Bob Josey - The Letter to the Galatians Part 9 - Aug 18, 2024
The Letter to the Galatians
Galatians 2:15-21
Part 9
Introduction
In the US edition of The Gospel Coalition online magazine dated August 9, 2020, there was an interesting article written by Joe Carter entitled: Survey: Majority of American Christians Don’t Believe the Gospel.
The following are some of the results of the survey:
The Story: A new survey finds that a majority of people who describe themselves as Christians accept a “works-oriented” means to God’s acceptance.
The Background: A survey conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University find that American adults today increasingly adopt a “salvation-can-be-earned” perspective. A plurality of adults (48 percent) believe that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things during their life, they will “earn” a place in heaven. Only one-third of adults (35 percent) disagree.
A majority of Americans who describe themselves as Christian (52 percent) also accept a “works-oriented” means to God’s acceptance—even those associated with churches whose official doctrine says eternal salvation comes only from embracing Jesus Christ as savior. Almost half of all adults associated with Pentecostal (46 percent), mainline Protestant (44 percent), and evangelical (41 percent) churches, as well as nearly two-thirds of Catholics (70 percent), hold that view.
While about 65 percent of American adults describe themselves as Christians, only about half (54 percent) believe they will experience heaven after they die. Only one-third of adults (33 percent) believe they will go to heaven solely because of confessing their sins and embracing Jesus as their savior. Another one-in-five expecting to experience heaven are counting on earning their way in or because they embrace universalism (i.e., that God will let all people into heaven).”
Does anyone here today find this survey disturbing? Like it or not, he is writing about some people who belong to JFBC. Could there be anyone who is a member of this class that feels that way see this from people many times during a week. Many, many people who call themselves Christians do not have a clue. Why do you think this happens? There are several reasons for this.
• Kids are rushed down the aisle to be saved before they are ready and before they really understand. I know because I was one of those kids. This happened to many of my friends and acquaintances who were saved as adults. I’m not saying an individual cannot be saved as a kid, but statistics show that the majority of kids are not saved when they walk the aisle when they are kids.
• Many people are not given a clear and complete gospel message or are given a false gospel message.
• Many who are given a clear presentation of the gospel but then are asked to respond to the gospel message in a way that is not biblical e.g. “Ask Jesus into your heart,”” Give your heart to Christ,” “Give your life to Christ,” etc.
• As kids are growing up in Sunday School, the false information I just discussed is reinforced Sunday after Sunday.
• For Many people who attend Sunday School week after week all their lives are not taught nor is it reinforced that justification and sanctification are by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone and not by keeping the Mosaic Law or any other laws. It is not clearly taught or reinforced that Christians are not in any way responsible for keeping any of the Mosaic Laws including the Ten Commandments.
Today, we will read in Galatians by the pen of the Apostle Paul what the major tenant of his message was to the known world at that time and continues through today. The message is that the only way to be declared righteousness by God and to grow in Christ after salvation is through faith, not by keeping the Mosaic Law. In this section of Scripture Paul continued to speak to Peter, Barnabas, the Messianic Jews, and the Judaizers in Antioch who favored placing themselves under the authority of the Mosaic Law. When he wrote this epistle to the Galatian churches, he was writing to persuade Messianic Jews, the Judaizers, and Gentile believers who wanted to place themselves under the authority of the Law of Moses not to do so. As we read and study this section of Galatians, please remember that God only gave the Law of Moses to Israel and to the Jewish people, not to the Gentiles or to Christians as we see in Psalm 119:19-20.
19 He declares His words to Jacob,
His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His ordinances, they have not known them.
Romans 3:1-2
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?
2 Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.
1. Justification is received by faith alone in Christ not by Keeping the Mosaic Law. (15-16)
15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles.
Basically, what Paul is saying in this verse is that the Jews at that time were born under the authority of the Mosaic Law and Gentiles were not. God gave the Mosaic Law only to the Jewish people and to Israel and not to any other nation or people. Also, Christians today, whether Jew or Gentile, are not under any aspect of the Mosaic Law, including the Ten Commandments. Christians today, whether Jew or Gentile, are under the New Covenant. The Jews at that time also considered Gentiles and Gentile nations who were not under the authority of the Mosaic Law as sinners. So, the bottom line in this verse is Messianic Jews were born under the authority of the Mosaic Covenant but Gentiles were not.
nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in C;hrist and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
Paul says that even though he and the other Messianic Jews knew that they were born under the Mosaic Law and Gentiles were not, that individuals, Jews and Gentiles alike, are justified (pronounced or declared righteous) by faith in Christ not by being obedient to the Mosaic Law.
