Today’s reading is Galatians 3:1-4:31.

The Set-up

As in Romans, Paul takes up the discourse of faith versus law. I’m beginning to pick up something as I’m reading the New Testament this time. For me, there has always been this kind of struggle in understanding. I know the New Testament continually says law won’t save. Yet, we’re clearly under a law (cf. I Corinthians 9:21; Hebrews 7:12). Certainly we are not under Moses’ law, but we are under a law. Yet, in tomorrow’s reading Paul will say, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law” (Galatians 5:18). In today’s reading, he says we are not saved by law, but by faith.

This, of course, causes the great debate about the position of works and obedience in our salvation. On the one side, some suggest as long as we believe, we’ll be saved separate and apart from any works we perform. On the other side, some suggest we can believe all day long but if we don’t obey God’s law, we’ll be lost. Therefore, our obedience saves us. The two sides find passages that seem to support their position and lob them at each other.

What if the Bible answer is in the middle of those two extremes? What if the reason both sides seem to find support is because neither side is actually right and the truth is between them as we consider all those verses together?

Not Justified by Law

Here’s what I saw in today’s reading.

“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:10-11).

In the context, some of the Galatian Christians were bringing aspects of the Old Law into their Christianity. We’re not speaking here of Jews merely following their heritage and customs. No, they were following aspects of the Law as if doing those things were the requirements for salvation. 

Paul said they could not be justified by the Law. In fact, anyone who went back to the Law and pulled parts out, obligated themselves to everything in the law. If they missed even one, they would be cursed. Of course, that was the problem. They had already disobeyed and were, therefore, cursed. Going back to the Old Law brings nothing but curses for people who have already sinned.

However, Paul did not merely say “the Old Law” doesn’t justify. The Greek does not contain the article (that is, the word “the”). He said, no one is justified by law, not just the Old Law, any law. That means, under the New Covenant, we can establish some kind of law-keeping code, but it will not justify us. We will not be justified by keeping it for the very reason the Jews were not.  We won’t be able to keep it. The fact is, if any law could have justified people, that Old Law would have done it. But it couldn’t, not because of God or weakness with His law, but because of our weakness. Why would we want to replace one law that doesn’t work with another code of law that won’t work? Will our law justify us where God’s law could not?

Thus, if we approach the New Testament as a set of laws and rules we must follow in order to be good enough to go to heaven, we’re going to be in trouble. Law has never been able to justify and it won’t be able to now either. 

Justified by Faith

We can, however, be justified by faith. When we truly believe in Jesus and truly believe Jesus, we can be justified. That is, we can be declared innocent. 

Jesus Christ became a curse for us who are cursed so our curse might be lifted and we might have life through the Spirit of God. The Scripture (in this context the writings of the Old Covenant) didn’t justify, they simply imprisoned everyone under sin. Any system of law we develop will only do the same. Any system of trying to gain God’s favor by keeping a law will only ever remind us we are sinners because we won’t keep it anymore than the Jews kept the Old Law. Law doesn’t justify. Law condemns.

Faith in Jesus justifies. 

Why Does Faith Justify?

Sadly, some folks stopped reading above. They either said, “See, I’ve always said faith justifies and we don’t need obedience” or they said, “That Edwin has gone off the deep end. He’s starting to teach justification by faith alone.” I’m glad you kept reading.

The question we need to ask is why and how does this faith justify? Is it simply having a mental assent to some facts about Jesus and now we are justified no matter what we do? Absolutely not. Faith justifies because as I grow in faith, I grow in submission to Jesus. Let’s face it, if I’m not doing what Jesus says, I don’t really believe Him, do I? As I grow in submission, I follow Jesus’ way. I’m not justified because I’ve obeyed a series of rules. I’m justified because Jesus’ way works. Do you see the difference? That first statement focused on me and my obedience. The second focused on Jesus and His way that works. 

Notice Galatians 3:25-27. This faith didn’t end with mental assent. It went on to do what Jesus said. Jesus said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). If I have faith in Jesus and His word, I’ll be baptized for the remission of my sins in order to be saved. Did I get baptized because it was the law by which I could justify myself through obedience? No. I was baptized because I believed Jesus and I believed His way works. If I make baptism nothing more than the first law I obey in a series of laws I must follow in order to be good enough to go to heaven, I’ll never make it. However, if I submit to baptism because I believe Jesus and it is merely my first step of surrender to Him, I’ll be justified because by faith I’m surrendering my life to His. Baptism brings us into Christ, but not because we’ve done some great work to bring us into Christ by our power. We just couldn’t do that. Baptism brings us into Christ because we are beginning to live in Christ. We are beginning to live in submission to Him when we are baptized based on our faith. Until we surrender at that point, we are not in Christ, no matter how religious we are. Remember, no code of religious law can get us into Christ. Only surrendering to Him by faith will do that.

