Brother, I have just a few comments to make while I wait for others more knowledgeable than me to add theirs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Tallach  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 4) |
Jude is saying here that those men are using the doctrine of the free grace of God in Christ as a pretext for their lasciviousness. In fact, they taught what Roman Catholic and Arminian apologists often accuse us of teaching, that under the pretense of a complete justification by faith alone, we may feel free to sin and live according to our concupiscence.
Quote:
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:4)
The grace that these Galatians had experienced must have been short of saving grace otherwise they could not have abandoned the faith. Paul doesn't offer the backsliding of truly saved Christians here.
|
Same as the verse in Jude. Paul is contrasting law with grace, that is, the perfect rightneousness required by the Law with the Gospel of the justification of the sinner by grace alone through faith alone in Christ. Falling from grace means renouncing the benefits of the Covenant of Grace (falling from grace), to go back to the judgement of the Law.
Quote:
| I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Gal 2:21) |
Exactly. This verse is the premise to the one above: frustrating the grace of God in this context means teaching, and living, a doctrine of works righteousness instead of the doctrine of the grace. For, if we really believe that we can earn righteousness through the Law, we are frustrating, disregarding, the gospel of salvation by grace alone, as though Christ died in vain, which is impossible.
I have to say that I am a bit troubled by how the exegesis used to support common grace often seem to align with those used to deny election and irresistable grace.