GALATIANS 2: 17-21
THE POWER TO LIVE A RIGHTEOUS LIFE
[Romans 8: 1- 4]
What are the lifestyle implications of the gospel of justification by faith in Jesus¡¯ life, death, and resurrection? Is salvation through grace by faith in Jesus Christ alone a promoter of sin? Is setting people free from adherence to the law going to cause people to sin more? Absolutely, definitely not!
When a man by the power of the cross dies to sin, dies to his old way of believing, to his old way of thinking, and to his old way of living, he can then live in Christ and in the power of Jesus¡¯ resurrection. By the same power that raise Christ from the dead, he can receive a new way of believing, a new way of thinking, and a new way of living life. This new life lived by faith through the grace of God will be a righteous life. It is the power of Christ that truly enables one to live righteously, not the personal power of attempting to keep the law (CIM).
I. DOES THE GOSPEL PROMOTE SIN? 17 & 18.
II. JOINT DEATH GIVES JOINT LIFE; 19 & 20.
III. CHRIST GIVEN RIGHTEOUSNESS; 21.
Verse 17 wants to know if we need to return to the yoke of the law in order to keep ourselves from sin. ¡°But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!¡±
[First class conditional phrase, or assumed true; If & we are] While seeking to be justified in Christ by grace, are we set free to indulge our own natural sinful inclination? Does being set free from the restraint of the law cause more sin to occur? If so then Christ who freed us from the law would be a promoter of sin. May it never be! Let it not come into being. Let it not even be thought in your mind.
The Jews understood that because of the falleness of man, man is inclined to sin. They saw the law as what keeps us from sin, as what checks unrestrained living. If the law is removed in Christ doesn¡¯t that cause us to be release from what keep us from sin? Isn¡¯t justification by faith in Christ alone going to release people into lawlessness?
Yes, Christ taught that it was not what enters a man that defiles him but He also taught that sin comes from what proceeds out of the heart (Mt 15: 1-20). Yes, He taught all meats were clean (Mk. 7:19), but He also taught that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of the Father (Mt. 4:4). [The grace of Christ changes the inside, the law is for external agreement as to what is right and wrong. It is the Spirit of the Living God, not legal regulations that change the inner life of man (5:13-26).]
The Jewish alternative to trusting only in Christ and receiving His all-sufficient grace was obedience to the law. But the New Covenant not only supersedes the Old Covenant, it replaces it, as verse18 states. ¡°For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.¡±
Peter, unknowingly, was starting to rebuild a law keeping or a works oriented salvation by reverting to keeping the ceremonial law under the peer-pressure of those from Jerusalem. But Peter and Paul knew this was transgression because in rebuilding the doctrine of salvation by works or law they were casting down the most fundamental doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.
¡°Paul was quite SURE OF ONE THING- that Jesus Christ had done for him what he could never have done for himself.¡± A man ¡°who re-enacted the experience of Paul was Martin Luther. Luther was a show-piece of discipline, penance, self-denial and self-torture.¡± ¡®If ever,¡¯ he said, ¡®a man could be saved by mimicking that man was I.¡¯ He had gone to Rome; it was considered to be an act of great merit to climb the Scala Sancta, the great sacred stairway, on hands and knees. He toiled upwards seeking the merit that he might win; and suddenly there came to him the voice from heaven, ¡°The just shall live by faith,¡± The life at peace with God was not to be attained by this futile, never-ending, ever defeated effort; it could only be had by casting himself on the love and mercy of God as Jesus Christ revealed it to men. It is when a man gives up the struggle which the pride of self thinks it can win, but must ever lose, and only when he abandons himself to the forgiving love of God that peace will come.¡± (Barclay pp. 23,24)
There are two great temptations in the Christian life, and in a certain sense, the better a man is the more susceptible he is to them. First, there is the temptation to try to earn or merit the favor of God. Second, there is the temptation that the man who has shown some little achievement will compare himself with his fellow men to his advantage and to their disadvantage. (Barclay, p.22) We must guard against the temptation of using service, good deeds, charitable giving or any other thing as a substitute for faith.