Why is Paul writing a defense of the Gospel being accepted by faith in Christ and not by keeping the Mosaic Law at this point in the book of Galatians. It naturally follows what Paul had to say to Peter directly and Barnabas and the other Messianic Jews indirectly that justification and growing in Christ (sanctification) are both accomplished by faith not by keeping the Law of Moses. Being saved by faith and living a spiritual life for God after salvation are never accomplished by works of the Law. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament testify of this. Paul dealt with this in Romans 4:1-8.
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. (Romans 6:23)
5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,
And whose sins have been covered.
8 “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”
Let’s return to the survey we discussed a few minutes ago. Let me add one other thing to why many people who call themselves Christians have a works-oriented mentality. Not only are many people who sit in Sunday school week after week not taught and then reinforced that sinners are not saved nor grow in Christ by keeping the Mosaic Law, but they don’t study the Word. Paul says three times in verse 16 that a person is justified by faith in Christ not in being obedient to the Law of Moses.
#1 nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus
#2 we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law
#3 by the works of the Law no person will be justified.
We must not fall into the trap of legalism by trying to either earn our justification or our sanctification through keeping a set of rules or laws. A works-oriented mindset does not work in the biblical world. Only faith can bring justification to an unbeliever and sanctification to a believer. Our mindset should always be that our relationship with God is based on faith, not on actions. It’s on believing instead of doing.
2. Being justified (declared righteous) by faith, and not keeping the Mosaic Law, does not lead to lawless behavior. (17-18)
“But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!
Galatians 2:17 (NLT)
But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not.
The Judaizers were the ones who kept the pot stirred concerning the need for a person to be circumcised as it relates to the Mosaic Law and to continue to be obedient to it to grow in Christ. The Judaizers were arguing that if individuals abandoned daily the keeping the Law of Moses as part of their relationship with God, then the result would lead to living a lawless life. Living a life of not being obedient to the Mosaic Law would constitute that person living a life of sin. Living a life of sin for a believer in Jesus who is not under the authority of the Law of Moses would make Jesus a minister of sin.
Commentator John Stott wrote this concerning Paul’s situation:
“Paul’s critics argued like this: ‘Your doctrine of justification through faith in Christ only, apart from the works of the law, is a highly dangerous doctrine. It fatally weakens a man’s sense of moral responsibility. If he can be accepted through trusting in Christ, without any necessity to do good works, you are encouraging him to break the law, which is the vile heresy of ‘antinomianism.’ People still argue like this today: 'If God justifies bad people, what is the point of being good? Can’t we do as we like and live as we please?'”
Paul’s opponents thought that people who disregarded the Law and its righteous works would be found sinners like the Gentiles who did not have the Law of Moses. Since Christ is the One who supplies this grace that leads to lawlessness, He would actually be enabling a sinful lifestyle or be the promoter of a sinful lifestyle. Is this a valid conclusion to draw from the gospel’s message of salvation by grace through faith plus nothing? It seems reasonable, doesn’t it? Based on human logic, what else could we conclude. Yet, Paul categorically and unequivocally rejects that line of thinking with the strongest negative one can utter in the Greek language: “May it never be!” “Absolutely not!” Also, in Romans 6:15, Paul was clear about that.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
In fact, Paul turns the argument around on his hearers. Before salvation by grace through faith in Christ, the Law served only to separate Gentiles from the people of God and to condemn them for their sinfulness. No one can keep the Law perfectly—neither Jew nor Gentile. The apostle James wrote to Jewish believers, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James. 2:10). So even James himself, Jesus’ half-brother and the pastorof the Jerusalem church, shows that the Mosaic Law is a means of condemning, not saving—of demonstrating one’s sinfulness, not making us righteous.
In verse 18 Paul continues his defense of justification by grace though faith and not by keeping of the Torah.
