Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 5:4

"Ye are severed from Christ, ye would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace." — Galatians 5:4 (ASV)

Paul again states his points, this time dropping the hypothetical “if” for the strong assertion that those who want to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ and have fallen away from grace. Christ is of no value to them and the burden of keeping the whole law is theirs.

What does “You have fallen away from grace” mean? Does it mean, as some claim, that salvation can be lost if a Christian falls into sins? Not at all. There is a sense in which to sin is to fall into grace, if one is repentant. But to fall from grace, as seen by this context, is to fall into legalism. Or to put it another way, to choose legalism is to relinquish grace as the principle by which one desires to be related to God.