[Is keeping the law the way to acceptance before God and the way of living a life pleasing to Him? Or is trusting Christ and following His Spirit the way of acceptance and the way to live a life pleasing to God? Destroyed, annihilated, annulled (katal¨²¨) is a historical aorist referring to a past act when one turned from law as the way of salvation and pleasing God to following Christ as the way of salvation and a life pleasing God. To rebuild (oikodom¨¦¨) a life based on law is to demonstrate myself (stand together, sunistemi- ¡°stand with¡±) a transgressor. Forsaking the only way of salvation God has provide to turn back to what God never intended as a way of salvation is the way of transgression.]
II. JOINT DEATH GIVES JOINT LIFE, 19-20.
The only way out of attempting to gain self-approval before God is through dying to the old self so that you might live to God as verse 19 points out. ¡°For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.¡±
The purpose of the law is to point out our sinfulness according to God¡¯s righteousness. Through the law Paul had discovered what a great sinner he was because the law demanded nothing less than inward, as well as outward perfection. The law demanded that he love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength and love his neighbors as himself. That standard Paul had been unable to meet. Since he could not find Salvation through the law he must die to it. Once he stopped trying to save himself by the law he could begin living in the power of the Spirit to God (Rom. 8:3).
Because Christ paid the penalty for sin that the law demanded, Paul could die to the law and stop giving further thought to legal obedience as a means of winning God¡¯s acceptance. To go back to the law is to go back to the graveyard of the spiritually dead. We have been ¡°raised to walk in newness of life¡±(Rom. 6:4). Death to the law is a prerequisite to life to God. [J. MacGorman, p. 94] Just as believers in Christ have ¡°died to sin,¡± ¡°died to self,¡± and ¡°died to the world,¡± so they have ¡°died to the law¡± (Rom. 7:2-6) so that they might ¡°live to God¡± (Lk. 20:38). [Longenecker, Word Biblical Com., 91]
In verse 20 God conveys the only way to continuously live in right relationship with Himself. ¡°I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.¡±
The born again believer has been crucified with Christ. He has legally died with Christ. God looks at us as if we were in Christ when He died and our sins and old life died with Him (Col. 2:13-15). When sin nailed Jesus to the cross it also nailed Paul, you and me to the cross (Gal.5:24, 6:14, Col. 2:20 & Rom.6:8). But the believer must daily appropriate, make his own, Christ¡¯ death for him. As Christ identified with the believer, the believer must identify with Christ in His death.
Crucifixion with Christ means death to, or separation from, the reigning power of the old sinful life and freedom to experience the power of the resurrection life by faith (Rom. 6:6). We must die daily by the power of Christ¡¯s death. We must die to sinful desires that keep us from identifying with and following Christ. This spiritual identification with the death of Jesus releases believers from the power of sin, the power of flesh, the power of the devil, and the jurisdiction of the law (Rom. 7:1-6) [Longenecker, Word Biblical Com., 92].
Yet the focus of Christ and Christianity is living and not dying. That is why Paul goes on to say, and it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me. Because we have been crucified with Christ, we have also been raised with Him to walk in a new manner of life. In our daily life we have Christ¡¯s resurrection power as we fight sin and live for God¡¯s Glory (Eph. 1:19-20). We are not left on our own but have Christ living in us. He is our power for living and our hope for the future (Col. 1:27). He gives us victory over ourselves.
[PATTERN AND POWER] The great pianist Paderewski (1860-1941) was in London for a concert. Joseph Parker, a pastor who was quite an accomplished musician himself, attended the performance. The minister was so moved by what he heard that he did a strange thing when he returned home. Standing by his piano, Parker called to his wife, ¡°Bring me an ax! Today I heard great music for the first time. By comparison, what I can do amounts to nothing at all. I feel like chopping my piano to pieces.¡±
Parker did not follow through, but he realized that he could never be a Paderewski by simply following his example. He would need Paderewski¡¯s hands-yes, the very soul of the great musician.
