#120-G66 – Galatians 3:6 and more
Believing what God has said is such an important issue. We see here where a man named Abraham did that. He simply believed what God told him. What a difference it made in his life and that of many others. And, as it often is, it was was a challenge for Abraham to believe what he was told. How does God speak to us today? All the Scriptures are FOR us, but all of it is not TO us. Many people do not understand this extremely important principle. All Scripture, the whole Bible is FOR us but it is not all TO us or ABOUT us. It is only the thirteen Pauline epistles that are specifically addressed to us in our time.
We continue our study with verse six. I begin by reviewing some principles we noted last time about all this. Here we continue with the 5th principle–If you don’t rightly divide the Scriptures, you make yourself subject to a lot of confusion. My focus here is on how salvation has changed from what it was before the time and revelation given to the apostle Paul. Our salvation today is by grace through faith in what Christ accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection. Our faith must be in that and that alone. It is salvation by grace through faith ALONE.
Then we go to the book of James. To whom is that book addressed? Answer: Israel. Is that important? It is EXTREMELY important. We are not Israel. We’re not of those twelve tribes mentioned in James 1:1. We are the Gentiles, the people Paul was especially commissioned to address. We have no part in being of The Twelve Tribes of Israel. Therefore, our means of salvation is nowhere mentioned in the book of James. This is something I address in this video, comparing promises given to Israel, not us. We have our promises but they are not the same. To run these things together creates distortion. People then don’t understand God’s message TO us.
Romans 4:4-5 dramatically shows the difference between Israel’s method of salvation in comparison to ours. Works were involved in Israel’s, but not ours. I then go on to talk about some of God’s promises to Israel and then those to us. Israel has an earthly future while we have a heavenly future.
Genesis 1:1 points out the two different spheres in which God operates. Heaven is to do with us ad the Earth is to do with Israel. We, today, have a new home in Heaven. We gained that citizenship there at the point of our salvation.
I then go on to explain the Romans 4:4-5 passage. This passage clearly shows how our works have absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. Our rewards are affected by our works, but that involves only those works AFTER we gain salvation.
The 6th point I note is to do with the imputation of God’s righteousness that is credited to us at the time of our salvation. It is Christ’s righteousness that becomes the basis for our salvation. 2 Corinthians 5:21 spells this out for us. As soon as a person puts his faith in Christ salvation for him is settled.
Romans 3:20-21 is still another passage that shows us the means to our salvation. The Mosaic Law and other laws have nothing to do with it. Law, because we violate it, just shows us our need for salvation, it in no way provides us with a means to salvation. Only Christ’s righteousness is the basis for our salvation. We have nothing to offer God for it.
Tags:
