tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post2643203550004683377..comments2023-10-03T06:25:41.357-05:00Comments on Grace Roots Blog: Fallen From GraceJoel Bruesekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10395847887953875757noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-24142649620209573062009-08-12T20:41:45.447-05:002009-08-12T20:41:45.447-05:00Great excerpt, Leonard! So much great stuff just ...Great excerpt, Leonard! So much great stuff just in that little piece that you shared. One law cancels out grace entirely, so it must be grace all the way or it's grace none of the way.<br /><br />I like what Paul also said in his passion against the law, just a little bit further down in the Galatians 5 passage here. "I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!"<br /><br />Or as The Message puts it, "Why don't these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!"<br /><br />Either go all the way with the law, or leave it alone entirely!<br /><br />Bino, I love that airplane analogy. The 'law' that is keeping us in the air (in the airplane) is all we need. If we step out, we "fall" into the other law (gravity). Good stuff, all.Joel Bruesekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10395847887953875757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-85172691841855195962009-08-12T18:46:42.446-05:002009-08-12T18:46:42.446-05:00OH! Classic Christianity...GREAT BOOK! :)OH! Classic Christianity...GREAT BOOK! :)Jamiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16376340819465748862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-50769562355891756142009-08-12T10:54:38.952-05:002009-08-12T10:54:38.952-05:00you thought right, Im pretty sure that was in the ...you thought right, Im pretty sure that was in the same chapter.Leonardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13127809388107620419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-44224803018358007742009-08-12T10:37:55.361-05:002009-08-12T10:37:55.361-05:00Hmmm... good stuff, you guys! The phrase "fal...Hmmm... good stuff, you guys! The phrase "fallen from grace" is one of the major weapons used against the security of a believer's salvation. They say, bible says "fallen from grace", which means you can lose your salvation... It's nonsense! Like Joel and Bob George points out, falling from grace simply means, falling under law.<br /><br />I think it was Bob George who once said, living under grace is like living in higher realm, like flying in an airplane. If you jump out of the airplane (or the law of aerodynamics), you AUTOMATICALLY fall under the law of gravity. There is no middle ground.Bino M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02303467552834533436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-65764744791717296642009-08-12T08:49:13.412-05:002009-08-12T08:49:13.412-05:00Friends / Joel, check out this excerpt from a bob ...Friends / Joel, check out this excerpt from a bob george book that I read yesterday... seems like ya coulda wrote this book Joel but Im looking forward to your version...<br />Best<br /><br />From B.G. Classic Christianity…<br /><br />“Paul doesn't stop with his exhortation to stand firm in our freedom, though. He also issues a warning: "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all" (Galatians 5:2).<br /><br />This is an amazing statement. Paul earlier in the letter recognized that they were truly born again. Under what<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />148 / Free from the Yoke of Slavery<br /><br />possible circumstances could you ever say to a Christian that Christ would be of no benefit to him? The answer comes in verse 3: "Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law."<br /><br />You will find that a characteristic of legalists is that they always want to "cherry-pick" their favorite laws. Nobody ever tries to keep them all; they just want to hold onto their favorites. But Paul is stressing the fact that you are either under law or under grace. You can't be under grace and continue to hold onto even one law. Reliance on just one law to make you acceptable to God brings you into the entire realm of law. That's why Paul says later in the chapter, "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough" (Galatians 5:9).<br /><br />It takes only one law to spoil the entirety of grace. You can't be trusting what you do and what Jesus Christ has done at the same time! Paul finishes his argument with a shocking statement: "You who are trying to be justified by law have... fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4). This verse has been taken out of context countless times to threaten Christians that they will lose their salvation if they commit too many sins. That is a tremendous error.<br /><br />First, the phrase "fallen away from grace" has nothing to do with losing your salvation. You can clearly see from the context that it means to fall out of the freedom of grace back into the slavery of the law!<br /><br />Second, it's not those Christians who have committed certain sins that have "fallen away from grace." It says, "You who are trying to be justified by law" are the ones who have fallen from grace. In other words, the very people who would maintain that you can either gain God's acceptance by your performance or lose it by your failures are the ones this verse is talking about. Legalists are the ones who have fallen from grace!<br /><br />Free from the Yoke of Slavery I 149<br /><br />We are beloved, accepted children of God, who have been called to His "banquet table" to experience Jesus Christ living in and through us every day. Abundant life is not "pie-in-the-sky" or nebulous theory. It is real, and it is ours for the taking if we will only believe. Let's not settle for anything less”.Leonardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13127809388107620419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-89960640428338359092009-08-11T21:58:56.582-05:002009-08-11T21:58:56.582-05:00Yes! "To just believe and rest in that."...Yes! "<i>To just believe and rest in that.</i>" To stumble is to lose sight of Christ, and who we are in Him by grace. To make it about our performance is to fall from grace indeed.<br /><br />Da Breeze is doing good, btw. :) It's been a challenging summer, so to speak, with lots of things going on on every side. No rest for the wicked... LOL. That was entirely a joke, of course, as I'm making sure I get physical rest and rest for my soul in the midst of all the craziness!Joel Bruesekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10395847887953875757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-59828760494738809582009-08-11T11:35:05.627-05:002009-08-11T11:35:05.627-05:00Fallen from grace....fallen from the knowledge of ...Fallen from grace....fallen from the knowledge of WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST! Adam & Eve fell from this in the garden. Their thinking was changed. You're right, Joel. We are mistakenly taught that to be less than perfect in our performance is to fall from grace when in reality shifting our focus from CHRIST to SELF, from LIFE to GOOD VS. EVIL is to fall. Our thinking becomes CARNAL not heavenly and we stumble in our understanding of how God sees us. A stumble in our walk is always predicated by one between our ears. And then we have an IDENTITY CRISIS in which we forget WHY WE ARE WHO WE ARE! Not because of what we DO but because of what Jesus DID! Oh, to live as we REALLY ARE! To just believe and rest in that. <br /><br />This is a GREAT post!! :)<br /><br />BTW, Yo, Breeze...how are you??Jamiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16376340819465748862noreply@blogger.com