Galatians 2:15-21 We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
We find the essence of slavation in Paul’s words for all men everywhere: So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ. Greek and Jew by faith in Jesus’ work on the cross are made completely right with God without one fault. Through Christ’s work as intermediator between God and man, all people who die in faith are partakers of God’s glorious, forever existence. The ransom to free mankind of its finite, sinful life was paid completely by Jesus Christ on the cross. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19) Peter goes on and explains how we should live a life of love after being redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. We should emulate the love of God to all people. We will face persecution and death too as Jesus faced persecution and death because of his righteousness. This world is not our home. Yes, we have escaped Egypt and Pharaoh’s hand of sin and death, but our lives still exist in a harsh environment, and we have a wilderness journey to face. In this adverse environment we are to live as God's instruments of love. The old man or woman who lived by law to please God, lived in his or her own strength. Their acts of pleasing God came from doing work, through obedience to regulations and certain mores. The law and it regulations were to make one right with God; in fact, obedience to the law was life itself. Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. (Deuteronomy 32:46-47) But now Paul is telling the Galatians, that to please God, to have real life, comes not through the efforts of men, but through faith in the One who completely pleases God, Jesus Christ his Son. Paul is stating that real life does not come from obedience to any laws or regulations, but solely through faith in Jesus Christ's works, for He is the true bread of life. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. A salvation, born again experience, comes not through any other means or way than Christ living in us.
Christ is eternal and has been with God forever. We too who have set our hope and faith in him will live forever. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2) Therefore, for you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:22-23) Paul is admonishing the Galatians not to go back to the beggarly elements of trying to please God through the world of the law. The works of the law are very attractive to men of all generations and of all ethnic groups. Their religions are constructed to be observed by obeying specific laws and rituals. Consequently, law fits well with human’s self-willed spirit. Effort and competition satisfies man’s desire to elevate himself above others, proving he alone of all creation knows how to worship God. The Jewish people were chosen out of all the peoples of the world. They were given the law to reveal God’s righteousness, his likeness. They were an enlightened people about the God of creation, not like the people around them, whom they considered barbarians, or people ignorant of God’s likeness. The barbarians were so ignorant that they made images of God out of their own imagination and then served these images made out of wood, stone, and precious metals. But the God of the Bible detested these images, these idols, for they did not represent him at all, and these idols demanded from their followers strict obedience to their regulations and obeisances. Because these images are in every society throughout the world, they reveal man’s inherent desire to know the God of creation and the meaning of life. But idol worship also reveals man’s innate desire to please these gods of their imagination through their own efforts and sacrifices. We know Israel did not inherit Canaan because of their goodness, their obedience to God who created them. Canaan came to them because of God’s grace. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deuteronomy (9:6) Moses complained many times to the Lord that God had chosen a willful, stubborn, rebellious people as his chosen people. Even after the Jews had the law in their possession, they failed to change and become subservient to the God of creation. The laws and their regulations given by Moses, and the empty vows of the Israelites to obey them never changed their hearts of rebellion. They carried detestable idols with them all the way through the wilderness and even after they entered into the promised land. The laws and regulations given to them when they camped at Mount Sinai never changed the content of their hearts. Finally God dispersed them from the promised land, for the law could not make their hearts new. Now, Paul is telling the Galatians that only Jesus can change hearts. Obeying the Sabbath regulations or obeying laws will not alter a man’s rebellious nature. Only a spiritual transformation of the heart can make the heart right before God.
I died to the law so that I might live for God. We see with these words that we must die to our own efforts of pleasing God. As Jesus worked with people, He was trailed around by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They were jealous of Jesus’ popularity with the people. Jesus was usurping their position of favoritism with the people. He spoke with great wisdom, and He performed many miracles. In some situations He healed all the people that came to him. And what the elite hated most was his lack of reverence for the Sabbath. Jesus did not quit working on the Sabbath; in fact, He healed people on the Sabbath. This ignorance of the day of rest, brought rage to the religious leaders. To them, Jesus was attacking life itself when He failed to observe the Sabbath. For Moses exclaimed that following the law and its regulations WAS LIFE. The equation of life for these religious followers of the law was that law equaled life and life equaled obedience to law. Now Jesus was throwing all life as they knew it into confusion. How could they allow this man to exist? One time on the Sabbath Jesus healed a man whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. (Luke 6:6-9) The goodness of God was revealed that day by healing this man’s hand. God made the Sabbath; He commissioned it for man’s own good so that men and women, and their livestock would have a day of complete rest, a period of restoration for the coming week and that during this day the people could honor God in their thoughts and inaction. Now Jesus is revealing to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees that He is God; He is the Lord of the Sabbath; therefore, He is the Lord of all laws and regulations. Otherwise, He, in himself, completely fulfills the law and it regulations for they come from him and his Father. Therefore, if anyone is found in faith in Jesus Christ, he or she has satisfied all the laws that were ever written to honor God or to regulate one's life. Paul is warning the Galatians not to back off this high mountain of righteousness. God who met Moses on Mount Sinai gave him the law for the Israelites to follow, but now God met with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and said to the world, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5) The Word of God or the fulfillment of all righteousness is now in flesh, in the man called Jesus. All law has been satisfied in him. Breakfast companions, we are to listen to him through the voice of the Holy Spirit in us, and we are to follow him as we venture through this land of flesh. He will guide us, not laws or regulations. The law is no longer outside of us, but it is alive in us because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, has taken away all our sins, made us completely new, and He resides TODAY in our hearts. Rejoice and be glad!
