But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (vv. 18-23)

Paul was strongly against the circumcision group because they supported salvation by works. God does not approve of someone because of his/her works. If so, there is no grace. Grace is full, complete, and unchangeable. However, many Christians believe that they need 99% of grace and 1 % of works to be saved. Grace is always 100%. Anyone who received mercy and love from God through Christ is under 100% grace. This person inevitably produces good works because of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians think that good works must be shown outside and be recognizable to others as a proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

When Christianity become a national religion, and when there is no distinction between the civil government and church, the church authorities define and impose their version of a holy life on people. The consequence is false piety and pride. And that is what happened in the 17^th century England. The USA was built by the Puritans who were not afraid of murdering people and stealing others’ lands and properties in America. They did them because they were not true Christians. Yet, they went to church every Sunday and were fed the false sense of salvation by church authorities. In their own eyes, they were holy and just, were chosen by God, and were saved. They thought they were superior to the gentiles who had not heard of God. Rather than leading them to the Bible, they mistreated them and committed crimes. Thus, those gentiles mocked God. At present, there is a growing movement in previously colonized nations to reject Christianity.

You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written. (Romans 2:23-24)

Her mother country, the Great Britain, was equally bad if not worse. The current turmoil and strife in the world can be traced back to those Christian nations (including other European nations) who colonized other nations and killed people around the world. Those Protestants were no different from the Roman Catholics who persecuted Muslims for not following the religion during the Crusades. What the church authorities were really after was money as we find it in the church history. One cannot be forced to believe in God. Faith is the gift from God. Yet, they acted treacherously against the words of God. False Christians often think they are the Israelites in the OT and are given the authority to kill people for their unbelief. Their misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the OT are still present strongly within churches because ministers and theologians have chosen people (more precisely, money) over God. Many Christians appear to believe that their governments need to support Christianity. While they say that everyone needs to live according to the Bible, I doubt that they are living a holy life. Churches around the world tolerate both spiritual and physical adulteries well. Ministers speak lies about God at the pulpit. Sexual crimes committed by church leaders appear on the news on a regular basis.

When reading verses 19 to 23, one may think he/she can produce the fruit of the Spirit by works. One might say, “I have the Holy Spirit. I will try to produce good works.” The truth is that even reborn Christians do the deeds of the flesh everyday. Even though we wake up in the morning and renew our desires to produce the fruit of the Spirit written in verses 22 and 23, we go to sleep at night thinking we have done more deeds of the flesh than producing the fruit of the Spirit. It is true that the Spirit produces only good works. It is not that we are not made perfect in the sight of God through Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are perfect as we are, not because we do anything good from our own initiatives. We are perfect because we know that there is nothing good in us from the beginning. Adam was born as a slave. Yet, God made us His children. Nothing can make us fall again. If God had made the requirements of our salvation as 99% of grace and 1% of works, none of us would fulfill that 1 %. Salvation requires 100% grace. For that, we rejoice. We are like those beggars who were invited to the banquet written in Luke 14:16-24.

But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; please consider me excused.’ And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ And another one said, ‘I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”

There are many Christians who refuse to believe that their good works are meaningless and even evil. They think they need some help from God to achieve salvation. When they are told their works do nothing, they get angry. They think they can produce more good works, get holier everyday, and receive better rewards than others at the end. Hence, they reject Christ of the Bible. They believe in their version of Christ, an anti-Christ. Even though one is grown up learning the Reformed doctrines and have vast knowledge on theology, he/she eventually refuse 100% grace if not reborn. Only those who are truly reborn by the Holy Spirit understand 100% grace.

Luther’s last words are believed to be “We are beggars, this is true”. Despite his theological errors and pride, he was a reborn Christian if he meant 100% grace in those words. And I believe he was a reborn Christian. The new covenant promises the Law written in our hearts. We put our hope in God’s faithfulness to the covenant He has established through Christ. We are perfect although we think we are not. We are perfect because we believe in God.

“For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34)