As followers of Christ, we know that we can never live up to the ¡°performance¡± of the Lord Jesus, our Great Example. We might even feel like giving up in despair. But because Christ lives in us, we have what we need to keep growing toward spiritual maturity and Christlikeness.
Yes, Christ is our pattern, but thank God, He is more. He is our power. He is our life. God¡¯s enablements always accompany God¡¯s requirements.
In the Greek text the I is emphatic, being written out as well as being included in the verb. It is no longer Paul who lives. Paul sets his old life in contrast to Christ¡¯s life in Him. He daily lives in faith by faith in the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself on his behalf, as his substitute (huper). Paul¡¯s daily life and attitude is completely united with Christ. His victorious Christian life is due to Christ¡¯s victory over sin, death and satan (Ro. 7:25). Thus Christ is who gives Paul a righteous life, not the law.
The Christian life is lived by faith. It is a commitment of faith to Christ. It believes in Christ and depends on His faithfulness to us. How can you place your life so fully, so completely in His hands. You can so trust Christ with your life because of His love for you and self-sacrifice for you or on your behalf. It was Jesus¡¯ love that His sacrifice for us on the Cross demonstrated that motivated Paul to life for Him. It should motivate you to die to self and life for Him also.
III. CHRIST GIVEN RIGHTEOUSNESS; 21.
The legalist wanted to mix grace and law. Verse 21 says that is impossible. ¡°I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.¡±
Paul says he receives righteousness from Christ and lives a righteous life by dying to the old life by spiritual identifying with, by making his own, Christ death and living in the power of His resurrection. If sinners could get right with God by their own efforts at law-keeping, Jesus would never have needed to go to the Cross. If we could be righteous or live righteous by any other means; including the law, then Christ died needlessly [in vain, for nothing, for no purpose]. Any means to righteousness other than Christ¡¯s death and resurrection power nullifies the grace of God available only in Christ.
[THE HELP OF A FRIEND] Your neighbor is wrestling with the engine of his car, trying to fix it. But every time he puts pressure on a ¡°frozen¡± nut, the WRENCH SLIPS OFF and he tears up his knuckles on the fan blade. So you say, ¡°Bill, wait a minute, I¡¯ve got a socket wrench with an extension on it that will do the job. I¡¯ll go get it.¡± Assuming he¡¯ll welcome your coming to his rescue, you run next door and skip half a dozen steps on your way down to the basement. There at the bottom of your toolbox is what he needs. Then back up the stairs you go, nearly tripping over the dog and your children. After all that, how does your neighbor respond when you offer your help? You can hardly believe your ears as he says, ¡°No thanks, I think I can get it myself.¡± Makes your actions look like a terrible waste, doesn¡¯t it?
That self-sufficient neighbor is a picture of all who refuse God¡¯s offer of forgiveness through Christ and try to save themselves. By relying on their own efforts, they are saying that Christ¡¯s horrible suffering on the cross was nothing more than a nice but unnecessary gesture. Refusing the free gift of God¡¯s grace though, is spiritual suicide. Take His word for it, righteousness doesn¡¯t come by the law. We cannot work for it. No amount of our own blood, sweat, or tears can ever obtain our salvation. There¡¯s no way to reject Christ and still walk through the door of heaven. Jesus¡¯ death for our sin is our only hope of eternal life. Clayton wrote, ¡°No merit of my own His anger will suppress; My only hope is found in Jesus¡¯ righteousness.¡± If we could merit our salvation, Christ would never have died to provide it.
CONCLUSION
Paul takes his stand against legalism, even the minor infraction committed by Peter, that opens the door to any other means of acceptance before God than grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. In the room where they were gathered silence prevailed. The Gospel of Grace was clarified once more. We may assume that not only Cephas but true believers who had followed his example were grateful to the Lord that they had been corrected by the true gospel.
Is this your desire?... to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, that through the Spirit it might show you where you err? May the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ bring you ever greater salvation.
