Turning away from God after Salvation

(1 Timothy 1:5-7)

Turning away from God can take many forms. Amongst the many bible verses about turning away from God, this one today is quite different and is still quite common in the Church today.

In fact I believe this particular method of turning away from God after salvation has been institutionalised into much of the broad Church today. After the death of the early apostles and teachers of the Lord, the church swerved from the truth, walking away from Christ, and that has carried down to this day.

But just as turning away from God was easy, so too it can be easy to find your way back. It requires us to diligently seek out the truth of the gospel and remove all preconceptions about what the Church is teaching, and focus instead on what the Bible teaches.

Turning away from God after salvation

Every Christian who comes to the Lord comes as an open book. They are an empty slate waiting for the Lord to write upon their hearts and minds the truth of salvation.

New Christians have no preconceived ideas and no preconceptions about Christianity. They simply want to know Jesus and dwell in the presence of the Lord.

But sadly many fall into the ministries that seem hell bent on turning away from the truth and walking away from God in Jesus Christ.

How do they do this? What most churches are preaching sounds quite good and feasible, but much of it has no relevance to the truth of the gospel. More to the point, by slavishly following church doctrines handed down from generation to generation, they are following the ministry of turning away from God.

Deceptions that lead to turning away from God after salvation

One of the biggest challenges people have when they come to Christ is the law. They are instructed by the ministers of the church that they are under the law and must keep the law. This is usually based upon keeping the Ten Commandments, but scripture says if we keep just ONE law, we are bound to keep ALL of the law (see: Galatians 5:3).

But this is what the scripture relating to the Gospel of salvation says:

”For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified.” (Romans 10:4)

The laws of Moses ended with Jesus Christ and He came to remove the law so that justification would be by faith. We are righteous by faith, not by keeping the works of the law.

And yet so many churches today still preach that we must be confined under the law and keep it in order to be righteous.

But nobody can keep the law. Try as you might, no person has been able to live under the law without sinning, with the exception of Christ Jesus Himself. And we will see shortly that walking towards the law effectively means you are walking away from Christ.

There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus

Here is a conundrum that the church struggles with. The scripture in Romans 8, verse 1 says this:

”There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

If we are in Christ Jesus we are no longer under the condemnation of the law.

Why? Because Christ died to take away the law. As the previous verse said, “Christ is the end of the law.” We are no longer under the law. Instead, we are set free to live in freedom and thus no longer under condemnation from a law that we cannot keep.

Turning away from God to the law

Which brings me back to the issues in the scripture under review. This is what the verses say:

5 whereas the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith. 6 Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions. (1 Timothy 1:5-7)

This is an apt description of the churches today who have carried on the tradition of those early churches about whom Paul is writing.

Today the churches teach the laws and commandments to the members of their congregations believing they are following the truth. But the truth of the Gospel is not in the law, it is in freedom from the law.

As a resulting they are turning away from God after salvation and turning to become teachers of the law. They have missed the mark concerning freedom by walking away from God. Instead are keeping their congregations bound in law, and bound in sin because sin is the breaking of the law.

They can never bring people to freedom in Jesus Christ while they continue turning away from God and the salvation that is on offer in Jesus Christ. And the major problem is that they don’t understand that this is even happening.

How to stop turning away from God after salvation

So how do we stop this? How can we turn back to God and find the way of truth that leads to salvation in Jesus Christ?

The first thing we need to do is to pray and ask the Lord to show us the way. Pray with sincerity and the Lord will help you, as the scripture says:

“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

This is the promise of God. When you turn to God in prayer and ask Him to show you the way, rather than slavishly following the doctrines that would have you turning away from God, then He will show you the way.

Remember too that Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

So, if Jesus is the way AND the truth, we ought to listen to what He had to say. And we do that by studying the word. Read your Bible and learn what Jesus had to say.

But don’t just focus on the words of Jesus, which are in the four Gospels. Jesus taught us what the Gospel of salvation is all about and He gave us His example to follow.

But He gave the ministry to His apostles, especially Paul, who explained how it all works. Jesus showed us “what it is” in the gospels, and the apostles showed us “how it works” in their various letters.

If you are going to stop turning away from God, you need to learn ALL of it by immersing yourself in the word. And pray at every opportunity when there are things you don’t understand. He will give you the understanding or lead you to a teacher (usually via the Holy Spirit) that can explain it to you.

And finally, learn to apply what you are reading in your life. Learn how to stand on your faith, how to put on the armour of God, how to resist temptation, how to walk in the Spirit and how to walk in love.

Final thoughts on turning away from God

Turning away from God after salvation is a real problem today. It is hidden in the guise of something good: the law and commandments. The law IS good, but it is not the doctrine of Christ. The law is filled with wisdom and insights and there is much we can learn from it. But we who are in Christ are not under it and to think we are will destroy the path of salvation in Jesus Christ.

One final thought to hopefully crystalize your understanding on this matter of turning away from God after salvation by turning to the law is this: following the law will separate you and cut you off from Jesus Christ. You will be walking away from God by seeking to follow the law. Those aren’t my words, that is what scripture tells us.

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:4)

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