初信者的陷阱
加拉太书三章1至9节
1无知的加拉太人哪，耶稣基督钉十字架，已经活画在你们眼前，谁又迷惑了你们呢？
2我只要问你们这一件：你们受了圣灵，是因行律法呢？是因听信福音呢？
3你们既靠圣灵入门，如今还靠肉身成全么？你们是这样的无知么？
4你们受苦如此之多，都是徒然的么？难道果真是徒然的么？
5那赐给你们圣灵，又在你们中间行异能的，是因你们行律法呢？是因你们听信福音呢？
6正如亚伯拉罕信神，这就算为他的义。
7所以，你们要知道：那以信为本的人，就是亚伯拉罕的子孙。
8并且圣经既然预先看明，神要叫外邦人因信称义，就早已传福音给亚伯拉罕，说：万国都必因你得福。
9可见那以信为本的人和有信心的亚伯拉罕一同得福。
信息分享
这种情况岂不是在今天也常常出现吗？通常来说，初信者比较渴慕学习真理，所以，当某人带着权威教训他们，尤其是引用圣经的权威来作教导时，他们便很容易会全盘接收。
我们应该学习昔日的保罗，要歇力防止初信者受人迷惑。保罗从来不会因为初信者误入歧途，而指斥他们不再是基督徒；反之，他提醒他们要反省以下问题：
1．你们是怎样得救的？
2．你们是怎样领受圣灵的？
3．你认为自己如何才能在基督里成长？
4．你们过往一直甘愿为基督受苦，如今，你们是否仍然爱祂和忠于祂呢？
这些都是非常适切的问题。我们今天可以同样用这些问题，来帮助那些被邪教、律法主义或其他极端教派迷惑的初信者，去厘清他们的信仰。他们的答案，将可以让你明白他们的属灵光景。
保罗的答案始终是诉诸圣经的真理。他用亚伯拉罕来提醒他们──他是在受割礼之前便信了神（跟外邦人一样）；信神之后他受了割礼（跟信神的犹太人一样）。「亚伯拉罕信神，这就算为他的义。」（6节）在他得称为义之后很久，神才吩咐他行割礼并颁赐律法。所以，他完全是因信称义。
当我们跟随亚伯拉罕的脚踪，因信而得着神的称义，我们便是亚伯拉罕的真后裔了。而且，除了因信称义之外，便再无别的得救途径。
信心是得救的唯一条件；
基督是得救的唯一根基。
WHAT CAN HAPPEN TO NEW CHRISTIANS?
Galatians 3:1-9
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Message
What has happened? says Paul, "Did someone cast a spell over you? Why have you forgotten what I told you? As new Christians, you should have gone on believing the simple and straightforward gospel."
It often happens, even today, doesn't it? New Christians are eager to learn all they can. When they hear someone speaking in an authoritative way, supposedly from the Bible, they tend to accept what is said.
Paul did what we need to do today to try to help believers who have been led astray. He never said they were no longer Christians. His questions were:
1. How were you saved?
2. How did you receive the Holy Spirit?
3. How do you think you were supposed to grow in Christ?
4. You were willing to be persecuted for Christ. What happened to your love and loyalty for Him?
Those are all good relevant questions. They could be used today to try helping new believers who are being tempted by either a false cult, or by legalists or other extremists. Their answers may help you know exactly where they are at spiritually.
Paul's final appeal is again to the truth of the Scriptures. He reminded them of Abraham - the man with the first "dual citizenship". He was a believing Gentile before he became a believing Jew. "He believed God, and it (that belief) was credited to him (by God) as righteousness."
That was long before either circumcision or the law was given. He was saved by faith and by faith alone.
We are the true children of Abraham when we follow in his footsteps of faith. There never has been any other way of salvation.
REMEMBER: FAITH - THE ONLY CONDITION FOR SALVATION.
CHRIST - THE ONLY GROUND OF SALVATION.