In the summer of 2024, the news media declared that Huw Edwards had ‘fallen from grace.’ In one single news piece, I heard this phrase used three or four times in a single news piece. Huw Edwards had been found guilty of serious wrong-doing, the details I need not repeat.
The journalist borrowed the phrase from Pauls’ letter to the Galatians. But she misapplied it!
My friend, Andy Moyle commented in his sermon on ‘Standing in grace:’ ‘We fall from grace when we return to the law to try and keep our standing before God.’
The apostle Paul reserved his most severe censure for those who tried to turn others back to the law as the ground of justification and acceptance before God. In Phil 3.2, he refers to them as dogs, evildoers, mutilators of the flesh. In 1 Tim 4.1, he says they promote ‘doctrines of demons.’
Strong words!
So, if we fall from grace back into legalism, that is a serious matter. Don’t do it!