on 2011/9/17 6:47:45

"Perfection is the state where we are walking in that power and the power of sin is destroyed. When we reach that stage, we find that the new creature does not sin and has no desire to do so. The battle depicted in Romans is prior to the realisation of the perfect state. Our minds are so corrupt that we will work our way around the fact that we still sin and twist the scriptures."

The Spirit and Word of God teaches no such thing.

1 John 2:1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

Gal 5:17 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

Matthew 18:21,22 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Luke 17:3,4 "Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."

2 Cor 2:7-11 "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."

We are not ignorant of satan's devices. One such device is the infiltration of false doctrine and lying words which appear spiritual as the quote above.But they are diabolical to the core, as they're designed to deceive many by smooth scripture-twisting to make men think more of themselves and less of Christ.

May God keep His children from believing such damnable lies.

The perfect state is the glorified state when this mortal shall put on immortality and the corruptible shall put on incorruption.

There is no greater lie than the one which says that God does not provide the power to obey Him perfectly. The evil of it is seen when the call to absolute obedience is called evil, turning truth on its head. May God have mercy.