There is a possibility of an honest mistake in a decision taking in
good faith. This is typical of the way we apply some of the biblical
principles our Christian life journey. An example of this is when
obedience to the law is placed ahead the obedience to the gospel of
Jesus Christ. There is an absolute necessity for obedience in order
for the grace of God to effectively work in our personal experience.
The question is what kind of obedience. Here are two
references describing the true obedience required to make the
salvation experience real to us as individuals by the grace of God;
And to you who are trouble rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
chall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. (II
Thessalonians 1:7)
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ II
Thessalonians 1:8
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed;
but let him glorify God on this behalf. (I Peter 4:16)
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of
God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them
that obey not the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17)
Obedience to the gospel is not synonymous to obedience to the law.
The Bible is plain that by the works of the law (legalistic law
keeping in order to produce righteousness or merit salvation) shall
no flesh be justified ... Knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:16
Therefore obedience to the gospel is something distinctly different
than mechanical law keeping. This obedience is a heart of
obedience to the truth as it is in Christ. It is an obedience of
surrender and submission to the will of God and a willful compliance
to allow self to be crucified in order that the very life of Jesus
may be manifested in the experience. This life of Jesus is
always in perfect conformity to God's holy law and so it can be said
that when we obey the gospel, Christ is formed within and His Holy
and perfect life is counted as our own. This is justification
by faith. Then, for the rest of the believers life, until
death or until the second coming of Christ, the power of grace
through faith produces that life of Jesus – a life that is perfect
in law keeping – in our experience according to our genuine faith
response. Therefore, obedience to the gospel always produces
obedience to the law. It is never the other way
around. To say that law obedience will produce obedience to
the gospel is like putting the cart before the horse.
Galatians 2:20 is the guiding principle for obeying the gospel. The
following is my personal paraphrase of that text:
Galatians 2:20 Paraphrased
“I
have been crucified with Christ when I was IN HIM two thousand years
ago, (2 Corinthians 5:14), yet I remain alive! Yet it is not
the fallen, carnal man that I once was that lives BUT NOW it is
Christ living in me! And the perfect life I lived IN HIM when
He carried me within Himself two thousand years ago is now being
manifested in my personal experience! Yea, it is even by the
VERY FAITH OF JESUS HIMSELF, that He graciously imparts to me that I
am overcoming this fallen, sinful flesh that still encumbers me,
even as, through perfect faith, He overcame that self-same fallen
sinful nature when He assumed it because of His unspeakable love for
me and made the ultimate and eternal sacrifice of Himself in order
to save me.”
Interestingly Galatians 2.21 says, “I do not frustrate the grace
of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain.”
So
to conclude the matter, it is evident that we cannot produce the
righteousness that is required for salvation by keeping the law.
Only by obedience to the gospel will true law obedience be produced
as the fruit of the gospel, indicating that Christ and His
righteousness is now manifested in us through faith by grace.
Thus both God and His Holy Law are honored to His glory. Let
us therefore keep the horse, “obedience to the gospel,” before the
cart, “obedience to the law.”
Michael Delaney writes from Orlando FL,
E-mail: mdelaney6@cfl.rr.com
