Brethren, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified. But if, in our endeavour to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
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Paul’s letter to the Galatians throws light upon a very serious question for the early church. At heart was the issue of whether Gentiles who considered themselves Christians needed to be converted to Judaism before they could be considered followers of Jesus. The Judaisers, or the Jewish Christians, were centred in Jerusalem and took issue with Paul’s insistence that Gentiles could be accepted as Christians through faith alone and not also through the law.
These Christian Jews accepted Christ as a fulfilment of the Old Testament and as the Messiah but they viewed the Messiah as being only for the nation of Israel. They opposed Paul’s cavaliering ways in not insisting upon the law and saw his ministry as threatening the existence of Judaism – it was that serious. So they fought Paul by undermining him and allowing him to convert and then after he had moved on, seeking to make the converts proselytes to Judaism for the sake of completeness.
These Jews attacked Paul on a variety of fronts. They declared that Paul was omitting circumcision because he was seeking the approval of men and not of God. They saw him as weakening and watering down the gospel to win popularity. They argued that his apostleship was not real like theirs and that he was inferior to the original apostles centred in Jerusalem. Further, the church started in Jerusalem and it should be from Jerusalem that the standards for Christianity should be set. If Jerusalem required circumcision then all Christians should be circumcised – after all, Abraham the great father of the nation submitted to circumcision. The Law of Moses demanded circumcision. Baptism would, they argued, be a start but had to be supplemented by physical circumcision. They argued that the great Paul was only bent on gathering personal disciples in a kind of personality cult and trying to lead people away from a proper understanding of what it was to be a Christian.
This dispute may seem to be a little peculiar bearing in mind what is said in chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles. There, before the Council of Jerusalem, the debate occurred as to whether or not Gentiles had to be circumcised. After much discussion James decreed that the Gentiles did not have to be circumcised but had to abstain from the pollutions of idols, unchastity, from eating what was strangled and from blood.
In that background, the Galatians were caught betwixt and between. So, in order to bring them back to the true understanding of what is to be a Christian, Paul wrote this epistle to them. In order to establish his credentials Paul sets out the circumstances of his conversion and how he opposed Peter the apostle for his insincerity and if you will, hypocrisy. He said to Peter before all “if you, though a Jew, lived like a Gentile and not like a Jew how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Paul then continues and states that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. Why? Because the law cannot be justification. So, what does that mean? Paul tells us that the superior is faith in Christ and the inferior is in following and observing the law. Why is observing the law inferior? Well let’s stop and think for a moment. If we follow the law then we must follow it always, at all times, in all circumstances and with precision. If we fail in the observance of one minutiae of the law then we have broken the law. We fail in all the law. If you follow the law then one lie, no matter how small, makes you a liar. If you follow the law and you take something that does not belong to you, no matter how small or inconsequential, you are a thief. If you complete your income tax return and inadvertently make a small mistake in that return and consequently may have paid one cent less in taxation then you are just as guilty as the biggest robber that existed. It is a bit like having a balloon and shooting at it with an arrow. It makes little difference to the balloon where it is hit because the result will be the same – namely that it explodes. The law has no mercy. The law has no common sense. The law is only about total compliance.
Let us now suppose for a moment that we could comply with every single aspect of the law. Does compliance allow for Grace? The answer is no. Observance of the law has nothing to do with the granting of grace. Grace is undeserved favour from God. Grace is not merited. Grace is not earned. Grace cannot be traded. Grace cannot be stored. Grace is God’s gift – and a gift is never earned by its recipient. A gift is never the recipient’s due, for if it were it would not be called a gift but an entitlement .Thus grace, in short, this has nothing to do with the law.
So the great Paul says no one can be justified by works of the law. Having said that, Paul then asks whether by saying that we are justified in Christ that we can do what we like; thus making faith in Christ an agent of sin. Paul immediately answers that question by saying certainly not. The whole point of cutting yourself from the law was to go to the superior and that is faith in Christ. Thus we die from the law and are born through baptism to be at one with Christ.
Paul makes this most wonderful statement: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the faith I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself to me. Notice, it is Christ’s love that saves us. It is Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection and ascension that allows us to live our life in Christ. As Paul says, if the grace of God came through the operation of the law then Christ died for no purpose. May I add that if Christ died for no purpose then the divine plan has not been completed and if the divine plan has not been completed then we are most certainly not saved.