Christ is eternal and has been with God forever. We too who have set our hope and faith in him will live forever. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2) Therefore, for you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:22-23) Paul is admonishing the Galatians not to go back to the beggarly elements of trying to please God through the world of the law. The works of the law are very attractive to men of all generations and of all ethnic groups. Their religions are constructed to be observed by obeying specific laws and rituals. Consequently, law fits well with human’s self-willed spirit. Effort and competition satisfies man’s desire to elevate himself above others, proving he alone of all creation knows how to worship God. The Jewish people were chosen out of all the peoples of the world. They were given the law to reveal God’s righteousness, his likeness. They were an enlightened people about the God of creation, not like the people around them, whom they considered barbarians, or people ignorant of God’s likeness. The barbarians were so ignorant that they made images of God out of their own imagination and then served these images made out of wood, stone, and precious metals. But the God of the Bible detested these images, these idols, for they did not represent him at all, and these idols demanded from their followers strict obedience to their regulations and obeisances. Because these images are in every society throughout the world, they reveal man’s inherent desire to know the God of creation and the meaning of life. But idol worship also reveals man’s innate desire to please these gods of their imagination through their own efforts and sacrifices. We know Israel did not inherit Canaan because of their goodness, their obedience to God who created them. Canaan came to them because of God’s grace. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deuteronomy (9:6) Moses complained many times to the Lord that God had chosen a willful, stubborn, rebellious people as his chosen people. Even after the Jews had the law in their possession, they failed to change and become subservient to the God of creation. The laws and their regulations given by Moses, and the empty vows of the Israelites to obey them never changed their hearts of rebellion. They carried detestable idols with them all the way through the wilderness and even after they entered into the promised land. The laws and regulations given to them when they camped at Mount Sinai never changed the content of their hearts. Finally God dispersed them from the promised land, for the law could not make their hearts new. Now, Paul is telling the Galatians that only Jesus can change hearts. Obeying the Sabbath regulations or obeying laws will not alter a man’s rebellious nature. Only a spiritual transformation of the heart can make the heart right before God.
I died to the law so that I might live for God. We see with these words that we must die to our own efforts of pleasing God. As Jesus worked with people, He was trailed around by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They were jealous of Jesus’ popularity with the people. Jesus was usurping their position of favoritism with the people. He spoke with great wisdom, and He performed many miracles. In some situations He healed all the people that came to him. And what the elite hated most was his lack of reverence for the Sabbath. Jesus did not quit working on the Sabbath; in fact, He healed people on the Sabbath. This ignorance of the day of rest, brought rage to the religious leaders. To them, Jesus was attacking life itself when He failed to observe the Sabbath. For Moses exclaimed that following the law and its regulations WAS LIFE. The equation of life for these religious followers of the law was that law equaled life and life equaled obedience to law. Now Jesus was throwing all life as they knew it into confusion. How could they allow this man to exist? One time on the Sabbath Jesus healed a man whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. (Luke 6:6-9) The goodness of God was revealed that day by healing this man’s hand. God made the Sabbath; He commissioned it for man’s own good so that men and women, and their livestock would have a day of complete rest, a period of restoration for the coming week and that during this day the people could honor God in their thoughts and inaction. Now Jesus is revealing to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees that He is God; He is the Lord of the Sabbath; therefore, He is the Lord of all laws and regulations. Otherwise, He, in himself, completely fulfills the law and it regulations for they come from him and his Father. Therefore, if anyone is found in faith in Jesus Christ, he or she has satisfied all the laws that were ever written to honor God or to regulate one's life. Paul is warning the Galatians not to back off this high mountain of righteousness. God who met Moses on Mount Sinai gave him the law for the Israelites to follow, but now God met with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and said to the world, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5) The Word of God or the fulfillment of all righteousness is now in flesh, in the man called Jesus. All law has been satisfied in him. Breakfast companions, we are to listen to him through the voice of the Holy Spirit in us, and we are to follow him as we venture through this land of flesh. He will guide us, not laws or regulations. The law is no longer outside of us, but it is alive in us because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, has taken away all our sins, made us completely new, and He resides TODAY in our hearts. Rejoice and be glad!
(Sorry we are late this week--computer problems.)
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