In his
translation of Gal 5:4, Craig Keener rendered the verse thusly:
You who seek to be righted by the law have
been cut off from Christ; you’ve fallen away from God’s abundant generosity.
Some have
tried to downplay this text by arguing that Paul is addressing unregenerate
people in the Galatian congregation, not truly justified believers, so it is
not a valid proof-text to use against various formulations of eternal security,
such as the Perseverance of the Saints (the “P” of Calvinism’s
TULIP). Notwithstanding, as Keener notes, Paul is actually teaching true
believers can lose their salvation:
Cut off (καταργεω, katargeō) is the language of annulling something (as in 3:17) or
rendering it ineffective (as in 5:11). It follows naturally from the idea of
Christ no longer being of benefit to them (5:2) . . . it would seem special
pleading to take Paul’s warnings of apostasy as something less than a real
possibility. Paul elsewhere warns gentile believers that if they fall from
faith, they too will be cut off as were Jewish people who failed to believe
(Rom. 11:22; cf. 8:13). Paul disciplines himself in order to avoid being
disqualified (αδοκιμος, adokimos, 1 Cor. 9:27), going on to warn
the Corinthians that despite their spiritual resources, they could be struck
down as were many Israelites in the wilderness (10:1-11); they must stand and
avoid falling (10:12). They must examine themselves to make sure that they
remain in the faith and are not disqualified (αδοκιμος, 2 Cor. 13:5-6). Had persecution
moved the Thessalonians to abandon faith in Christ, Paul’s labor among them
would have been in vain (1 Thess. 3:5). Colossian believers would be presented
blameless before God, provided they continued in the faith (Col. 1:23). Paul’s concern
was their ultimate salvation; he does not address the question of some
individuals falling away, yet later returning, since the conditions that facilitated
their falling to begin with usually precluded their interest in returning.
Gentile sources do reveal that many who had become Christians reconverted back
to paganism afterward.
Already in Scripture, if the righteous turn
to the way of sin, their righteousness will be forgotten (Ezek. 18:24, 27;
33:12-13, 18), but if the wicked turn to righteousness, they will live
(33:14-16, 19). Jewish people lamented apostasy (1 Macc. 1:41-51), with some
Jewish sects believing that even members of other Jewish sects had abandoned
righteousness (e.g., 1QpHab 8.9). Some expected apostasy as one of the tragic
signs of the end time (e.g., 1 En.
9:17; T. Iss. 6:1; T. Naph. 4:1; 3 En. 48A:5-6; m. Soṭah
9:15; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 5:9; Pesiq. Rab. 15:14/15; cf. 4 Ezra 5:1-2; 14:16-18) as under
previous persecutions. Early Judaism divided regarding whether apostates would
be forgiven if they repented. Paul probably also envisioned the prophesied
end-time apostasy (Mark 13:12-13; Matt. 24:12) as already occurring in his day
(cf. 2 Thess. 2:3). Subsequent centuries of Christian thought also required
perseverance in the faith.
Corinthians’ sexual sin contradicted
Christian faith (1 Cor. 6:9-20), but Galatians were in danger of abandoning
faith in Christ no less by adding to (and thus subtracting from) the faith.
Like baptism, circumcision functioned as a demarcation, a rite of passage into
a given community (in this case, of ethnicity; in the case of Christian
baptism, of faith). By going under the law as if their baptism was inadequate,
they would essentially deny the efficacy of their baptism. Paul certainly did
not teach the popular doctrine today of “once saved, always saved”; a convert
does not regularly move in and out of the saved community, but a convert who
deconverts is again a nonbeliever. (Craig S. Kenner, Galatians: A Commentary [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2019],
453, 454-56)