The midland journal., 1946-11-01

Acts 1871.
Fundamental doctrine must be
sound and true or the church will go
astray. A question had arisen at An
tioch which had to be answered au-
thoritatively, and once for all.
The early converts of the church
were naturally from among the
Jews, and they carried with them
into their new-found faith the tradi-
tions of their religion. Some of them
did not recognize that the salvation
they had in Christ was entirely by
grace, apart from any works of the
law. They not only felt that they
must observe the law, but insisted
that the Gentle believers must also
fulfill the Jewish rite of circumci-
sion. This promptly raised the
question whether Christ alone could
save, or if men were saved by grace
plus works.
To settle this matter, Pad and
Barnabas went up to the church at
Jerusalem, and there great coun-
Gil discussed it freely, and came
to decision which was then trans.
mitted by letter and committee.
That decision established an eter-
nal
/. Principle-Believer Are Free
from the Law (Acts 15:23b-29).
The believers at Antioch were to
abstain from those things which
would hinder their spiritual prog
ress and harm their testimony. That
was important and right, but it
must not be allowed to confuse them
/ regarding the basis of their saliva
tion. They were not saved by
works, not even though they were
most commendable.
Salvation is by grace, through
faith, mot of works, lest any man
should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 81. That
principle, which is absolutely foun-
dational in all Christian thinking,
was established then, and is valid
and blessedly true for all time.
Is it not strange, then, that all
through the church's history there
has been a determined effort on
the part of some in the church to
add something to Gods redeeming
grace as a ground for salvation?
Observe the plain rebuke given
to teachers of error in verse "a.
It is no light matter to trouble and
mislead the souls of men by inject
ing our worldly wisdom or our
opinions, when we should be teach
ing the truth of Gods Word.
Salvation by grace and freedom
from the law does not bring the be-
lever into place of license, but Of
liberty-and a liberty controlled by
a new factor in his life. We note
that in
ii. Practice-Believers Are Bound
BY Love (Gal. 5:13-15).
The one who turns to Christ by
faith is indwelt by the Holy Spirit
and finds that, far from failing to
keep the high moral principles of
Gods law, he is given grace to keep
them more perfectly. This he does,
not in order to be saved, but be-
cause he is saved.
He comes out of a bondage to
legalism, which he could not bear,
into a new bondage to the law of
love, which his new nature in Christ
delights to bear and in which it
finds the fulfillment of its highest
and holiest desires.
Note that this shows itself in the
church and in the world in loving
service to others in the absence of
strife; in a word, in the practice of
the admonition: "Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself'' ". IA; Lev.
1919.
No one faces that life responsible
ity without realizing that he is evil
dently not able for it. God has pro-
vided for that need, for we note
next that there is
iii. Power-Believers Are Led by
the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18).
Being saved does not set us free
from the conflict with sin, for the
old nature declares itself at enmity
with the Spirit. We find it often to
be in our hearts to do right, and in
the decisive moment we find the
flesh taking control and we cannot
do the things we would ". 1O.
What is the solution of that prob
lem? An all-out attack on sin and
sinful desires? That is commend
able, but it somehow doesn't work.
We need superior power to work
in and through us.
That's It! There is power in us
and ready to work through us-the
matchless, victorious power of the
Holy Spirit. He dwells in the heart
of every believer Il Cor. 6:19) and
only awaits our yielding to him that
he may take control of our lives.
Walking in the Spirit ". 16) is
simply giving him the liberty to di-
rect our lives after the will of God,
day by day and moment by mo-
ment. This puts US in the way of
victory, for as we walk in the Lords
way we may call on him for not
only his grace, but also his strength.