Can't a person fall from grace?
Galatians 5.
The short answer Settled
Yes, but falling from grace means turning to the law, not losing salvation. Paul says who has fallen from grace: those trying to be made right with God by keeping the law.
What the text shows
"You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace" (). No one succeeds at it: "no one is justified by the law in the sight of God" (). Grace and law are two ways of seeking to be right with God, and a person cannot stand on both.
What they fall into is slavery: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (). Paul asks, "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (). For a person counting on the law, "Christ will profit you nothing" (), because he has chosen to stand on his own record instead.
The usual objection
Paul says, "you have fallen from grace" and "You have become estranged from Christ" (), and "Christ will profit you nothing" (). On this view a person who falls from grace has fallen out of salvation.
Paul still calls these readers "brethren" who "have been called to liberty" (). Falling from grace is a fall from freedom into slavery, not from salvation into judgment. He is calling believers back to grace, not telling them they are lost.
The words behind it
| Word | Where | Form | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθε· τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσατε en nomō dikaiousthe; tēs charitos exepesate, "attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace" (3551, 1344, 5485, 1601) | Present passive; aorist indicative | Those who fall from grace are those seeking to be justified by law. | |
| ἐν νόμῳ οὐδεὶς δικαιοῦται en nomō oudeis dikaioutai, "no one is justified by the law" (3551, 3762, 1344) | Present passive, with "no one" | So Paul means people who are trying. | |
| ζυγῷ δουλείας zygō douleias, "a yoke of bondage" (2218, 1397) | Nouns | What they fall into is slavery. | |
| ἐναρξάμενοι πνεύματι, νῦν σαρκὶ ἐπιτελεῖσθε enarxamenoi pneumati, nyn sarki epiteleisthe, "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (1728, 4151, 4561, 2005) | Aorist participle; present indicative | Going back to their own effort. |
No textual variants affect the conclusion.
This study checks the Greek Received Text against the Majority Text, and the written Hebrew against its traditional reading. If a difference could change a conclusion, this note explains it. Otherwise it says that none does.