theWord Commentaries

Harrison – His Side versus Our Side

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• April 26, 2024January 18, 2024
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His Side versus Our Side:

Overview of Galatians, Or, What is a True Christian? (1947)

By Norman Harrison

If the Christian faith is true — and it is, blessedly true — the importance of a correct understanding of Christian truth and of the nature of the life produced by it cannot be over-emphasized. Human destiny is at stake. Yet the popular misconception of the Christian life, everywhere prevalent in Christendom, both inside the Church and out, and that in a day of boasted intelligence and learning, is nothing short of tragic. It is both baffling and alarming. Yet, in a sense, the fact that the essential character of Christian truth should be so far beyond popular comprehension is a tribute to our Faith. To our mind, as a result of wide observation, the most serious error of our day is the popular notion that the Christian life is a matter of CONDUCT.

Do certain things; don’t do certain things, and you are a Christian! This confining of Christian living to behavior is altogether shallow, superficial, and above all else FUTILE. What is a Christian? The answer runs somewhat thus: A Christian is one who accepts CHRIST, especially as the teacher of a way of life; he adopts a set of habits, such as church attendance, Bible reading, prayer; he associates with other “Christian” people; he doesn’t lie, steal, or get drunk; he is fair in his dealings with his fellowmen; he can be counted on to take a “Christian” attitude toward the questions of the day. A “Christian” is one who conforms to certain standards! And essential change in the PERSON, productive of such conduct, is ignored. This is GALATIANISM in its modern, most common form. It is this against which the Apostle Paul contended with passionate conviction that it was fatal to the Christian system of truth and experience.

THE DISTINGUISHING MARKS OF A TRUE CHRISTIAN

Turning to the Epistle to the Galatians, we find the Apostle Paul defining and describing a Christian in such terms as these:

1 A Christian is one who has the living CHRIST living in him. (See Gal 2:20; 4:19). He has had a transforming experience.

2 A Christian is one who has the HOLY SPIRIT (Gal 4:6). He begets in the believer new characteristics that are productive of Christian conduct (Gal 5:22, 23).

3 A Christian is one who has shared the Cross experience with Christ, as the basic solution of his personal problems. (see Gal 2:20; 5:24; 6:14, 17).

4 A Christian is one possessed of a life so divine, so ideal that it cannot be pressed into a mold of external regulations (See Gal 4:9, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21; 5:1-6)

In other words, the Christian life consists not in BEHAVING but in BEING, a life out of which behavior naturally proceeds; not something external, but internal, the root producing the fruit. It is a LIFE that must be free to express itself; to impose regulations upon it is fatal to it. Man in his natural state soon finds he is like the woody growth of the grape vine; running to wood, the real life is choked out. He has nothing but the external form, an empty shell of respectability… Paul is contending against a twofold error. (1) First, that our salvation is secured partly by faith in CHRIST and partly by good works prescribed by the law. (2) Second, that our perfecting in this life in CHRIST is a matter of self-effort on our part in obedience to the law. Thus, Paul sees at stake the two essentials of the Christian faith, SALVATION and SANCTIFICATION, and sets about zealously to safeguard them for all time. The difficulty with the above errors is that they leave us impotently on Our Side, in struggle and failure. They are powerless to transfer us to the abounding resources of His Side. (Read all the introductory comments Galatians Introduction)

Galatians That He Might Deliver Us
Galatians 1:6-8 The Gospel versus “Another Gospel”
Galatians 1:11, 12, 2:2 A Revelation versus a Reasoning
Galatians 2:20 Christ Inliving – I Crucified
Galatians 2:21 Grace versus Law
Galatians 3:2-3 Faith versus Works
Galatians 3:13-14 Blessing versus Cursing
Galatians 3:324 Justification by Faith plus Nothing
Galatians 4:7 Sons versus Servants
Galatians 4:9 Freedom versus Bondage
Galatians 4:22-24 New Covenant versus Old Covenant
Galatians 5:1-6 Standing Fast versus Falling Away
Galatians 5:16 Spirit versus Flesh
Galatians 6:7-8 Sowing and Reaping
Galatians 6:14-15 “I” Crucified versus the World
Galatians 6:17 Possessors versus Professors

Harrison – His Side versus Our Side

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