Galatians 5:2-6 (NRSV)
The nature of Christian freedom
Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.
Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.
Reflection
You can't count on your own fulfilling of the law. It just won't happen. Salvation is through Christ alone. It's not Christ plus how good you are. When you throw in the plus mark, you cut out Christ alone and you fall from the grace of salvation. No longer is you life bound up by grace, it is now bound up by the law. You are stuck in this "trying to be a goody two shoes" aspect and can't escape. Your only escape is through Christ alone. Once you trust Christ fully for your salvation, you then are bound by grace. And when bound by grace only faith expressed through love exists. What a wonderful gift! What an act of salvation! Through Christ alone. Thanks be to God!
Prayer
Lord, it's only you. Work that faith expressed in love through me this day to those you give to me. --- Amen
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