Transcript

A strip of zinc and a strip of copper are suspended in a salt solution. Although the zinc and copper atoms are losing and gaining electrons, both strips maintain an equilibrium. Then the two are connected with an electrical conductor.

Electrons are forced through it from the zinc strip to the copper strip. As long as the conductor is present, a chemical reaction keeps the electrons flowing.

That describes one of the most common power sources in the world: an ordinary battery.

Paul’s teaching in Galatians 2 could be thought of as, “What are the ‘batteries’ for Christian living?” Is there power in keeping a set of rules? Or does it flow from our being crucified with Christ?

And Galatians 2:20 makes it abundantly clear that the Christian life is not a matter of legalism: of carefully checking off a list of dos and don’ts. Neither is it about human effort to bring about greater or higher morality. Rather, it is divine life within that empowers the believer to live for God and His glory.

By the grace of God, Christ and His indwelling life are our “power source.” Paul teaches us that he died to the law because he had been crucified with Christ, and he lived to God because Christ lived in him. And the same is true of us.

With this episode, we will begin a series called “Law vs. Grace.”

Galatians 2:15-16: “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Paul, being a Jew himself, includes himself in the word “we,” when he says, “We who are Jews by nature.” In the context, Paul had been talking about Peter, James, Barnabas, and other Jews.

When Paul wrote, “We who are Jews by nature,” he means that they were Jews by birth. And being descendants of the Jewish nation, they had spiritual advantages in being the chosen people and having the law and service of God.

As Romans 3:1-2 says, “What advantage then hath the Jew?…Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”

And Paul pointed out in verse 15 that the Jews were not born in the condition of the Gentiles, who were sinners and at a spiritual disadvantage of being brought up without the knowledge of God and not having the Law or the covenants.

At that time, the Jews often looked down on and labeled Gentiles as “sinners.” But being Jews by nature did not mean they were not sinners themselves.

Both Jew and Gentile share the same spiritual condition. They both are descendants of Adam, and all are sinners.

As Paul stated in Romans 3:9: “What then? are we [Jews] better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.”

All are under sin and Paul’s argument here in Galatians 2 is that Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way under grace, and it’s not by the law.

As Paul next wrote, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.”

Regardless of the Gentiles not having the law and being sinners, or the Jews having the law and doing its works, no one could be justified by it anyway.

“Knowing that a man,” Paul wrote. “Man” refers to mankind as a whole, each and every member of the human race, or all people, both Jews and Gentiles. It is certain that not one single person in the human race can be “justified by the works of the law.”

The word “justified” is a legal term and means to “declare righteous.” Paul wrote in Romans 8:33, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.”

God is the One who justifies and declares a person righteous. It is a judicial act of God that takes place the moment one trusts in Christ as their personal Savior.

And this judicial act of God declares that we are eternally “righteous,” and in a right relationship with Him forever.

Paul makes it clear here that no amount of law-keeping can make a person righteous before God or will ever lead to God declaring a person righteous. We do not earn or deserve justification as the result of something we do.

The law, as a mirror, shows us our sinfulness. It only reveals sin; it does not remove it, and it does not make us right and righteous before God.

As Paul stated also in Romans 3:20: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Except for Jesus Christ, not one single person has ever kept the law. All have sinned and broken God’s law, and so the broken law can only condemn us, not justify us.

The only way any person is saved and declared righteous by God is “by the faith of Jesus Christ.” It’s important that this phrase be understood as “the faith OF Jesus Christ,” and not faith in Jesus Christ, which Paul does also affirm in this verse.

“The faith of Christ” teaches us about Christ, the Object of our faith, and what He did to secure our justification.

By the faith of Jesus Christ, or by His faithfulness in providing for our justification: in coming to this world, dying the death of the Cross, paying for all our sins, and rising again, that is how any person can be justified in God’s sight.

By Christ’s faithfulness, He has made the sinner’s justification possible by His Cross. It is on the basis and grounds of His faithfulness, His sacrifice, and His grace that we can be justified. Paul is saying that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by Christ and His faithfulness, and His finished work on our behalf.

Then, in response to His perfect provision, we are called to believe “in Jesus Christ” to be justified. Christ, and His full payment of our sin debt, is the perfect and trustworthy Object of our faith. Christ did the work. He provided for our salvation.

And to appropriate that justification that has been provided, we are called to simply trust that Christ died for our sins personally and rose again.

Christ provided the means to be justified; God just asks us to believe it. And the moment we do, we are justified by faith alone.

And Paul says that for those who have responded to the gospel of grace, “even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.” We are justified by Christ’s perfect provision at the Cross.

To have a right standing with God, the penalty of our sin debt must be removed, and the righteousness of Christ must be imputed to us.

As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:14: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Our sins were placed on the sinless Savior, our Substitute, and He paid the price for all our sins and took them all away. And when we believe, His righteousness is immediately imputed to our account, and we are made the righteousness of God in Christ.

Having our sins paid for and removed and that righteousness of Christ imputed to us, we are declared righteous by God, and we are justified forever in His sight (Phil. 3:9).

