The Cannot Receive God's Grace
Excerpt
Have cut yourselves off from Christ may thus be rendered as “have completely separated yourselves from Christ.” This meaning may be expressed idiomatically in some languages as “have destroyed your bond with Christ,” or “have destroyed what ties you to Christ.”Furthermore, they are outside God’s grace (literally, “you have fallen away from grace”). Grace here may refer either to God’s or Christ’s grace, but most translators prefer the former interpretation. For a discussion of grace, see under 1.6. So here also as in 1:6, grace includes the components of undeserved love and free gift. To obey the Law in order to win God’s approval is to turn one’s back on God’s gift of son-ship. The expression “you have fallen away” should be understood, not in the sense that grace has been taken away from them, but in the sense that they have turned their backs on it (NEB “you have fallen out of the domain of God’s grace”; Phps “you put yourself outside the range of his grace”). One may also say “you have put yourself in a place where God’s goodness cannot
Arichea, Daniel C., and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. New York: United Bible Societies, 1976. Print. UBS Handbook Series.
Comments