Wisdom from the Word: Are Christians Liberated from the Law According to Galatians 2: 11-14? Part 2

(Continuation from the previous volume…)

Last time we learned from the writing of the Apostle Paul that the work of Christ brings a threefold liberation in the life of a person who decides to be a follower of God. The first two are: 1. LIBERATION FROM THE GUILT AND PUNISHMENT OF SIN, and 2. LIBERATION FROM THE POWER AND SLAVERY OF SIN. Now let us consider the third Liberation which is going to be done when Jesus comes back the second time, no longer as the suffering Saviour but the Conquering King, the Lord of lords who is going to gather all the saints, the living and the dead, who are waiting for Him.

Thus we come to the final phase of Liberation when we experience GLORIFICATION, WHICH IS FREEDOM FROM THE PRESENCE OF SIN. “In this state, there will be no more death or dying because of the absence of sin, because sin is the transgression of the law and the wages of sin is death. (Rom. 8:3) Sin could not be tolerated in heaven, that was why when Satan and his angels sinned, they were cast out of heaven. “This third stage of salvation will occur only at the return of Christ when believers receive a glorified and immortal body free of every trace of sin (1 Cor. 15: 51-54, Phil. 3: 20-21, 1 Thes. 4: 13-17). With the barrier of sin forever removed, believers will dwell eternally in the presence of God.”

“This process of liberation transcends our present life. Now, our freedom is precarious and provisional… we are awaiting definitive liberation when Christ returns. The good news is that while we seek to live for God, we no longer need to feel condemned when we make mistakes (Rom. 8:1). The good news of justification assures us that our standing before God is not based on the failures or victories of our Christian experience; it is based on the finished work of Jesus. While God wants us to experience liberation and obedience now, He works patiently in our lives, knowing that the transformation He seeks to bring about in us is not the work of a moment but of a lifetime. Our good works are the visible fruits of God’s saving action in our lives. While they are not meritorious, they are demonstrative—that is, they demonstrate the ongoing work of God’s Spirit in us.

“Law and grace, therefore, as the letter and the spirit and form and essence, are not by nature, mutually exclusive. They complement each other, forming an organic and inseparable totality. Those who place law and grace in opposition forget that both come from God, who gives His law to His people to make them aware of their need of Him and to help them understand the life He has called them to live. Rather than opposing the law, grace offers forgiveness for our mistakes, and seeks to protect us from evil as it teaches us how to live for God’s glory. [(Titus 2: 11-14), Andrews Bile Commentary, p, 1195]

Our Reading For the Holy Week

Why did Jesus have to go through His passion, knowing the hardship that He had to endure? Read Isaiah 53, the whole chapter. I am going to share with you a passage from the book, The Desire of Ages, by Ellen G. White from the chapter 79, “It Is Finished” and Chapter 1, God With Us, p. 21:

“Not until the death of Christ was the character of Satan clearly revealed to the angels or to the unfallen worlds. The archapostate has so clothed himself that even the holy beings had not understood his principles. They had not clearly seen the nature of his rebellion….Heaven viewed with grief and amazement Christ hanging upon the cross, blood flowing from his wounded temples, and sweat tinged with blood standing upon His brow. From His hands and feet the blood fell, drop by drop, upon the rock drilled for the foot of the cross. The wounds made by the nails gaped as the weight of His body dragged upon His hands. His laboured breath grew quick and deep, as His soul panted under the burden of the sins of the world. All heaven was filled with wonder when the prayer of Christ was offered in amid His terrible suffering…”Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23: 34). Yet there stood men, formed in the image of God, joining to crush out the life of His only begotten Son. What a sight for the heavenly universe!

“In stooping to take upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a character opposite of the character of Satan. But He stepped still lower in the path of humiliation. Phil, 2:8 NKJV says, “8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” As the high priest laid aside his gorgeous pontifical robes and officiated in the white linen dress of the common priest, so Christ took the form of a servant, and offered a sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the victim. “But He was wounded [a] for our transgressions, He was [b] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes [c] we are healed.” Isaiah 53: 5 Christ was treated as we deserve that we might be treated as he deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which He had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. ‘With His stripes we are healed.'” (Ibid. p. 21)