Faith.
I don't condemn myself, knowing God does not condemn me.
It's that "or else" POV that triggers the flesh.
Romans 7:5 KJV
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
The Law moves the flesh to sin. The Law is, "or else".
Sin is forgiven, and Christ works righteousness in and through us, having made us holy and righteous in the inner man. The flesh already stands condemned, the new creation spirit is created patterned after God in righteousness and true holiness.
"Paul seems to speak about the mere prospect of doing good as a source of joy and hope,"
I never really thought about it this way, but yes! Christ in you, the hope (faith based expectation) of glory. Knowing the end is assured, that we are safe in the arms of Jesus, frees us from the fear of condemnation, and releases us to serve others in love, not concerned about purchasing our redemption, which was already purchased by Jesus' blood.
These two views are opposite each other. One is that we serve because we have a love in us that is showing itself though our actions and thoughts. The other is that we are under threat of death unless we obey, which we do as best we can, fearing for our lack of self control. The first lets the flesh rest, the second stirs up the flesh against us.
Much love!
"this grace in which we
stand and rejoice in hope of God's glory" : I believe the "stand" relates to "stumble", so that the "stand" refers to
righteousness, as we are "under Grace" as
the means of service.
This approach Paul has to righteousness is the same as...
Galatians 5:
5For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Paul seems to view the act of righteousness as a source of hope (connecting it with Romans 5, it is the hope we are filled with
that God will get glory), and he contrasts this with being justified by works of the Law--and, in particular, the act of circumcision.
He certainly is not saying "if a Christian is circumcised, he is fallen from grace", because he has Timothy circumcised (Acts 16); his objection is to where the heart and mind are, what the
intention is, when they do this-or-that. Are they living in light of what Christ has done, reacting to Christ, seeking God's glory (through seeking Christ's glory)? How can they seek God's glory if they are seeking their own glory (and the Law makes you look at yourself, so you can't escape boasting, glorifying self, not God)? When Paul had Timothy circumcised, it was "because of the Jews in that region", because he was filled with love for God, and love for those Jews, and he was filled with hope of the Gospel spreading to those Jews, he was not motivated by the thought, "Torah commands it, so we had better do it, or else Timothy can't be in right standing with God, and will remain 'cut off from among his people'."
So, as I have posited, his argument is not about works or no works, but about
where their hearts and minds are--his answer to their seeking perfection by the flesh/works of the Law is "through love,serve one another"--and they're not on Christ, but are distracted from the simplicity of devotion to Christ by the complications of the Law (and it seems their background is not the Law--if their background was the Law, it would be permissible, as in Ro 14 "he who observes a day"). Paul's heart and mind was centered on Christ when he went to circumcise Timothy.
It may be that when you're not under Grace (or fully under Grace), there is a question of your standing with God until you do the thing, and only after you do the thing can you rest from that fear (and there is still a question, because, afterward there is still something else to do), whereas, under Grace, the prospect of doing right is a source of hope which you presently rejoice in, and walk in faith toward, not a source of dread you presently have a fear about.
In this sense, it is possible to be committing the error of being "under Law" (ie, without grace, or lacking grace) without literally being "under Law"--the Law is merely a species of "the knowledge of good and evil", and all men have "the knowledge of good and evil", so, in this sense, it is possible for any man to be "fallen from grace" even without explicitly being "under Law". I've given years of thought to this, because of things that have gone on in my own life.
The question would be how to have that hope. I know that Paul says "proven character produces hope", so maybe he means that after one has proven character, the doing of the good becomes less of a question, and more of a certainty, so that there is hope at the prospect of doing good... but, then, he couldn't say "we rejoice in hope of God's glory" to the Jewish believers he had just been correcting and warning about their having been guilty of hypocrisy (Ro 2), because they didn't have "proven character".
1 Corinthians 13:
13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Galatians 5:
5For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Hebrews 11:1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The
love produces a
hope (like what one has in a
promise) which one
walks toward in faith which is empowered by
love.
In any event, when you're under Law, or, for this-or-that reason, "fallen from Grace", "the Law is not faith, but the one who does the things commanded will live", whereas "My righteous one will live by faith [the Spirit, eternal life, is obtained upon hearing with faith]"--and this would corresponds to "if you began by the Spirit are you being perfected by the flesh?", so that his expectation is they will not seek perfection by the flesh, but "through the Spirit await the hope of righteousness", which pertains to the love they have for God through Christ, and the hope that they have that they will do good, and that God, Whom they love, will get glory?