Paul states here that we are right with God through faith in the faith of Jesus Christ, “and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Doing the works of the law cannot save a person. Righteousness cannot be obtained by obeying the law. God does not justify people because they keep the Mosaic Law.

God justifies people who believe in Jesus Christ and what He did for them at the Cross. Only faith in Christ brings a person the gift of righteousness.

Justification is by faith alone and not by works and not by the law. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ.

As we know, there is a spiritual battle that rages in this world within those caught up in religion or mistaken beliefs and their pride, who do not accept the fact that they can do absolutely nothing to make themselves right before God. Many believe that they can be declared righteous by God by keeping His law.

But the truth of God’s Word is that we are justified by faith alone in Christ, and “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Paul emphasized his point in the strongest way possible that “no flesh,” not any Jew, not any non-Jew or Gentile, not any single person, will ever be made or declared right before God by the works of the law.

Galatians 2:17-19: “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.”

Paul here is refuting the idea that justification by faith, apart from the works of the law, will lead to lawless behavior. He anticipates an objection to his justification by grace through faith, plus nothing, message.

Paul stated that if one seeks, or acknowledges and accepts, that we must be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, “we ourselves also are found to be sinners.” This means a couple of things.

First, this verse means that to a Jew to be saved without the works of the law, then he was approaching God the same way as a Gentile who did not have the law, and they were putting themselves on the same level as a Gentile, who in their minds were “sinners” as verse 15 says.

Second, this verse shows that those who stand justified by Christ still do sin and “are found sinners.” So does this make Christ the minister of sin, Paul asked?

Having been justified by faith apart from the works of the law, and thus not being under the law and free from its requirements, some make the assumption that this might lead one to careless living and to sin freely and do as one pleases.

To the faulty thinking of some, they think that to be eternally justified by faith alone in Christ lowers moral standards, removes incentive or desire to avoid sin. Thus, the implication is that it makes Christ the minister or promoter of sin. But Paul boldly responded to this line of thinking about Christ by saying: “God forbid.”

We still battle this argument that salvation by grace through faith in Christ means that we can sin and live however we want, because we are forgiven ALL our sins, and we are justified and declared eternally righteous, and nothing will ever change that fact.

However, what Paul shows us here and in other places in his epistles is that grace and our freedom in Christ do not encourage people to sin; it gives them the power to turn from it.

And even if one were to put themselves back under the law after trusting Christ, the law has no power to keep one from sin. Like it did before salvation, the law will only reveal to that person that they are a sinner.

Paul then heads off any idea that a justified believer under grace, to keep one from sinning, must live by the past program of the law.

Paul said in verse 18, “For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.”

In Matthew 5:17, the Lord Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

The Lord used the same word, “destroy,” that Paul used in Galatians 2:18. However, these two passages teach the opposite.

In the Gospel records, Christ’s earthly ministry was carried out under the Law, as He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.

However, Paul says he destroyed or tore down the law. This was because Paul’s message was a new revelation, as Christ revealed to Paul that the Church is not under the law today but under grace. The law has yielded to the authority of grace in this dispensation.

Paul said, “For if I build again the things which I destroyed,” or if I rebuild through word or by practice what I destroyed.

What Paul destroyed or tore down and razed to the ground in this context is the notion that one could be justified by the works of the law.

And in Paul’s message we learn that Christ has broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, “even the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Eph. 2:14-15).

If Paul would build again and bring back to the law to follow, he would transgress and be guilty of rebuilding what Christ had broken down by His message for the Church today.

After being justified by faith and set free by the grace of God, for Paul to abandon grace for law and to go back to the observance of the law would be for him to transgress against God and to deviate from God’s truth of the gospel of grace for today.

Paul, and all members of the Body of Christ, are set free from the law. And the Church is not to go backwards to attempt to rebuild what has been razed to the ground. We are not to try to live by the law or to put ourselves in bondage again.

We are under grace and set free from the law today. And we are to go forward in grace and look to the One who justified us. It is Christ Who saves us from all our sins, and it is Christ Who sanctifies us, and sets us apart from sin, in our daily walk, not the law. To go backwards to the law is to abandon Christ.

And to back away from grace to law would mean to look at the Cross, and to see our Savior hanging on it, pierced through His hands and feet, beaten, bruised, bloodied, in pain and anguish, taking the punishment we deserved, bearing the wrath of God for us, and to look Him directly in the eye and say to Him, “This is all very nice, but it’s not enough for me. I must keep the law also.”

The Cross means everything. Our redemption and justification were fully accomplished by His sacrifice. To put oneself under the law for one’s justification or sanctification is to deny what Christ has done and to say that Christ is not enough.

By going back to the law, it places one back under bondage and in a sinner’s position, from which we have been delivered.

Paul said if he went back and built again and tried to live by the law which has been torn down today, he would “make myself a transgressor.”

So as far as justified believers sinning goes as Paul talked about in verse 17, Paul shows in verse 18, that trying to live by the law when we are under grace is a transgression.

