Faith in Jesus is the only thing that matters. It is only in Him that we are justified as innocent. When faith is placed instead in the law, Mosaic or even God’s Ten Commandments, one falls away from the power of God’s grace. The apostle Paul, in Galatians 5: 4, gives us the following warning.

“You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”

Paul wrote this to those who were thinking that they would be made righteous by circumcising themselves (vs. 2). Of course, Paul’s warning applies throughout time to anyone abiding in the thought of justification by any law. It’s dangerous to do so because it obliges one to then be under and to keep the whole of the law (vs. 3). That’s impossible without Christ. And the result is that the curse (penalty) of the law kicks in.

“All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ (The eternal Ten Commandments were included in both the Book of the Law and the New Testament.) ‘Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘the righteous will live by faith.’ The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, ‘The man who does these things will live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” Galatians 3:10–13

Of course, the Law we’re concerned with nowadays is the Ten Commandments; not the over 600 laws in the Old Testament. But still, even though the Ten Commandments is a perfect, good, and holy Law; depending on it to be saved and to become righteous is wrong. To do so is called legalism, simply a list to be checked off.

To depend on the Law is to no longer have faith in the power of Jesus to save and transform. Faith has to be in Jesus because He’s the only one who has ever perfectly satisfied the requirements of the Law. Faith in Jesus attaches us to His saving power. That’s what matters; his saving power; for there’s no condemnation for those in Jesus.

Paul is simply admonishing us to keep our eyes and heart on Jesus for our salvation. That one wants to embrace the Ten Commandments is understandable, but that’ll naturally manifest in our lives as an expression of our love for Christ.

“This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.” 1 John 5: 3.

Finally, there’s one other point to be taken from Galatians 5: 4: “You are severed from Christ.” The “once saved, always saved” crowd doesn’t look at that statement as a possibility of losing one’s salvation. I do. They say that if one falls away, it means the person was never a true believer. Yet the scripture implies that the Galatians were true believers who, nonetheless, committed a sin (legalism). Committing sin is certainly within the scope of true believers.

Paul is warning the Galatians, and us, that to rely on the law for salvation is a sin. Like any continuous sin, if not repented from, one has made the choice to be disobedient and to be separated from the saving grace of the Lord. The key word is “choice.” I have more to say about the notion of “eternal security” in one of my posts called Eternal Salvation is Conditional. Click here to read it.