I Know It Seems Counterintuitive

This whole thing is a bit counterintuitive. If we really want to obey God’s law, we have to quit striving to obey God’s law. I can hear the screams of frustration right now. “WHAT?!” If we keep trying to make ourselves and everyone else good enough by developing a system of law, we will only succeed in doing what the Old Law accomplished. We will only succeed in condemning ourselves because we haven’t kept this law. However, if instead we build our faith in Jesus and His Word, guess what will start happening? As we believe Jesus more and more, we’ll submit to Him more and more. As we submit to Him more and more, we’ll be justified. 

Of course, if we don’t submit to Him more and more, we won’t be justified? Why? Because we didn’t obey enough? No. None of us can obey enough. Rather, because Jesus’ way works and no other way does. If we don’t have faith enough to surrender our lives to Jesus, anything else we do, no matter how religious it seems, will not justify or deliver us.

So, are we saved by faith? Absolutely. Do we have to submit? Well, if we have faith, it’s not a have to situation is it? If we have faith, we will increasingly submit. Are we justified because we did enough good stuff? No. We can’t ever do enough good stuff. Instead, God justifies us when we have faith enough to surrender to Him.

Are you surrendering to Him? Or are you holding out, thinking you can do enough religious stuff to be good enough to go to heaven?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Acts 7:1-8:40.

Acts 8:4 starts a parenthetical section which doesn’t conclude until Acts 11:19. Luke tells four stories to prepare us for the progression from a Jewish church to a Gentile church. In order to prepare his early readers he told the first story of the conversion of a Samaritan Sorcerer. If Simon could be saved, a half-breed pagan, then anyone can be saved. Then he told the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch. If a proselytized Eunuch, could be saved, anyone can be saved. Then he told the story of the Priest’s Persecutor. If Saul, who was the number one enemy of Christ’s church could be saved, then anyone could be saved. Therefore, we should not be surprised when the Caesarean Centurion could be saved.

Lesson #1: I can be saved

This brings us to the first lesson I get from the Ethiopian Eunuch. According to Deuteronomy 23:1, no eunuch could enter the assembly of the Lord. This man was almost a second class citizen of that old kingdom. There is no way to know if he learned this after making the pilgrimage or if he made the pilgrimage even though he knew this. Yet, in either case, we see exactly why he asked, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” He had just experienced a time of prevention. He was prevented from much of the worship of the Jews because he was emasculated. Did that same prevention apply to entering Jesus? Philip’s answer was the only thing that prevents someone from being baptized is if they do not believe. The Eunuch believed and was baptized (cf. Mark 16:15-16).

The lesson for me is if the Ethiopian Eunuch can be saved, then anyone can be saved. More importantly for me, I can be saved. The only thing that will hinder me is whether or not I believe. Because, if I believe it, I will do it. If I don’t believe, I won’t follow God’s path. That will lead to destruction. I can be saved. You can be saved. Do you believe?

Lesson #2: Preaching Jesus

Philip preached Jesus to the Eunuch. He preached the good news about Jesus. While we don’t know his complete sermon. We can ascertain some aspects of it. He clearly pointed out the servant of the passage in Isaiah 53:7-8 is Jesus. He clearly pointed out there is good news in Jesus, that is, there is salvation in Jesus. But what cannot be missed, he clearly taught baptism as part of Jesus. The Eunuch didn’t come up with baptism on his own. There is no teaching of baptism from Isaiah 53 or in the Old Testament at all. How did the Eunuch come up with this question? Because an integral part of teaching the good news is teaching the necessity of baptism. 

This is a real shock considering the modern approach to baptism. For most of modern Christian religions, baptism is called something really important. Surely someone who is already a Christian should do it to let the world know they’ve been forgiven (odd point since the world isn’t seeing their baptism). Some even suggest they will question the salvation experience of a person who refuses baptism. But is it necessary to salvation? Is it necessary to the preaching of Jesus? The resounding answer is, “NO.” Friends, if we are going to follow in the footsteps of our ancient predecessors, we’ll see baptism as an essential to teaching the lost the good news of Jesus. It is not a sermon for the saved to convince them it is a good thing to do after they are saved. It is a lesson for the lost. It is part of preaching the good news. Without the baptism taught in Acts and exemplified in this story, no one will be saved. All other baptisms will fail us as Ephesians 4:5 explains there is only one baptism. That is, only one that brings us into the one body, expresses the one faith, provides us the one hope of our calling, submits us to the one Lord, follows the guide of the one Spirit and surrenders us to the one God.

