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"Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." (Galatians 6.18).

This type of closing was not unusual with Paul. He frequently commended the brethren to the grace available in Christ as he ended his letters. However, the closing to the Galatians should be viewed with a slightly different perspective in as much as there are specific warnings in the Galatian epistle regarding grace. Note some of these warnings especially as they relate to the error of the Judaizers.

"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." (Galatians 1.6-7). "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." (Galatians 2.21). "And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." (Galatians 5.3-4).

In every case cited (paragraph above), Paul directly alluded to the error that threatened the believers in the regions of Galatia. Not only was it possible to fall from grace, Paul knew that it was a certainty should the Judaizers have their way. Freedom from sin had come through truth and bondage to sin would result from error. Truth sets free and error enslaves. The grace of Christ was appropriated through truth and the grace of Christ could be lost through error. Had such not been the case, had apostasy not been a real possibility, there would have been no Galatian epistle. The entire thrust on the letter is to warn of the dangers of Judaism and to show the superiority of the Gospel of grace over the law of human works.

To say that Paul was concerned for his brethren in Galatia would be an understatement. He had even gone so far as to call them foolish and asked who had bewitched them. (Galatians 3.1). He also said, "I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain." (Galatians 4.11). With these facts in view and having penned his epistle under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Paul closed his inspired exhortations by saying, "Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." (Galatians 6.18). This is more than a perfunctory comment; it is one which expresses the only means by which those for whom Paul had labored so diligently could keep themselves safe from the spiritual predators who prowled the highways and byways of their country.

Just as there were spiritual predators in Paul's day, so there are today. Actually their modus operandi has not changed over the centuries. They still try to derail believers by teaching a perverted gospel, thus making the grace of Christ of none effect. The remedy is still the same also. Just as the Galatians could counteract the Judaizers by truth so we today can destroy the power of error with the pure truth of the gospel. The grace of Christ is available through the truth of Christ!

"Point of Reference" from Fred Price

Counting the Cost and Bearing the Cross