A transgressor is a violator, it refers to a person who has stepped beyond a fixed limit into forbidden territory. The line is drawn by God, a line that should not be crossed or stepped over. And Paul shows here that to go back to the law and to try and live by the old program and the works of the law, that is a transgression, that’s crossing a line with God.
God doesn’t want us going backward in the Christian life to the law, but forward in grace.

And as we do that, we find freedom’s power over sin, we find our sufficiency in Christ and a closer walk with Him.

Next, Paul said, “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.”

When Paul put his trust in Christ, he died spiritually to the law. When Christ died to the law at the Cross, Paul died to the law. Paul died to the law through Christ’s death and his identification with that death.

The law reveals sin and condemns sinners. At the Cross, all our sins were placed on Christ. The law condemned and demanded Christ’s death for our sins.

And through the spiritual baptism and the fact that we died with Christ, Paul, and all believers, died to the law through Christ’s death on the Cross.

Now the law has no more power or jurisdiction over us because we are dead to it.

Pastor C. R. Stam gave this illustration, “There is a man who robbed and violently beat another man, and the police are looking for him. While they are cruising about, stopping at homes to ask questions, a call comes through about a serious accident elsewhere.

“There at the crash scene, they find their criminal. He is dead, killed in the crash. Now what can the law do? Arrest him? Take him to jail? Try him in court? No. It is over. He is dead. The whole thing has been taken out of their hands.”

The law cannot condemn us any longer. It has no claim on us because we are dead to the law in Christ. And we must have this mindset that it is over.

So the consequence then is that the believer should not go backward and live by law-keeping and legalism, we should live by grace and in our true freedom in Christ.

The fact that we are dead to the law is a past event that took place the moment we believed and were baptized spiritually into Christ’s death. Now for the entirety of the believer’s life and service under grace, it’s as Paul wrote, “that I might live unto God.”

The believer can live a life of unreserved, uninhibited devotion to God, without the hindrances and barriers of legalism coming between the soul and God in our relationship with Him. We can live for His glory by grace and in our liberty in Christ (Rom. 7:6).

Galatians 2:20-21: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”

In verse 20, Paul enlarged on the meaning of verse 19. He “died to the Law” because he was crucified with Christ, and Paul was able “to live for God” because Christ lived in him.

The moment we believe the gospel of grace that Christ died for our sins and rose again, the Holy Spirit baptizes and identifies us with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Thus, it is the absolute truth that “I am crucified with Christ.” It our crucifixion with Christ that renders us dead to the law and sets us free from it.

As we move forward in grace, and not by the law, Galatians 2:20 is the power we find for our lives to live a godly and righteous life.

By grace, we have been united with Christ and His finished work, and He and His life live in us so that we can live for God. Through our union with Christ, we have power over sin and freedom to live by grace.

The new life is Christ. “Christ liveth in me.” The Christian life is not a matter of carefully checking off a list of dos and don’ts. It is a life, a Christ-centered life. It is living out Christ’s life through us.

It is to live in our relationship with the Lord, yielding to His life and power within, allowing Christ to influence and direct our thoughts, speech, actions, and behavior, growing to be more like Him through it all.

“And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God.” In this context, again, the faith of the Son of God refers to Christ’s faithfulness to come to the earth, die the death of the Cross, and rise again.

As Christ lives in and through us, we live knowing that by His faithfulness, we are fully and eternally justified by the Cross, and that we have been crucified with Christ, and thus, we are dead to the law and have power over sin.

And the Son of God is always faithful to us in our walk, faithful to empower, faithful to guide and direct, and to be there with us always.

And we live unto God motivated by the infinite and deep love Christ showed us at the Cross, we “live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

The law does not love me, sacrifice for me, show me mercy and grace, or make me right with God. But Christ did. And by grace, He is the One we live through, He is the One we live for, and He is the One we seek to honor.

Finally, Paul stated, “I do not frustrate the grace of God.” Paul did not frustrate the grace of God in Christ loving him and giving Himself for him, and Paul responded in faith to Christ to receive God’s gift of righteousness.

And after he was saved, Paul still did not want to frustrate the grace of God, by living by the law and trying to be righteous by it, and thus limiting the potential that the grace of God had to work in his life. Paul wanted God’s grace and Christ’s life and the power of the Cross to work through him mightily and freely. This should be our goal as well.

Paul said that if righteousness was attainable through keeping the law, then “Christ is dead in vain,” meaning that Christ’s death was unnecessary and accomplished nothing.

Because if you can be righteous before God by law-keeping, then you don’t need Christ or His Cross to make you righteous.

But the fact that God sent His Son to die on the Cross shows beyond any doubt that “a man is not justified by the works of the law” and righteousness does not come by the law. Righteousness comes by grace through Christ and His Cross.

And Christ did NOT die in vain. His work at the Cross was perfect and all-sufficient, and it paid for all our sins. And we receive the very righteousness of God by faith in Christ and His finished work. The Cross of Christ is the only way to be right with God.

Have you received the gift of God’s salvation and righteousness? You receive it by grace through faith alone, just trusting that Christ died for your sins and rose again. Please trust this good news right now.