In the final posting of this series we will look at several specific statements that cause most of the problems involved in the Justification/Salvation Conundrum. Recall that Paul is writing to converted Gentiles who knew that the sacrificial law was “added” because the Israelites would not obey God’s Ten Commandment Law. God (the Word Who became Jesus of Nazareth–Jn. 1:1-4,14) had Moses write the added law in a “book” (scroll) and place it beside the Ark of the Testimony in which he placed the Lord’s stone-etched Ten Commandments. The added law is called “the law of Moses” in Luke 24:44 and other places. Now let us turn to the Book of Galatians and address the confusion at its source by explaining some of the statements made by the Apostle Paul. Continue to bear in mind that the subject is JUSTIFICATION, NOT SALVATION. Know this: THE ISRAELITES WERE OFFERED JUSTIFICATION, NOT SALVATION. GOD PROMISES TO THEM INVOLVED ONLY MATERIAL BLESSINGS. THEIR SALVATION WILL COME AT THE TIME OF CHRIST’S RETURN TO EARTH WHEN.

The added law was designed to force the Israelites to discipline themselves and focus their attention on God by performing various rituals, etc. at certain times and in certain ways. This would keep their minds on God’s command for obedience. Blood sacrifices prepared their minds for the dying of their Messiah in order to remove their past sins. Because of the various acts that the added law required, the Apostle Paul used the word “bondage” to describe their forced obedience to it (Gal. 2:4; 4:8-10). Some historical background is needed at this point.

Note that he warned the converted Gentiles not to “TURN BACK AGAIN” to serving heathen gods to whom they had been in BONDAGE prior to their conversion to the Biblical God. Their service had involved the observance of “days, months, times and years” (vss 8-10). Here Paul is comparing the Gentile converts’ bondage prior to their conversion to the Israelites bondage to the commands the Israelite converts were required to obey prior to Christ’s death. In Leviticus 19:26 and Deuteronomy 18:10 God had warned Israelites not to observe TIMES. He was referring to pagan times which involved divination in connection to heavenly bodies. Today this is called “astrology.” Some in the modern church practice astrology. All within professing Christendom continue to practice pagan rites and rituals by celebrating certain sacred “times” such as Christmas “time” and Easter “time.”

In Galatians 5:18 Paul tells the Galatians that if they were led by God’s Spirit–truly converted–they were “not under the law.” He was referring to the added Law. Numerous times in his Galatian and Roman letters Paul notes that the people are “not under the law.” In every instance he was referring to the law of Moses, not the Ten Commandment Law. This Satan-orchestrated confusion has caused billions of people to miss the first resurrection which will take place upon Christ’s return to earth. Read The Three Resurrections. Key word–Three.

Lastly, let us examine Paul’s characterization of Moses’ law as Israel’s SCHOOLMASTER (Gal. 3:23-25). Here he reminds the Galatian Christians that before Jesus came Israelites were kept under Moses’ added law which served as their “schoolmaster.” During that time justification was attained once each year by sacrificing an animal on the Day of Atonement. The animal’s blood symbolically covered their sins, leaving them symbolically at one with God. When Jesus did away with THAT LAW they were no longer under it. His blood would thereafter wash away the sins of the truly repentant, rendering them righteous. With true conversion came the gift of the Holy Spirit which empowered them to resist Satan’s temptation to sin. Jesus tells us that we must resist him as He did in order to be saved (Rev. 3:21).

In reading Paul’s letters to the Galatian and Roman churches we find him telling the people repeatedly that they were NOT “under the law,” then later telling them that they WERE “under the Law.” What the church does not understand is that he was referring to the TWO DIFFERENT LAWS–one spiritual and one physical. It was the (added) law of Moses that was done away with on the cross. Jesus had declared that Truth during the Last Supper. Following His death, JUSTIFICATION has been awarded by way of God’s grace and man’s faith. SALVATION, however, requires the justified to remain justified by obeying the Law. Paul makes this clear in Romans 2:13 where he states that: “It is not the hearers of the Law that are (presently) JUST(TIFIED) before God, but (only) the doers (keepers) of the Law shall be (remain) JUSTIFIED (in the future).” If we continue to sin following justification we RECRUCIFY CHRIST. If we say that He enables us to get away with sinning by dying on the cross we make Him our sin enabler by spiritually nailing Him to His cross with each sin (Heb. 6:6). Read about this Truth in the series concerning this subject. Key word–Recrucifying.”

The whole of professing Christendom has bought into the justification=salvation lie that Satan puts forth as “Bible truth” through his false prophets. Do not be a part of that religious deception. If you are involved in a Catholic or Protestant church, obey God’s command to leave it immediately and have nothing to do with it or with its people ON A SPIRITUAL LEVEL. As Jesus warned in Matthew 10, this will cause problems within the family as well as among friends (vss 21,32). Regardless of the inevitable consequences, we must do what the Lord commands us to do in Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1. There is no other way to qualify to receive eternal life upon Christ’s return. Read Hope and Salvation. Key word–Hope. L.J.