Chapter Iv.a.3: The Law Alienates Christ (5:4-6) Series

In declaring that salvation brings liberty and freedom from the Law, an objection was anticipated. The question would be raised: If salvation is all of grace without works, then is there no place for works in the Christian life at all? There certainly is, as the fruit of salvation. WORKS are not the ROOTS or basis of salvation, but they are the inevitable, indisputable FRUIT. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy that there is a prize that every Christian should be WORKING to receive—the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8[4]). If a person professing to be saved by grace continues to live the same sinful life, or makes grace an excuse for loose living and careless conduct, we have a right to question that person’s sincerity and genuineness. As surely as we are saved by grace, so surely must that grace be manifested by works. That thought is wonderfully expressed by Paul in the words of the next verse: “FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE.”

6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

It would be quite possible for those who rejected the law as a way of salvation to think it was commendable in God’s sight not to be circumcised. That, says Paul, would make them just as legalistic as the Judaizers (1 Cor. 7.18-19[5]). It makes no difference whether a man is circumcised or not. He is not saved because he is circumcised, nor is he condemned because he is not. The object of Christianity is to abolish these rites and ceremonies, and to introduce a way of salvation that is equally applicable to all mankind (Galatians 3:28[6]). As for salvation, faith was the one thing needed, and nothing added, subtracted, or substituted could make a man right with God. But this was to be an active faith, a faith “activated through love.” This makes love the instrument of faith, as if it was faith that generated the love of which Paul is speaking. But in verse 22 faith, together with love, is a product of the Spirit of Christ. According to Paul, the Spirit produces faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of them is love (1 Cor. 13:13). The most wonderful thing he can say about God is that the initiative of God’s grace creates the faith by which man responds to this love. “In Christ Jesus,” that is, in union with Christ as a member of His body the church, man’s faith is activated by God’s love to invest in the lives of others and reproduce itself in them.

“But faith which worketh by love” is faith that reveals its existence by love for God, and kindness to people. It is not a mere intellectual belief, but it is that which reaches the heart, and controls the affections. It is not a dead faith, but it is that which is active, and which is seen in Christian kindness and affection. It is not mere belief of the truth, or mere orthodoxy, but it is that which produces an attachment to others. A mere intellectual assent to the truth may leave the heart cold and unaffected; mere orthodoxy, however bold and self-confident, and "sound," may not be inconsistent with arguments, and strife, and divisions. The true faith is that which is seen in benevolence, in love for God, in love to all who bear the Christian name; in a readiness to do good to all mankind. This shows that the heart is affected by the faith that is alive and active; and this is the nature and design of all genuine religion.