GoldenEagle Posted June 11, 2013 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 764 Topics Per Day: 0.18 Content Count: 7,626 Content Per Day: 1.81 Reputation: 1,559 Days Won: 44 Joined: 10/03/2012 Status: Offline Share Posted June 11, 2013 I'd like to present a different version of Galatians 5 I read today. This is the first section... What do you think? God bless, GE Galatians 5:1-6Christian Liberty - NKJV 5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,[a] and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. The Life of Freedom - The Message 5 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. 2-3 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. 4-6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. Edit: To add The Message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayyycuuup Posted June 11, 2013 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 68 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,384 Content Per Day: 0.37 Reputation: 155 Days Won: 1 Joined: 01/20/2014 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/22/1996 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Hello GE, So my assumption is, that your question is mainly around the end of verse 4, "falling from grace?" As far as I understand, grace is a gift, not something to be lost. Either you have it, or you don't- not something that can be removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 "but faith working through love." ~ Amen~! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widor1 Posted June 11, 2013 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 6 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 140 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 105 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/10/2013 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/20/1987 Share Posted June 11, 2013 "but faith working through love." ~ Amen~! You stole my quote! Double Amen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willa Posted June 11, 2013 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 68 Topic Count: 186 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 14,242 Content Per Day: 3.33 Reputation: 16,657 Days Won: 30 Joined: 08/14/2012 Status: Offline Share Posted June 11, 2013 If we are trusting in our keeping the law we are no longer trusting in Christ. If they forsake trusting in Christ, but instead trust in keeping the law which was supposed to lead them to Christ, then they may never have been saved (according to Calvinists who look at it all from God's perspective) or else they fell from salvation by forsaking God's grace (from man's perspective). Heb. 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfact to the end-- . Romans 7 concerns those who struggle to obey God in their own strength. That is where I once lived. Wretched man that I am, Who shall save me from this body of death?. The evil I don't want to do is what I do. The good I want to do I don't do. Romans 8 Concerns God's answer to the quandrey of being unable to obey in our own strength. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." When we focus on obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we do not obey the flesh. When we focus on the temptation we end up doing what we don't want to do. The whole key is to keep our eyes on Christ and on obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit. That way we are set free from trying to keep the law of sin and death. God's Spirit fills us with love for Him and for others. When we walk in the Spirit we can't help but express love for God by worshiping and serving Him, and in expressing love for others by serving them. By serving I mean to minister to the needs that we see. That implys that we see different needs and so meet different needs, according to the gifts given us. Gal 5:13b, 16-18 (Forgive me if I got ahead of you.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenEagle Posted June 11, 2013 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 764 Topics Per Day: 0.18 Content Count: 7,626 Content Per Day: 1.81 Reputation: 1,559 Days Won: 44 Joined: 10/03/2012 Status: Offline Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Hello GE, So my assumption is, that your question is mainly around the end of verse 4, "falling from grace?" As far as I understand, grace is a gift, not something to be lost. Either you have it, or you don't- not something that can be removed. Sure we can discuss verse 4 if you like. If we attempt to be justified by the law have fallen from grace? In other words are we trying to save ourselves by relying on our efforts instead of God's grace? NKJV 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. The Message 4-6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. Actually really I'd just like to discuss this chapter in the paraphrase of the Message. I realized I quoted the NKJV by habit lo. Just wanted to get those who wanted to contribute thoughts on this passage... God bless, GE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenEagle Posted June 11, 2013 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 764 Topics Per Day: 0.18 Content Count: 7,626 Content Per Day: 1.81 Reputation: 1,559 Days Won: 44 Joined: 10/03/2012 Status: Offline Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 "but faith working through love." ~ Amen~! You stole my quote! Double Amen Amen X 3 Continuing on... Gal 5:7-12 - NKJV 7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off! Gal 5:7-12 - The Message 7-10 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment. 11-12 As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. Why don’t these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenEagle Posted June 11, 2013 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 764 Topics Per Day: 0.18 Content Count: 7,626 Content Per Day: 1.81 Reputation: 1,559 Days Won: 44 Joined: 10/03/2012 Status: Offline Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 If we are trusting in our keeping the law we are no longer trusting in Christ. If they forsake trusting in Christ, but instead trust in keeping the law which was supposed to lead them to Christ, then they may never have been saved (according to Calvinists who look at it all from God's perspective) or else they fell from salvation by forsaking God's grace (from man's perspective). Heb. 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfact to the end-- . Romans 7 concerns those who struggle to obey God in their own strength. That is where I once lived. Wretched man that I am, Who shall save me from this body of death?. The evil I don't want to do is what I do. The good I want to do I don't do. Romans 8 Concerns God's answer to the quandrey of being unable to obey in our own strength. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." When we focus on obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we do not obey the flesh. When we focus on the temptation we end up doing what we don't want to do. The whole key is to keep our eyes on Christ and on obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit. That way we are set free from trying to keep the law of sin and death. God's Spirit fills us with love for Him and for others. When we walk in the Spirit we can't help but express love for God by worshiping and serving Him, and in expressing love for others by serving them. By serving I mean to minister to the needs that we see. That implys that we see different needs and so meet different needs, according to the gifts given us. Gal 5:13b, 16-18 (Forgive me if I got ahead of you.) Sure let's go ahead. This is the Message on the verses in Galatians 5. Gal. 5:13-18 NKJV 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[a] 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! Walking in the Spirit 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. Gal. 5:13-18 The Message 13-15 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? 16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? What do you (or anyone else) think of this passage in the Message paraphrase? God bless, GE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenEagle Posted June 13, 2013 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 764 Topics Per Day: 0.18 Content Count: 7,626 Content Per Day: 1.81 Reputation: 1,559 Days Won: 44 Joined: 10/03/2012 Status: Offline Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Gal. 5:16-18 NKJV 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. Gal. 5:16-18 The Message 16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willa Posted June 14, 2013 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 68 Topic Count: 186 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 14,242 Content Per Day: 3.33 Reputation: 16,657 Days Won: 30 Joined: 08/14/2012 Status: Offline Share Posted June 14, 2013 The Message is very thought provoking and I like it. But it I am not comfortable using it in Bible Sudy because it is not a translation, but instead it is filled with opinion. For instance, pride is also a root of many works of the flesh, even possibly of selfish ambition. Using another translation does cause us pause to reflect on the meaning. Wuest's translation does the same for me but is closer to the original. Still,, listening to and obeying God's Spirit does free me from my selfishness, and fills me with love for others. Submitting to the Lordship of His Spirit humbles me and frees me from my pride, as well. I just resist adding thoughts to Scripture that don't seem to be explicitly included in more accurate translations. I find it more useful in personal devotions than in Bible study. Sorry, don't mean to detract from God's working in someones life by my grumpyness about this.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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