Galatians 2:14-16 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing 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 observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
No one will be justified before God by any other means than faith in Jesus Christ. No one can be acceptable to God through any other name under heaven than the name of Jesus, God's only begotten Son. When Peter and John were arrested, thrown in jail, and brought before the religious leaders and the high priest for preaching Christ, Peter said, "He (Jesus) is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12) Paul reiterates this fact throughout his letters to the various churches, as he did when writing to the Romans: Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:9-11) Paul knew that man's sinfulness and waywardness are so diametrically opposed to God's goodness and righteousness that a severe penalty was necessary for God to make new creations from his contaminated creation, fallen mankind. Jesus Christ's death on the cross for the sake of mankind's redemption was this sacrifice. No longer must each of us pay the supreme price of death because of our sins: Christ paid that price for all of us. God, through the Holy Spirit's power, delivered Jesus from the grave by raising him in the flesh, revealing to all people that new life can come through Jesus' surrender to God's will on the cross. We who live by faith IN JESUS CHRIST have this new resurrection life in our souls. Now, we are just passing through this sinful world into an inheritance that Jesus has for us because of his work on the cross. He said, In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3)
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) What we hope for is new life in Christ, now and forever. This is literally the promise that God has given all mankind through the death and resurrection of Christ. His life, death, and resurrection reveal to us that through him and by faith IN HIM, we possess eternal life NOW, and our biological death will just be the shadow of demise, not eternal obliteration. Paul knew faith is the key to this eternal existence; therefore, he would not let Peter and his Jewish friends express anything different. For if eternal life came through the law, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was superfluous, a horrendous act of misery that accomplished nothing. Paul knew this act of Christ on the cross was not only essential, but completely satisfying to God for the redemption of man. Consequently, faith in this act of God's grace is the catalyst to new life, which actually will be fully revealed to us after our deaths. In Hebrews 11, we see that people who lived by faith expectantly awaited a future hope because of that faith in God. They believed that their present day actions and fidelity to God would be rewarded. We read concerning the faith of these men and women: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
In Romans 3, Paul discusses a central biblical theme: the sinful nature of mankind: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Romans3:11-12) The Jerusalem Jews believed their position with God was more worthy than the Gentiles' position. Peter was joining with them. They concluded that as Jews, they were people of the Light, of the Law: God's revelation to mankind. Since the Gentiles did not receive this revelation, they were considered scavengers, dogs, filthy sinners, as they had always seen them, unless the Gentiles followed the basic tenets of the law. The Jews believed Gentiles were not as worthy of God's intervention into their lives as the Jews who were always on the right track, serving the one and only TRUE GOD. But Paul is reminding them all are sinners in need of salvation: no one starts with a privileged position with God. NO ONE IS RIGHTEOUS, ALL HAVE GONE ASTRAY. Breakfast companions, no matter where you started in life, you are the same as everyone else. You might have been raised in a very sinful home, experiencing terrible treatment when you were young; or you might have begun life in a pristine and protective home, receiving loving and nurturing care. Now, you might be living out the results of those early years, sometimes to your benefit or to your horror. But Paul wanted the law-bound Jews to realize whether you are a child of enlightenment or of darkness, Jesus came to level the field by saying, I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. (John 10:9) All who come receive the same gift: acceptance with the Father and eternal life. For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26) GOD IS FAIR AND JUST. Rejoice in that fairness and justness today. Amen!
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