I Live by Faith—Galatians 2:15–21

February 5, 2012

Lesson: Galatians 2:15–21

Key Verse: Galatians 2:20

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Introduction

Paul asks, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). The answer is one of faith and grace, for there is “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1). Acknowledging that evil is present with us, and at the same time affirming, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (7:22), we are attesting to the truth that we are justified to enter into the presence of our heavenly Father as His children, who are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is truly a gift of God.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Having been found guilty of transgressing God’s moral Law, we are held accountable before our Creator. For by the “works of the law” no person shall “be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:19–20). How then shall we come to the Father and say that we are justified by our works, when His law clearly reveals that we have sinned against Him? We need to be justified in His sight that we are righteous; and so, by grace, we receive His forgiveness and adoption into His household.

Justification reveals His unconditional love toward us, in accepting us as righteous in His sight. Justification is that judicial act of God declaring us to be free from guilt and accepting us as righteous in His sight. He judicially administers His moral law, that His justice and demand for righteousness are satisfied. The Shorter Catechism defines justification as “an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”

Discussion: What is the meaning of justification?

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Faith and Works—Galatians 2:15–21

Paul writes to the congregation in Galatia, a Roman providence that is now southern Turkey, which the Lord called out to be His people during his first missionary journey. Paul and his fellow workers attest to the work of God among the Gentiles at Antioch, speaking of “all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). Let us always be at prayer for that “open door of faith,” by which the Gospel of Christ Jesus is preached here and throughout the nations.

There were false apostles within the church compelling the Gentile converts “to live as do the Jews” (2:14). They demanded that the converts follow the ceremonies, where they would find salvation in obedience to the moral law. Paul was not negating the Law of God, but he was confirming that salvation came by grace through faith alone, and not by works. Those “who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,” if one would make this distinction.

Paul reminds his readers that “a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by 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.”

Twice Paul alludes to the “faith of Jesus Christ.” It is that faith which belongs to Christ that saves us. We conjure up not a faith which belongs to us, thereby moving Christ to accept us as His own, but are given a gift of faith which, by grace saves us. This is a faith which finds its object and hope in Christ. Thereby we are justified by this faith and not by works which claim righteousness through obedience to the law. No flesh, no mortal man, can claim justification by works of their own. Man must be disrobed of all self-righteousness, and clothed with the righteousness of Christ alone, to be justified before God the Father. Justification is by the faith of Christ alone: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:21–24).

For the Christian, “justified by Christ,” the law is dead, having lost its efficacy to condemn. For Christ has become sin for us that He might satisfy the righteous law of God and its demands for justice. If we would be found hypocrites, resting again upon the works of the law for our justification, we make ourselves, again, transgressors in need of forgiveness. We must become dead to the law, that we “might live unto God.” We must become dead to trying to be justified by the works of self-righteousness, as if our obedience to the law saves us. We have been justified by the faith of Christ, so we live by Him.

Therefore, Paul testifies, “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.” Being dead in our sins, the Father has made us alive in His Son, blotting out the handwriting of the law which condemned us, “nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13–14). Though we live by the bread of the earth as do all men, we have a spiritual feeding which man cannot see but by the eyes or faith of Christ. This faith of the Son of God is manifested in His unconditional love, whereby He “loved me, and gave himself for me.”

We must, therefore, be careful not “to frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” If we claim that God acts only when we try our best first, we say that we are justified by our works. We must come spiritually naked in order to be seen fully clothed and justified, being called children of God. When we seek justification through our works, we are saying that Christ died in vain. Come to Christ, empty, and know this: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Discussion: What does it mean to have the faith of Christ?

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2012 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.