Galatians 2:15-19
2:15
A quote to Peter and the church begins here.
Jews have an advantage: Rm. 3:1,2
9:4,5
Even this advantage can not save the Jews
John the Baptist dealt with this attitude in Luke
3:8,
“Do not
begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God
can raise up children for Abraham.’”
It is pointless and hopeless to establish Judaism
as the foundation for Christianity.
2:16
Key verse in Galatians. This verse is a short outline of the rest of
the book.
First use of the words:
- Justify
- Law
- Faith
“Justify” is “dikaioo” and is a word from the
court system.
-
It means to “declare righteous or innocent”
-
It is the opposite of being declared guilty or be condemned
In Western courts of law the sentence must be
in accord with the facts in a case. No
judge can clear the guilty and condemn the innocent. This is justice. This principle is found in Deuteronomy 15:1,
“When men have a dispute, they
are to take it to court and the judges
will decide the case, acquitting
(justify) the innocent and condemn the guilty.”
Romans 3:25-26, “God
presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through
faith in his blood. He did this to
demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance
he had left the sin committed beforehand
unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at present time, so as to be
just and the one who justifies those who
have faith in Jesus.”
Basis for our
justification:
1)
We are New Creatures 2
Cor. 5:17
2)
We are the righteousness of God 1
Cor.1:30; 2 Cor.5:21
3)
We are perfected Heb.
10:14
4)
We have received the fullness of Christ
Jn.1:16; Col.1:19; Col. 2:9, 10
2:16 (continued)
The standard on which justification is won or lost
is righteousness and that righteousness has to be equal to God’s.
All men fall short of the glory (character) of
God. Rm. 3:23
God imputes divine righteousness to those who
believe
Imputation means
to “reckon over to one” or “to set down to one’s account.” It is illustrated in Philemon 17,18 when Paul
tells his friend Philemon to charge Paul’s account for the things the slave
Onesumus had stolen.
There are three
imputations in scripture:
1)
Man is charge with sin when Adam sinned Rom. 5:11
2)
Jesus Christ was charged with sin and all of our sins. (“sin” is our
position or nature. “Sins” are our acts
from that sinful position.)Isaiah 53:4,6
3)
The righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers 2 Cor. 5:21; Rm.
1:16,17
It is not an ethical change but a judicial action
of God apart from human merit
God justifies but only as he unites people to
Christ.
Faith is the method (means) of justification, not
the source
Faith must be based in knowledge so it is not blind
Faith is built on facts, so it is not speculation
Faith place s the hope of life on its decision, so
it is not impractical
“We, too, have put our faith in Christ” Faith is more than knowledge. Faith is the result of trusting the knowledge
on a personal level. The example is the
chair.
Faith in Christ means abandoning faith in law
Ou dikaioutai anqrwpuV ex ergwn nomou
not
justified man by works
of law
POINT: There is no article “the” in the Greek so it
is not talking about “The Law of Moses” but any work of law.
This verse uses justified three times:
General: A man is not justified by law
Personal: We (Paul, Peter) have put
faith in Christ to be justified.
Universal: No one will be justified by observing law.
2:17
“If” (“ei”) is in the first class condition
Paul had to deal
with arguments against Saved by Faith or as it is called here, “Justified by
faith.” This stands in direct contrast
to the “Justified by law.”
If a person sins after being justified. . .
1)
Does that mean Christ is OK with sin?
2)
People can sin because they are saved?
3)
Sinning helps prove the power of our salvation?
Paul’s answer:
“Absolutely not”
This topic comes
up again in 5:13-16:
“You, my brothers were
called to be free. But do not use your
freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather,. Serve one another in love. The entire
law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
Paul addresses this in Romans 6:1 and 6:15:
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may
increase?. . .What then? Shall we sin
because we are not under law but
under grace? By no
means!”
True justification occurs with “faith in Christ.” This is a phrase used often by Paul and
indicates a union between the person and Christ. The believer is said to be “in Christ.”
If a person accepts “justification by faith in Christ” and rejects
“justification by law”, Paul writes, “does that mean Christ promotes
sin?” Meaning, if Christ does not
emphasize obedience to the law is he not just saying sin does not matter? A false conclusion is obvious to many people
at first when they understand that Christ made a way for us to be justified
with out our being obedient to laws. The
false conclusion is that “Christ promotes sin.”
The word “promote” is the word “diakonos” where we get our word
“deacon”. It means “servant; minister;
deacon.”
When Paul writes, “it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners” he is
referring to “we” Jews.
In verse 15 Paul broke people into two classes:
1) Jews by birth,
2)
Gentile sinners.
Now Paul is rejecting any power in the law to save and encouraging the Jews
to forsake obedience to the law and run to Christ. Paul is saying the law can not save Jews from
sin and even thought they have the Law of Moses they are still sinners. As they turn to Christ for justification they
are exposing their sinful condition by rejecting the law and thus admitting
their hypocrisy.
Legalistic
justification is fiction
Justification (in
the court room use) by faith in Christ is a real decision by the judge (GOD)
People are
accepted by God as righteous because God has joined them to Christ. They are in Christ and so they have been
transformed in position.
Verse 18 “If I
rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a law breaker.”
“If” is in the
third class which is the hypothetical case.
“Rebuild” means “to declare valid.”
“Destroy”
means “to deprive of force; to tear down; to destroy, to annul.”
“lawbreaker” is not “hamartolos” for “one who is
disobedient to the letter of the law, but is “parabates and speaks of one who disregards the ethical spirit of the law
and emphasizes the person who is legalistically obedient to the law but misses the meaning and purpose of the law.
Paul is saying
“If, hypothetically, I Paul, choose to return
(“rebuild”) to a system of law I
have already declared is worthless ( “destroy”) I simply prove that I am one
who disregards the spirit or the ultimate purpose of the law.”
Peter has done
this very thing. Peter admitted he
needed Christ to be saved, which means the law had not previously saved
him. Then Peter after having been saved
by faith in Christ returned to rebuild the law as necessary for salvation. Peter then became a “lawbreaker” by acting in
obedience to salvation through faith in Christ, but then rejecting that truth
and returning to justification through the law.
Verse 19 “For
through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.”
Paul continues in
the personal tone using the personal pronoun “I” or “ego” on the Greek.
“died to the
law” means to have loss all relationship with the law. Paul is no longer concerned with what law
says and law no longer has any claim on Paul or power over him. Law is not the basis of Paul’s spiritual
motivation. (When speaking of “law” it
is in reference to religious ritual, and not to “the law of the land”. Paul still sees himself as required to obey
the government.”
Verse 20 “I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I live in the body, I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Paul’s death to
the law occurred when he entered Christ.
Paul did not go through a “death” process or ritual. To accept Christ means to have severed all
relationship with legalistic law.
POINT: When Jews become “sinners” by rejecting a
legalistic righteousness from a law they have died to the law. The result is that they now can embrace Jesus
work and be justified by faith in Christ.
They do not reject the law and embrace sin.
Concepts One:
1.
Reject the law as a means of salvation (“become sinner”0
2.
You are free to embrace Christ for salvation.
3.
Result: You are dead to law but alive
to Christ
Concept Two:
1.
Reject the law as means of salvation.
2.
You are free from the law so there are no rules.
3.
Result: You can sin freely.
Verse 20 “The life I live in the body, I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Verse 21 “I do
not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through
the law, Christ died for nothing!”