No hybrids

Do not make the mistake of thinking you can have a hybrid sort of Christianity. You know how these days you can have a petrol or diesel car or you can have an electric one but then you can also have a hybrid, petrol and electric. The false teachers were arguing for a hybrid form of Christianity. You may be able to have a hybrid car but a hybrid Christianity will not work. If it is based on law at all then it will be all law and Christ and grace will be pushed out.

Christ all the way

Gaatians 5:3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. When you start to rely on something like circumcision or baptism or confession or prayer then you are opening the door to a completely different way of thinking about salvation. You are basically saying that you think that you can be saved by law, by obeying certain rules. Now the way the law works, you have to obey everything it says. You cannot pick and choose what you are going to follow. You cannot say, I like circumcision but not keeping the ten commandments; I like church on Sundays but not the other commandments. No, if that is the way you want to go it has to be a total obedience.

Say you were going to a place and as far as you could see there were two ways to get to it – the one way was a straight road leading all the way from your city to your destination and the other a route that went along back roads and lanes and involved catching buses and trains. You could not start on one route and then suddenly switch to the other. You would have to choose your route and then stick to it. There would be no room for chopping and changing. And so with being a Christian – you cannot begin with circumcision and then turn to Christ – you must begin with Christ, go on with Christ and end with him. Christ all the way.