Salvation Summaries

OVERVIEW

In ELO’s song, “Sweet Talkin’ Woman,” there’s a line that says, “no, no, no…don’t know what I’m going to do, I gotta get back to you.”   If I were to pick a line in a song by one of my favorite groups from the 80’s that could be used to summarize the book of Galatians, it would be this one.

The “no, no, no” part would be the apostle Paul telling them NOT to follow the advice of false teachers who told the Galatians that in addition to being saved, they needed to obey the Jewish laws  in order to be accepted by, or made right with, God.  Paul harshly criticized the Galatians by telling them that they were deserting God to follow a different gospel that wasn’t true.

The “don’t know what I’m going to do” is the predicament the Galatians are in.  Do we follow the Jewish laws or not?  Paul attempted to reason with the Galatians by telling them the following:

1) the gospel message that he preached was true, for he received it directly from Christ.  It was not a minister-created gospel.

2) a person is justified and made right with God by faith in Christ apart from obeying the law.

3) there are two ways or paths to eternal life – following the law perfectly all of the time, or having faith in Christ (see image above)

4) the law of Moses was meant to show people how guilty they are and lead them to placing their faith in Christ for eternal life

5) a person receives the Holy Spirit by faith, not by works, and

6) once saved, a person is to live according to the Holy Spirit and under the control of the Spirit in order to please God.

And the “I gotta get back to you” is the eventual decision (they hopefully made) on what to do after realizing, from Paul, that they are to go back to obeying the truth of the gospel, which is living by and to please the Holy Spirit in freedom to serve others, rather than living by the law, which is slavery.

SALVATION VERSES

How does a person receive the Holy Spirit?

I don’t want to scare or startle anyone by talking about a Spirit, which in this case is the Spirit of God.  But it’s important to understand that when a person becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit is involved, and Paul tells us about this in the verses below.

Galatians 3:2-5 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing– if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Galatians 3:14  He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. 

So, what is the answer to this question? A person receives the Holy Spirit by faith, and we know from another book in the Bible that faith comes from hearing the gospel.

Now, some of you may be asking, “I’ve heard the gospel, but I don’t think I have the Holy Spirit.”  This could well be true.  I’m sure I heard the gospel, or parts of it, when I attended church during my junior high and high school years, and likely some during my freshman year of college, but the gospel never “registered” with me.  Why?  I’m not sure.  But I would guess that God had determined that the gift of faith was not ready to be given to me until a later date, for whatever good reason He had.

However, there is a way you can tell whether you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you.  How?  Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23:

Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Fellow reader of this blog.  Test yourself against the traits listed in this verse.  Do you have joy? Peace with God? A love for others? Do you exhibit faithfulness toward God in good times and bad?  If you answered “yes” to these questions, you have the Holy Spirit, and would be considered a Christian.  But if you are unsure whether you pass the test, then my advice to you is to continue to read your Bible, and attend a church that preaches the gospel.  I would also recommend that when you pray, ask the Lord for faith in Him, and to receive His Holy Spirit, so that your life will be filled with the fruit of the Spirit.

How does a person receive God’s approval?  

Prior to becoming a Christian, I would have answered this question in this way:  “by doing more good things than bad things.”  However, Paul stresses in several verses that a person becomes accepted by God, and made right with him, only by faith in His Son.  Faith, and not works, or doing good deeds, is how God approves a person and considers him/her to justified (which means made right with God).

Galatians 2:15-16 15 “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:21 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

CONCLUSION

The gospel message that Paul preached is that a person is justified, or made right with God, by faith in God’s Son, and not by trying to obey Jewish laws.  A person is saved in the same way – by faith alone.  No one can ever be good enough to be accepted by God, or to be saved.

When a person has faith, and thus is saved, that person receives the Holy Spirit.

Christians are to live by, or according to, the Holy Spirit. They are to be led by the Holy Spirit.  This type of lifestyle produces fruit of the Spirit, such as love, joy, peace, patience, etc.