THE GOSPEL AND RELIGION (Part 2a)

Bible Reading:
Galatians 3:19-26
GOLDEN TEXT:
“But before faith (Christ, the Gospel) came, we were kept (we were given first aid) under the law, shut up unto (so as to be preserved until) the faith (Christ, the Gospel) which should (fully treat us) afterwards be revealed.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster (God’s preservative) to bring (to keep) us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after (now) that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster (we do not need the preservative anymore).” Galatians 3:23-25 (KJV)”
FOREWORD
Religion is defined by the WordWeb as: “a strong belief in a supernatural power/s that control human destiny.” or “an institution to express belief in a divine power.”
The above definition does not align with or reflect what faith is. Faith is not just a strong belief in a supernatural power that control human destiny; faith is a simple but deep knowing that, beyond human destiny (if there is anything like that), the heavens and the earth and everything in them, were framed by the Word of God, such that things that we see, are made from things that do not appear (Heb. 11:3).
Faith does not control human destiny, no. Faith agrees and says, for by Him (the Word, Christ), were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible or invisible, thrones or dominion, principalities or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. Faith agrees that Christ is before all things, and by Him, all things consist; and He holds all things by the power of His Word (Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:3)! It means without Him all things scatter!
Faith is not just an institution to express belief in a divine power; faith is a life and a lifestyle of absolute dependence on, trust in and devotion to God and His Word, as being expressed through Christ (Heb. 1:1,2).
It is also important to point out that religion, as defined by the WordWeb, roundly contradicts what the Bible says, was, in the beginning:
​“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4 (KJV)
These glowing verses confirm that there was nothing in the Beginning and at the beginning, apart from the Word! And, if we take Revelation 1:8 into consideration:
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8 (KJV)
Then it will mean that the Almighty God is the Beginning in Whom nothing was, apart from the Word.
And if all that was in God, Who is the Beginning was the Word (of Faith), then it means that religion was not at the Beginning and, thus, was not part of the initial take-off like Christ (Prov. 8:22-30)!
This, therefore, explains why God did not introduce religion to Adam and his wife; they were simply living by the Word and guided by it. That was why God could ask Adam, “Who told thee that thou wast naked?” This is because they were not designed to know or judge things by the seeing of their eyes, but by the hearing of faith—the Word of God. It was by the Word of God they knew that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the tree of death, not by its appearance. Religion appeals to human senses but faith deals with human essence!
THE INTERRUPTION OF RELIGION
Why do we need to look at the Gospel and Religion? It is because religion can also make a man repent. Those who change from one form of belief to another, also repent, in a sense, but such repentance will not result in salvation. Those who relocate especially from a region where there is lawlessness, usually ‘repent’ when they get into another region where the law is firmly enforced. However, such repentance can only keep the repented out of human jail, but surely not out of God’s eternal place of torment. What brings salvation from sin, death and eternal damnation is repentance based on the Gospel– an exercise of faith in what Christ did on the Cross!
It is also needful to reiterate the fact that the Law was given to Israel, not as a form of religion, but as the first aid of faith, to a people whom God started on the note of faith, but now given to sin (the flesh). But sadly, sin took advantage of the Law, through the weakness of the flesh and wrought all kinds of evil in them. And, instead of the Law to bring life, it brought death (Rom. 7:5,7-11)! Israel, many times, whored after idols of other nations, even at the point of collecting the Law and while prodding through the wilderness towards Canaan. Showing that the Law is not the solution to the issue of sin. If it failed with the chosen race of Israel, then it will fail anywhere!.
The challenge is how come the Law became a form of religion, so much so that today we talk of the Jewish religion or Judaism?