I hear a lot today about just preaching Jesus. I’m all for it. Let’s just make sure when we are preaching Jesus, we are at least preaching what those early Christians preached when they preached Jesus.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. If you would like to read/hear a lesson I presented on this parenthetical set of stories and what we learn from them about the amazing gospel, click the link: The Amazing Gospel of Christ

P.P. S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

No doubt, in these chapters the amazing part of what is going on is that Jesus died for us. I’m just amazed that He did. How could He possibly love us that much? That is just how unfathomable God’s love is. Yet, He does love us that much.

However, what good does it do for God to love us if we won’t submit to even the simplest and straightforward commands of His? In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked how we could call Him Lord and not do what He said. Yet, folks do it all the time today.

The Gospel of Matthew ends with these words:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (ESV).

I’m just not sure how we can get any clearer that Christ’s disciples are made through baptizing them. They aren’t made through praying a sinner’s prayer. They aren’t made through a moment of faith. They are made through baptism and teaching. 

Why is baptism for the remission of sins such a dividing point today? Why do so many refuse to be baptized in order to become Christ’s disciple, in order to be forgiven, in order to be saved? Why can’t we all just do what Jesus asked? Have you submitted to Jesus in believer’s baptism in order to become a disciple and receive the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). 

I encourage you to read these verses and see what they really say. I’m not making this up. 

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

II Corinthians 6:2 drives it home: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Christianity is not merely something to think about. It is not something to tinker with for a while to see if it fits you. Christianity is about freedom in Christ. It is about freedom from guilt and shame by His love and forgiveness. It is about freedom from the controlling power of sin by His strength and grace. 

However, if you are just kind of playing with Christianity, it won’t do you any good. Half-measures accomplish nothing. We need to whole-heartedly surrender to God and submit to Him. If you haven’t done that yet, do it today. Today is the day of salvation. Trust me, this is one of those issues that if you put it off for a year and you are actually still alive a year from now, you will wish you had started today. And, having added another year of pursuing the lusts of the flesh you will find it harder to start then. So just go ahead and start today.

Just surrender yourself today to the Lord and let Him cleanse you of your sins. Then rely on His word and His people to help you grow. Do exactly what the Corinthians did to surrender themselves to the Lord. 

Acts 18:8 says, “And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.” If you haven’t committed your life to Christ through faith in the working of God in baptism (immersion in water) for the remission of sins, do it today. Don’t wait. There is no other plan by which you may be set free from your sins and receive the salvation Jesus offers.

Don’t delay. Today is the day of salvation.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

There Ought to at Least be One Verse on This

When I was in college, I worked for a furniture store. One day, a discussion ensued with one of the other workers about baptism. Her denomination teaches baptism is an outward sign of inward grace. It is one of the first steps of obedience after one is saved. However, it is not necessary to be baptized and baptism is not at all a prerequisite for salvation. She said, “Edwin, you would think if baptism saved us, God would have told us that at least once in the Bible.”

I responded, “Funny, you should mention that. Have you considered I Peter 3:21?” Before we could look it up, a customer came in and we had to get back to work. We were busy until it was time for my co-worker to leave. So I took a piece of paper and wrote “I Peter 3:21” on it. I gave it to her and encouraged her to read it that night and we could discuss it the next day. She handed the paper back to me and said, “I’m happy where I am.”

I Peter 3:21 says: “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Christ” (ESV).

I’ll let you draw you own conclusions about this.

We Don’t Want to Hear Your Doctrine on This

When I was conducting a radio show in Beaumont, TX, I heard about a brother in Christ from Little Rock, AR who had his own local show in the local time slot of an American Family Association radio station. Sadly, I can’t remember the brother’s name at this time.

One of this brother’s episodes was about Noah. He recorded his 15 minute broadcast without a hitch, saying everything he wanted to say in that brief period about Noah. However, when he listened to it, he noticed it had been edited. The very end was cut off. He rechecked the time and determined he had not gone over. That was not the reason for the missing seconds.

He just couldn’t understand why the final verse he read had just been removed. His broadcast on Noah ended merely with the reading of I Peter 3:21. He did not comment on it. He did not saying anything about. He did not provide explanation. He simply read it. But when the show was aired, the reading of I Peter 3:21 was cut out. 

