Galatians 6:15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.
The Apostle Paul stresses, in his
letter to the churches at Galatia, that we are all saved by God's graces, and
we should live our lives in the same manner. In other words, since we have been
saved by grace through faith and not through any works that we might do, we are
to live in that manner and not be abiding by any religious regulations,
legalistic practices, or cultural customs. Prior to Christ Jesus going to the
Cross of Calvary, the Jewish people anticipated the long-awaited Promised
Messiah. However, they were expecting a political savior to free them from the
oppression of Rome.
They falsely believed that before
the coming of the Messiah, all their collective sin would have to be coved by
the blood of animals. The problem was that these animals' blood only covered
their iniquity; the animals did not take the sins upon themselves. In the time
leading up to God coming to the earth in human form, He provided festivals and
certain animal sacrifices that previewed their promised Messiah's coming. God
delivered His people with a human priesthood and an earthly King that previewed
the true King of the Jews, with the eternal Messianic priesthood and the
rightful eternal King, Christ Jesus.
The festivals and animal
sacrifices could never come up to the standard of our position in Christ Jesus
because He did all that was necessary for our salvation. There is nothing we
can do to satisfy God's requirements for the remission of our sins (Romans 8:1; Ephesians 2:13). God is not enthralled with human rites and
regulations; becoming a member of some church and baptism do absolutely nothing
to get us to an eternal life with Christ Jesus. God is only concerned with the
Cross of Calvary and the new life that it affords those who place their faith
and trust in the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the Cross.
It is a sad situation, but people
then and some even today believe a person must follow specific rules and
regulations for salvation. Even more unfortunate, many today believe and teach
that a failure to follow these requirements can result in a loss of one's
salvation. The Law has no power to offer the new life in Christ Jesus that
comes from faith and trust in the one that shed His perfect, sinless blood to
cover our sins. Paul referred to this false teaching and belief as
"Judaizers" today; they are "Legalist," but the mindset is
the same. Christianity's foundation is
our faith in God's grace through the substitutionary work of Christ Jesus on
the "Old Rugged Cross " plus nothing.
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