Perseverance: Objections Part 6

Continuing our look at passages that seem difficult to reconcile to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, we will look at Galatians 5:4.


Galatians 5:4 

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

Fallen away from grace sounds pretty serious.  And, in fact, it is.  However, it does not mean that a person who is a Christian can lose his salvation.  This passage is not discussing whether a believer can lose his salvation or not.  It is, instead, talking about those who would seek to be justified by the law instead of by grace.  If a person is truly trying to be justified by the law, instead of grace, he never was truly a Christian. He has fallen away from the grace that was offered to him in the gospel message and has chosen to cling to works of the law for his right standing before God.  It is not a matter of losing salvation, but a matter of the method of salvation, namely grace or law.  To choose law is to fall away from the only hope you have of salvation (ie. God's grace).