Amen !! Absolutely Friend !!
Thank you for asking this question, as I needed it to prompt me to address questions and objections from
@Gideon300 ,
@Inquisitor , @pinebeach , @Dino246 , @WiselyWoven , @GWH . PLUS it given me a refreshing excuse to come in out of the heat and enjoy lunch in the AC, while composing this reply... As I've tried to tell many of these folks, Christ doesn't save us IN OUR SIN, but FROM OUR SINS.. by His Holy Spirit, ... Indwelling ! This is HOW Christ Saves, by replacing our stony heart, with the Likes of HIS. ! Praise The Lord !!!
Scripture firmly establishes that salvation is by grace alone through faith, but it also unequivocally teaches that true, saving grace never negates obedience to God's commandments. In fact, the biblical definition of
being saved by grace means that the very righteousness of Christ—His Holy Spirit—dwells within the believer, actively producing the same obedience that Jesus demonstrated.
Therefore, anyone who uses "grace" as an argument against keeping God's commandments demonstrates that they do not actually possess the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
The Apostle Paul beautifully harmonizes salvation by grace and the necessity of obedience in
Galatians 2:19-21.
1. Saved by Grace Alone: Dead to the Law to Live Unto God
We cannot earn salvation by our own human efforts of keeping the law. We are saved entirely by grace. However, dying to the law as a means of earning salvation is meant to lead us to
a life of obedience, not a character of rebellion, as Satan would have us.
- Galatians 2:19 (KJV): "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." To be "dead to the law" means a person no longer relies on their own fleshly ability to keep the law for justification. The law condemned them, so they died to it. But notice the purpose: "that I might live unto God." Living unto God requires absolute harmony with His will and His Moral Law. Grace removes the condemnation of the law so that we can finally live a life pleasing to God. As Christ pleased The Father, by His Righteousness, His "right-doing" to be "The Lamb of God"
2. The Proof of Grace: Christ's Perfect Obedience Living in Us
How does a believer "live unto God"? It is not by human willpower, but by the miraculous indwelling of Christ's Holy Spirit.
- Galatians 2:20 (KJV): "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." True grace means self is crucified, and Christ lives in the believer. Because Jesus Christ perfectly kept His Father’s commandments when He walked the earth (John 15:10), His Spirit will do the exact same thing when He dwells in a Christian. Therefore, if a person claims to be saved by grace but argues against keeping God's commandments, they are claiming to have Christ inside them while rejecting Christ's character. If "Christ liveth in me," then Christ's obedience. His Righteousness lives in me.
3. Frustrating the Grace of God
Paul concludes his thought by warning against misunderstanding how true righteousness operates.
- Galatians 2:21 (KJV): "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." If a person tries to keep the commandments in their own human strength to earn salvation, they frustrate grace. However, asserting that grace gives us a license to break the commandments also frustrates grace, because the entire purpose of grace is to deliver us from sin (the transgression of the law, 1 John 3:4). True grace imparts Christ's righteousness to us. We do not keep the law to be saved; we keep the law because we are saved and the Lawgiver lives within us.
4. Arguing Against the Commandments Proves the Absence of the Spirit
Scripture is clear that a hostile attitude toward God's commandments is not evidence of grace; it is evidence of a carnal heart devoid of the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 8:7-9 (KJV): "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." The "carnal mind" fights against the law of God. If a person argues that Christians do not need to keep God's commandments, Romans 8 identifies that person as walking "in the flesh." They do not have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, and therefore, "he is none of his."
5. True Grace Establishes the Law
Because we are saved by grace through the faith of Jesus Christ, our faith does not destroy the commandments; it provides the only way to truly keep them.
- Romans 3:31 (KJV): "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."
- 1 John 2:4 (KJV): "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
Summary
Being saved by grace alone does not negate keeping God's commandments; it is the very mechanism that makes keeping them possible. According to Galatians 2:19-21, a saved person is crucified with Christ, and the Holy Spirit now lives Christ's righteous, obedient life
through them. Therefore, those who argue against keeping God's commandments are speaking from a carnal mind.
By opposing God's Moral Law, they present biblical proof that they do not have the righteousness of Christ or His Holy Spirit dwelling in them, because the true Christ will never lead a person to rebel against the Father's commandments.
††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ~~ Blessings Folks !! ††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††