Galatians 4:30 KJV
Nevertheless
what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of
the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
So much is made of the book
of Galatians and legalism versus Christian liberty. The bulk of the Christian
world today cites passages such as this to dismiss just about any form of
standard within the faith. They make as if Christian liberty is freedom to do
anything in the name of Christ and to have any form of standard or discipline
or doctrine is legalism. The fact is Paul also instructed Christians to come
out from the world. Paul's motto was really stricter because he refused to do
things that would have been permitted so as to have less chance to offend
others.
This passage is fairly strict
in its context. He is dealing with those who insisted on the Mosaic Law. To
apply any other law here is certainly a stretch. We are still, after all, under
the law of Christ. The appropriate application is towards those who try to earn
their righteousness through obedience to that Jewish law. To apply it to those
who practice a form of self righteousness (earning salvation through works)
would be appropriate but to claim that this passage gives the professing
Christian liberty to do any sort of worldly activity and say they are doing it
for God's glory is simply heretical.
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