The Gospel According to Galatians: How Abraham Was Saved By Grace

Last night my wife couldn't sleep, so she began reading the book of Galatians. Let me just pause there for a moment and say that it's amazing what a person can learn just from reading the Bible! It reminds me of a quote that I read somewhere that said: "A person can learn more from reading their Bible at the kitchen table than from attending seminary." There's quite a bit of truth in that statement! Because in regards to my wife's experience of reading through the book of Galatians, she came to a profound realization. As she told me about it the next day, she exclaimed: "We've been under grace since the beginning!" Some people might think that grace is only a New Testament concept. But in the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul tells us otherwise. Abraham was saved by grace all the way back in Genesis! In Galatians 3:17, Paul explains that the Law came 430 years after Abraham! Abraham was not saved by committing to do things for God (as in "Lordship Salvation"¹). Rather, Abraham simply believed God's Word (see Genesis 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6).

The Law is by definition performance-based (see Galatians 3:12). But Christ redeemed us from a performance-based relationship (Gal. 3:13-14). And that's how God dealt with Abraham too: not according to performance, but according to grace! (See Gal. 3.) What do I mean? Let's take a trip back in time to the book of Genesis. In Genesis chapter 15, notice it says that God was the one who committed to do something for Abraham! So it was all about God's performance to keep His promise, not Abraham's performance nor promise. In theological lingo, what God promised to do is called "The Abrahamic Covenant" (see Gen. 15:7-21; first mentioned in Gen. 12:1-3). It was not a bilateral covenant where two parties agree to participate and each agrees to uphold their end of the bargain, but rather it was a unilateral covenant where God would do it all! Sound familiar? It should. Because this is exactly the type of covenant that God has promised us today in "the new covenant" (see Lk. 22:20): better known as "The New Testament". It's all about what Jesus did! When Jesus was dying on the cross, just before He died, He cried out: "It is finished!" (Jn. 19:30). What does this mean? Notice that Jesus didn't say "I am finished!" (which would be a cry of defeat), but instead Jesus shouted: "It is finished!" In other words, the work of salvation is completed. All the work necessary for salvation has been done! (See Psalm 22:31; Jn. 19:30.) The New Covenant is all about salvation by grace! That is, salvation by God's undeserved favor. "The Law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ" (Jn. 1:17, NASB). As the Bible says: "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves [i.e. salvation is not of yourselves]; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). And that's exactly how Abraham was saved too: not by Law (which came 430 years later), but by grace!

Someone might ask, how were people saved under the Law? Dear reader, the Law was never a means of salvation! Rather, it was a means of condemnation. (See Rom. 5:20; Gal. 3:10, 3:19, NLT; Ja. 2:10.) Even under the Law, people were still saved by grace through faith (e.g. David in Psalm 32:1-2, which Paul quotes in Romans 4:6-8). So if your salvation is in any way related to your performance (performance-based) or following a code of conduct or a set of rules (works-based) -- then you are under a curse, not under grace. Are you tired of trying to live up to an impossible standard of righteousness that only Christ can achieve? He already did all the work necessary for your salvation! It is Christ and His righteousness alone that saves, unrelated to any human merit. I urge you, as the old hymn-writer has said: "Come to the cross, your burden will fall; Christ hath redeemed us, once for all!"²

"The Bible is a history of grace. From the story of creation, with which it begins, to the picture of last things, with which it closes, it is grace, grace, grace." —R. A. Torrey³

Endnotes:

¹ "Lordship Salvation" teaches that faith in Christ must be accompanied by a commitment to obey and follow Him as Lord in order to be truly saved.

² P. P. Bliss, "Free From the Law, Oh Happy Condition," Once For All (tune). Public Domain. 

³ R. A. Torrey, "Golden Text Homilies." Record of Christian Work (Vol. XX, 1901), Lesson II, on Romans 5:20, p. 517.