Bible Questions Answered:
“...Paul said that Christ would
profit them nothing!....”
Ericka/ Bangalore, Karnataka (India)
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
Galatians 5:2 KJV
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if
ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Yes, Paul said
those words, but what was the context of his speaking!
The Apostle was
talking about keeping the injunctions and prohibitions of Jewish Law.
Galatians 5:1-6
NLT
1 So Christ has truly set us
free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get
tied up again in slavery to the law.
2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If
you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God,
then Christ will be of no benefit to you.
3 I’ll say it again. If you are
trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey
every regulation in the whole law of Moses.
4 For if you are trying to make
yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut
off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
5 But we who live by The Spirit
eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised
to us.
6 For when we place our faith in
Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being
uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in
love.
To believe in the
law, (Mosaic Law), for salvation,
is to separate
yourself from salvation by faith in the finished work of Jesus
Christ!
One cannot believe
in both!
The keeping of the
Law, and the life of faith in Jesus Christ, these two are mutually
exclusive of each other, that is they cancel each other out.
Homily:
On one side of the coin is The Law. On the other side of the coin is Salvation by Faith in Jesus Christ.
OK, toss the coin!
It cannot land on both sides, either it will be one or thee other, but certainly not both!
One must either
believes in salvation by works-the law or not.
And if that is what
one believes The Word tells us....
James 2:10 KJV
For whosoever shall keep the whole
law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
No one could,
perfectly keep the law, all failed!
Galatians
3:24,25 KJV
24 Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by
faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we
are no longer under a schoolmaster.
The Law, taught
mankind one thing, no man could be perfect before the Law.
Galatians
3:13,14 NLT
13 But Christ has rescued us from
the curse pronounced by the law. When He was hung on the cross, He
took upon Himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in
the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
14 Through Christ Jesus, God has
blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing He promised to Abraham,
so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit
through faith.
Romans 6:14 KJV
For sin shall not have dominion over
you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Galatians
4:21-31 NLT (The two sons of Abraham.)
21 Tell me, you who want to live
under the law, do you know what the law actually says?
22 The Scriptures say that Abraham
had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife.
23 The son of the slave wife was
born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s
promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own
fulfillment of His promise.
24 These two women serve as an
illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar,
represents Mount Sinai where people received the law
that enslaved them.
25 And now Jerusalem is just like
Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery
to the law.
26 But the other woman, Sarah,
represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is
our mother.
27 As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O
childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful
shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now
has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!”
28 And you, dear brothers and
sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.
29 But you are now being persecuted
by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child
born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power
of The Spirit.
30 But what do the Scriptures say
about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the
slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s
son.” (Ed.
Note-that is the keeping of the law.)
31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we
are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free
woman.
So, did the Apostle
say “Christ shall profit you nothing”? Yes, but he said it in
light of some. who thought they could earn salvation by the keeping
of Jewish customs and ordinances.
Galatians 2:16
KJV
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.
Ephesians 2:8,9
KJV
8 For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is The Gift Of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should
boast.
Homily:
Salvation to the Jews, was to be
constantly, earnestly, attempting to keep the law.
Something akin to workers in a boat
yard making and crafting great boats, for sea worthiness.
There was no end to their work, for to
have salvation, they must relentlessly, fail or no, be at the work of
craftsmanship. Oh, they could not sail, for there was no time for that, for
they were bound to their work.
The Christian, is
at sea in liberty. The winds may howl and blow, yet the ship of
faith, holds them, and they have seen the face of their Captain, and
are not afraid.
Isaiah 61:1 KJV
The Spirit Of The Lord God is upon
me; because The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound;