18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
In this verse Paul continues to refute the conclusion of the Judaizers that if one is only justified by grace through faith without any requirements being made concerning the Mosaic Law than that puts the Jews in the same category as the Gentiles - sinners without the Law of Moses. Two questions that must be answered are: What is the “thing that Paul destroyed?” and “How would he build it up again?” The answer is in the verses we read last week in Ephesians 2:11-16.
“Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.”
What Paul would build back up if he insisted that justification and sanctification was not by grace though faith alone but keeping the Mosaic Law would be the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles. Peter felt pressure to withdraw from table fellowship with Gentiles under influence from the Jerusalem faction, in effect, rebuilding the wall that had previously been torn down to celebrate common meals in Antioch. Relative to Paul’s ministry in Galatia, the agitators advocated circumcision for Gentiles, rebuilding a key marker of Torah observance that Jesus had torn down. Paul rejects any rebuilding of the Law. He rejects any requirement for Jews to maintain ritual purity relative to Gentiles and food, and he does not require circumcision of his Gentile converts. Thus, the reference to“what things Paul destroyed” would be the behavioral requirements revealed in the Torah for Jews to obey as part of keeping the covenant, whether food regulations, circumcision, or something else. This clarifies “If I build it up again” would mean that Paul reverses his previous position on these matters, requiring separate tables for Jews and Gentiles, circumcision of his Gentile converts, and Law observance more broadly. It would mean taking up again a stance toward the Law that he had set aside when he fully understood what Christ had done for humanity in his death on the cross. Theologically it would be an admission that the Law remained in force for all believers.
3. When Jews trust in Jesus as the Messiah, they are declared righteous and are no longer under Mosaic Law, because they have been Crucified with the Messiah. (19-21)
“For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
The three remaining verses in chapter 2 are very personal to Paul but are certainly applicable to all believers. Let’s paraphrase verses 19-20.
“For through the law I died to the law. How did I die to the Law? I have been crucified with Christ. This was done so that I might live to God. What does living to God look like? It means Christ lives in me and I live by his power.
Paul then distinguishes himself from Peter. He contrasted himself what he did with the Law of Moses with what Peter did with the Law of Moses. Paul described the transformation of a person who has come to God by faith in Christ in terms of a death and a resurrection. This new life in Christ comes, ironically, when we die with Christ—when, by faith, we enter into a personal and spiritual relationship with Him that is so intimate that God regards our sinful selves as crucified with Him. What is the result of dying with Christ. Christ lives in the believer through the Holy Spiri and a believer lives by his power.
The concept of death and resurrection is repeated in both verses and the reference in both cases is to a believer’s union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Paul stated that through the Law he died to the Law. The Law demanded death for those who broke it, but Christ paid that penalty for all sinners. Thus, the Law killed Him, freeing him to be joined to another, to live for God. Paul was living for God when he ate with Gentiles. Peter, Barnabas, and the other Jewish believers who were not living for God when they ate only with themselves.
DYING TO LIVE
How have we been crucified with Christ? Legally, when the Father looks at us, He sees us as dying with Christ. Because our sins died with him, we are no longer condemned as Colossians 2:13 says “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” We have become one with Christ and identified ourselves with Him, and His experiences are ours. Our Christian life began when, in unity with Him, we died to our old life.
And yet the focus of our life in Christ is not dying but living. Because we have been crucified with Christ, we have also been raised with Him. Legally, we have been reconciled with God and are free to grow into Christ’s likeness. And in our daily life, we have Christ’s resurrection power as we continue to fight sin. We are no longer alone, for Christ lives in us—he is our power for living and our hope for the future.
Suggestion - As we wake up each morning and throughout the day, let us acknowledge to God and focus on with thanksgiving that our old life and our sins died with Christ when we trusted in Him. Also, let us acknowledge to God and focus on with Thanksgiving the fact and that we have been resurrected with Him in this new life and that He gives us the power to live the new life by the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.
Paul ends the chapter by summarizing the main subject at hand - the grace of God and the Mosaic Law. He said that he did not set aside the grace of God. This implies that Peter and the others who followed him were setting aside God’s grace. The crux of the matter is that God offers grace to sinners. Through faith sinners can receive justification that they have not worked for. Further, insistence that justification comes through the obedience to the Mosaic Law means Christ died for nothing.