Paul never meant to set the stage for ‘once saved always saved’ or lawlessness
If Jesus Christ is fully obeyed by a disciple, this is supposed to yield certain discernible results including no longer being self-directed and living in and according to the flesh. Holiness to the Lord is the purpose. Jesus in the gospels indicated His true followers are to go above and beyond what was generally possible for followers of God under the Old Testament times because He offers the Spirit, whereby we may “walk according to the Spirit.”
POINT ONE – It is not optional or permissible under presumed grace – such as Martin Luther errantly taught – to walk habitually through life in the flesh, or according to the flesh.
Quotes of false teaching attributed to Luther:
It suffices that through God’s glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.
Strange, though I am saved from sin, I am not saved from sinning.
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Quotes from the Apostle Paul that contradict erring Luther:
Rom 6 – 6 knowing this, that our old man [flesh, natural man] was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. … 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Gal 6 – 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
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There have been millions, likely billions since the Protestant Reformation of 1517 and forward which have been defrauded by shallow misinterpretations of Paul the apostle.
This article will highlight how Paul never intended such perversions of his teaching, and how he was aiming to show Christians how they may more perfectly obey and follow Jesus.
Jesus walked by the Spirit, and Christians are effectively commanded to do so also. John said if anyone abides in Christ, they are to walk as He walked.
1 Jn 2:6 – He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Paul also said as much in his admonitions to “walk” in/according to the Spirit (Gal 5:16, Rom. 8). True Christians are called to live according to the Spirit and be led by the voice of the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
Rom 8:14 – For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Ones such as these are the ones who are “not under the law” of Moses.
Gal 6:18 – But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
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Covenant breakers need not apply. Those who merely wish to flee the wrath to come (Mt 3:7) and not meet the Lord’s conditions* of discipleship need not apply. *(Conditions: Jn 3:3,5; Mt 18:3; Lk 14:26-33, etc.).
As will be shown, covenant keepers are spiritually enabled to let Christ “fulfill” the law in them, so let no one say Paul opened a door to lawlessness which Jesus rejects.
Mt 7:23 – And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
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The true Christian life in the Spirit is not a “works-based salvation,” but a fulfillment of the whole meaning of grace and justification by faith!
Willful sinners, the indifferent, the lukewarm, are not counted as those who are permitted grace so as to make a license for sin. This will be shown in this article.
To “walk” in the/according to “the Spirit” is an effective commandment:
NOTE: In the following passages from Gal 5 and Eph 5 I took the liberty (without distorting the meanings) to truncate or clarify in BOLD FACE. This is strictly so you can see the main thrust of what Paul is saying.
Gal 5 – 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: [INSERT WORKS OF FLESH], and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
NOTE: Paul said people “will not inherit the kingdom of God” if they practice works of flesh. Paul is addressing Christians. It is a given that non-Christians can only walk by the flesh. Non-Christians cannot “walk according to the Spirit” because Paul has said they are spiritually “dead” (Eph 2:1) and have not received the Spirit yet. They have no “Spirit” from God to “walk” by. (Rom 8:9).
Following, a parallel teaching in Ephesians 5 drives home the point stronger that among those who call themselves Christians and who perform the works of the flesh, none have “any inheritance in the kingdom,” and this, as Paul had stated in Galatians 5:19, means they do not go to heaven.
Eph 5 – 2 And walk in love [=WALK IN SPIRIT]
3 But [INSERT WORKS OF FLESH], let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither [INSERT WORKS OF FLESH], which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no [INSERT WORKER OF WORKS OF THE FLESH], has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
NOTE: “Empty words” would include once saved always saved and abuse of grace or twisting grace. Paul says those who make it their practice to perform works of flesh will not inherit the “kingdom of Christ and God.” Paul warns Christians may be partakers in the wrath of God with the sons of disobedience, the non-Christians.
Jesus said He will reject people who practiced “lawlessness” even though they invoked the “name” of Christ and did great exploits in His name.
Mt 7 – 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Jesus FULFILLS the spirit of the law to those “not under law” but “grace” as Paul explained.
