Living Alive

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

LIVING ALIVE

Gal 3:10-14

10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."   11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."   12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."   13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."   14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

NIV

How many times do we have to hear that we are cursed if we attempt to live by the law? Clearly, we are not justified by the law. Of course, we are New Testament Christians and we do not incorporate any of the Mosaic Law into our lives, or do we? Do we abide by the Ten Commandments? Are they part of the Old Testament Law? Do we abide by the laws concerning incest? If we take the time to examine all the Law we might find we try to live by those things. Now that is not to say we should go about doing all that the law forbids Israel to do. However, we also have made up our lists of things not to do and of things, we are supposed to do. Then there is the matter of the righteous living by faith. Was Paul only talking about living by faith concerning salvation, then all the rest of our living could be by the flesh? In order words, did Paul say that all we needed to exercise faith for was to be saved? Then after that, we do not have to have any faith for the rest of our living time. That would mean we would trust in our own ways in order to gain whatsoever we want to gain. We wonder if living under the law was a onetime thing also. We know that is not the case. They were required to live every day, all day, under the law, considering everything the Lord commanded them to do and what they should not do. Every time they failed they needed to bring a sin offering. The Priests were busy twenty-four-seven burning offerings. That also applies to us as we are supposed to live by faith every day, all day. It is not just a one-time occurrence for our salvation. It is interesting how Paul quotes that line, that the righteous will live by faith from the prophet Habakkuk. If we read the rest of the writings of that prophet we would see this living by faith is intended to be an everyday living. It is also interesting the first definition of the Greek word translated as live means to be among the living, be alive, not lifeless, not dead, which again would imply our whole lives. So then what does living by faith look like? It would seem that it means to rely on Jesus and the promised Spirit to live within us and thus direct our daily living. It also means we do not look to ourselves for any part of salvation or for our daily living. If we want to make a list of do’s and don’ts then we should see the don’ts with respect to living by the ways of the world. That implies so many ways, yet it seems many believers only apply that principle to just a few areas of life and ignore the ones they do not want to apply. Where does scripture, not the law, but the words of Jesus, the New Testament living, say we should not drink, smoke, or dance? Yet some believers think those things are a sin. The New Testament says we should not gossip, but how many believers do just that? How about being jealous or envious, does not the New Testament say we should not do that, but how many do? What about bitterness, or unforgiving those who offend us? How about storing up wealth for ourselves? See how we can prove we cannot even live by our own beliefs from New Testament teaching. We fail all the time, so then this living by faith has to apply to every day of our lives, and that faith is in Jesus who redeemed us, who became a course for us. We have to live by faith, or we will never make it through this life, alive.