Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
The law in question is the ceremonial law, the obsolete ceremonies of Judaism. Judaizing teachers pressed converts to observe those ceremonies as essential to salvation, and that demand displaced faith in Christ. Seeking justification in that way makes Christ of no benefit to a person, turns away from Christ as the true foundation of faith, abandons the gospel, and results in falling from grace. Because it is open abandonment of the gospel, this error calls for decisive warning.
The verse is misused to teach that the law and the law of God are a yoke of bondage, that keeping the law makes Christ of no effect and makes a person fallen from grace, and therefore that there is no Sabbath to keep. Those who declare the commandments null and void use the verse to argue that keeping the commandments puts a person under a yoke of bondage, so that keeping them is altogether unnecessary and gospel liberty means only to believe. True freedom in Christ is release from the condemnation of the law through entire dependence on Christ for salvation, not release from the law itself.
Obedience to God and keeping His commandments in this dispensation does not cause loss of grace, does not mean there is no law, and does not mean Christ suffered to make the law of no effect. To declare the law done away and those who keep it fallen from grace is presumption and lawlessness mistaken for freedom, a fatal error lying close beside the truth that twists the verse to lead people to transgress the law. This misapplication is a deception of Satan, repeated by ministers and fastened through those who trample the law, leading minds not guided by the Holy Spirit to receive error for truth. That deception blinds them to their ruin and secures homage from the Protestant world.
Transgression of the law made the suffering of Christ necessary. His death proves the law is binding and as unchanging as the throne of God, exalting the law instead of lessening it. The law understood apart from Christ crushes the sinner, but understood in connection with Christ received by faith as substitute and surety it leaves a person a prisoner of hope. The obedience of Christ is the example for meeting its demands.
The law in question is the ceremonial law, the obsolete ceremonies of Judaism. Judaizing teachers pressed converts to observe those ceremonies as essential to salvation, and that demand displaced faith in Christ. Seeking justification in that way makes Christ of no benefit to a person, turns away from Christ as the true foundation of faith, abandons the gospel, and results in falling from grace. Because it is open abandonment of the gospel, this error calls for decisive warning.
The verse is misused to teach that the law and the law of God are a yoke of bondage, that keeping the law makes Christ of no effect and makes a person fallen from grace, and therefore that there is no Sabbath to keep. Those who declare the commandments null and void use the verse to argue that keeping the commandments puts a person under a yoke of bondage, so that keeping them is altogether unnecessary and gospel liberty means only to believe. True freedom in Christ is release from the condemnation of the law through entire dependence on Christ for salvation, not release from the law itself.
Obedience to God and keeping His commandments in this dispensation does not cause loss of grace, does not mean there is no law, and does not mean Christ suffered to make the law of no effect. To declare the law done away and those who keep it fallen from grace is presumption and lawlessness mistaken for freedom, a fatal error lying close beside the truth that twists the verse to lead people to transgress the law. This misapplication is a deception of Satan, repeated by ministers and fastened through those who trample the law, leading minds not guided by the Holy Spirit to receive error for truth. That deception blinds them to their ruin and secures homage from the Protestant world.
Transgression of the law made the suffering of Christ necessary. His death proves the law is binding and as unchanging as the throne of God, exalting the law instead of lessening it. The law understood apart from Christ crushes the sinner, but understood in connection with Christ received by faith as substitute and surety it leaves a person a prisoner of hope. The obedience of Christ is the example for meeting its demands.