Mt 5:17 – “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to FULFILL.
As is commonly taught. Jesus fulfilled the law by living according to it and He fulfilled the prophets’ words about Him as Messiah, but Jesus meant another aspect of fulfilling the law. Jesus fulfills the spirit of the law in a true disciple who walks according to the Spirit as Rom 8:4 below shows.
Rom 8:4 – that the righteous requirement of the law might be FULFILLED in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Same key word – FULFILL. Christ declared in a veiled proclamation in Mt 5:17 that He FULFILLS the law in a person who walks in His Spirit. Paul makes this clear by using the same key word FULFILL in Rom 8:4.
IMPORTANT: This is not to be confused with sinless perfection. God is love, and would rather us see what He offers in the New Covenant positively. He is offering to save those who love Him, not threatening to reject Christians. He came to seek and save that which was lost.
The Christian is afforded grace to cover ignorant sins. Grace and the Blood of Christ are for the covenant keeper who is put on the honor system and asked to learn from Jesus (Mt 23:8,10). Grace is afforded believers so they may learn from the Lord the full empowerment He offers to those who walk by the Spirit. God however is the ultimate judge in all these matters. It is at least certain He gave His all, and asks those who love Him to do the same.
Mk 8:35 – For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
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POINT TWO
Paul gave a picture of the exchanged life: Christ living through a disciple:
Gal 2 – 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Paul “through the law died to the law” as he was crucified with Christ (see also Rom. 6:6). We can see in Gal 2:19-21 the context of being no longer under law and the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice was to make possible Christ living His life through His true disciples. This is expressed by “walking according to the Spirit.”
Paul never meant to set the stage for once saved always saved, abuse of grace, or its result – lawlessness.
Rom 6:1 – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Paul intended a covenant-keeping, obedient disciple to become all the more able to please God and not perform works of flesh and violate the holy law which is “just and good.”
Rom 7:12 – Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Paul taught Jesus has made it possible for Christians to go beyond what the Old Testament Jews without the Spirit could do and keep “the righteous requirement of the law” (Rom 8:4). This was as they walk as Jesus walked, according to the Spirit.
Paul’s words can be easily misinterpreted and others have twisted them to their own peril.
Peter said in 2 Pet 3 men wrested Paul’s words to their own destruction as they did the rest of the Scriptures. Paul, of understood rightly, actually invalidated the notion of once saved always saved that the false teachers have attributed to him. All they do is prove Peter right.
2 Pet 3 – 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
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False Christian teachers have misinterpreted the understanding Paul taught of being “no longer under law,” and “in grace.” Jude said depraved men in his day turned the grace of God into lewdness so once saved always saved and lawlessness arising from fleshly minded goats began from the time of the first century.
Jude 1 – 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The reader may understand ancient heresies like once saved always saved and abuse of grace were revived for the “many” in that veritable false flag movement so many celebrate as the Protestant Reformation.
POINT THREE – Jesus Christ prophesied of that which the world views as the church that only “few” would be saved, “many” would go to “destruction,” and many even would seek to live some form of Christ-honoring life, and also not find the gate to eternal life.
Many go to destruction, few saved…
Lk 13 – 22 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Parallel verse Mt 7 – 13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Many / Few
Jesus in Mt 7:13 said “many,” “will seek to enter and will not be able,” and “many” take a “wide” “gate” and “broad” “way that leads to destruction.”
Jesus in Mt 7:14 said “few” find a “narrow” gate” and walk a “difficult” “way which leads to life. Jesus in Lk 13:24 said “strive” to “enter the narrow gate” and “many” “will seek to enter and will not be able.”
Jesus did not teach once saved always saved. Matt 7 and Luke 13 make this plain, as do other declarations in Mt 5 ->
Mt 5 – 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Jesus said “hell fire” to a brother who speaks to his brother “You fool!” He also said in the next chapter:
Mt 6 – 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The New Testament contains numerous other verses which show what God was asking for was a person who lived on an exalted plane of existence called walking according to the Spirit.
Jesus gave His life so you also may give your life back in return.
To God be all glory.