Do you remember what I Peter 3:21 says? “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Christ” (ESV). 

When the brother called the station manager to question why the reading of the verse had been cut off, the station manager said, “We don’t want your teaching on baptism on this station.”

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about this.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Romans 9:8 says, “This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (ESV).

In the context, Paul was explaining that the Jews could not merely rest on their circumcision. They could not merely rest on the fact that they had a physical descent from Abraham. After all, Ishmael and his descendants could make that claim, as could Esau and his descendants. They were children of the flesh. However, the promise didn’t come through Ishmael, it came through Isaac. The promise didn’t come through Esau, it came through Jacob.

Paul’s point to the Jews is they shouldn’t be surprised that they might be lost even though they are in the line of Abraham. Lots of people are in that position. God is allowed to save who He wants. He has decided not to save people based on their parents, but based on His promise.

But let’s bring this forward 2000 years to us. Few of us are really dealing with this Jew vs. Gentile issue. Yet, there is still a great lesson for us. Paul is letting us know it doesn’t matter who are parents are. It doesn’t matter if we descended from greatness. Our father may be the President of the United States or he may be a punk drug dealer on the corner. It doesn’t matter. God isn’t looking at our parents because we aren’t saved by being children of the flesh. We are saved by being children of the promise.

Earlier posts have talked a bit about this but we will end by simply quoting Paul from Galatians 3:25-29, where he gives some clarity about becoming a child of the promise.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesu. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

I know this is counted as heresy among the mainstream religion. I take comfort that Jesus was also considered a heretic among the maintsreamly religious of His day. However, can anyone truly ignore what Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-4? Why is it that this passage is so often skipped over in all those Roman Road tracts?

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? by no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (ESV).

Please, beloved reader, do not gloss over this passage with words of “symbolism” and “outward sign of inward grace.” Read it again. And Read it again. Can you not see what it says? It says that we die with Christ when we are baptized into Him? When are we baptized in Him? Not just when we go under the water with words about it being in His name or in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are baptized into Jesus and into His death when we are buried with him by baptism into death in order that (did you see that? in order that) we might walk in newness of life. We cannot possible be baptized in order that we might walk in newness of life if we think we had the newness of life moments, days, weeks even months before we were baptized.

Yes, yes, I know baptism is symbolic. It is symbolic of us dying with Christ, being buried with Christ and then being raise with Christ. But its symbolism does not suddenly mean it is not essential to our salvation. Its symbolism does not suddenly mean that it is not really, truly and emphatically the doorway into a real relationship with Christ.

Please, do not ignore this very serious part of the Roman Road to salvation. Without it, you are not on the Roman Road but some other road and I fear that road will not lead you to salvation.

Keep the faith and keep reading,
ELC

Acts 10 is the source of a great deal of controversy. Many use it to claim baptism is not essential to salvation. After all, Cornelius received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Surely no one who was not already saved could possibly receive baptism of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, some say, Cornelius must have been redeemed from his sins before he was baptized. 

That, of course, neglects the fact that Peter said baptism is for the remission of sins in Acts 2:38 and that he wrote that baptism now saves us in I Peter 3:21. 

So, what is the answer. Was Cornelius saved and then baptized by the Holy Spirit and then baptized in water?Or was he baptized in the Holy Spirit and then baptized in water and saved through that baptism?

I believe Acts 11 answers this question for us. In this chapter, Peter is defending his actions to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who don’t like the idea of opening their fellowship up to the uncircumcised. In Acts 11:4, Luke recorded that Peter is recounting the story in order. In Acts 11:14, Peter revealed that Cornelius had been told by an angel that Peter had a message, by which Cornelius would be saved. Keep that in mind. Cornelius had to hear Peter’s message in order to be saved. But then Acts 11:15 says, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them…” (ESV). 

Remember, Cornelius is going to be saved by the message he hears from Peter. However, Peter didn’t get the message out before the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius. If Cornelius had to hear Peter’s message to be saved, then he wasn’t saved when the Holy Spirit fell on him. But what message did Peter finally give Cornelius? That he had to be baptized in water. When Cornelius did that along with his household they were saved.

Someone will ask, “But how could the Holy Spirit fall on Cornelius if he weren’t saved?” That could happen because God is not bound by our rules. God can do what He wants. I certainly believe God could save someone without water baptism. I just don’t believe He did that here or anywhere else after Jesus died and was resurrected. Don’t you believe that if God wants to, He could let the Holy Spirit fall on anyone He wants? Or does He have to live by the rules we set for Him?

I would love to hear what you think about this or any other topic in these two chapters.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC