Foolish Christians

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith — just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? (Gal 3:1-6)

I know ... a lengthy quote, but we needed the entire context.

Paul, here, is a bit testy, isn't he? I mean, "O foolish Galatians" Paul? That's not very nice. So let's assume that Paul considered the concept more important than "being nice." What was the concept that pushed Paul to be more pushy? "Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Here's the question at hand. Are we perfected as believers by a process of doing good or are we perfected as believers by the Spirit? Paul answers that by hearkening back to "How did you begin this process?" Answer: Not by works. So, he concludes, why would you think that we are sanctified by works?

Now, we're all pretty confident (and should be) that we're not saved by works. It is, after all, explicit (Eph 2:8-9). And, although works are a part of Christian living (e.g., Eph 2:10), we know that our salvation is not sustained by works ... or that would mean that we are saved by works. So far, so good.

I think, however, that we fall short on the concept in our actual day-to-day practice. While we verbalize "saved apart from works," we believe that it's up to us to work, work, work. Well, perhaps that's not fair. It is true (Php 2:12). But not for salvation. Not even for sanctification. You see, works, for a Christian, are a giant "thank you," or, as Jesus described it, an "I love you" (John 14:15). For Christians works are a product (Eph 2:10), not a procedure. How, then, are we sanctified? How are we perfected? How are we maintained in a saved state?

Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. (John 10:27-29) In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus said, "While I was with them, I kept them in Your name." (John 17:12) He went on to ask, "I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one." Then, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." (John 17:17)

We are, then, saved by grace through faith apart from works. While we do need to work as a response to His grace and love, we do not work to maintain His favor or our salvation or to sanctify ourselves. That was begun by the Spirit and will continue by the Spirit. We aren't protected by our hard work; we are guarded by Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13). It's not up to us. It's not a product of our hard work, our obedience, our wisdom or learning, our church-going or relative "goodness." It is all Him and Him alone. I think that's just hard for us to accept. After all, aren't we doing okay? (Hint: No. Which is why Paul calls it foolishness.)