Justification by Faith Alone
Galatians 2:11-21
Introduction
Guilt is a universal plague of sinful mankind. Every person feels guilty. Consequently every person tries in some way to alleviate their guilt. Primitive tribesmen sought to ease their guilt by appeasing the imagined gods who were supposedly angry with them. Cultured, sophisticated people may take the escape route of psycho analysis or some other form of human counseling. Some people try to salve their guilt by positive thinking and self confident, self indulgent living. Well others try to escape it through sex, alcohol, or drugs.
Even before Jesus Christ cam to earth and died for man’s sin, God foreshadowed His perfect sacrifice through the offering of slain animals. Such sacrifices were only outward, symbolic acts of obedience that, unless accompanied by a humble an contrite heart, were not acceptable to God.
Back in the book of Genesis, when Cain offered his sacrifice of grain to the Lord, he sinned both by disobediently bring the wrong kind of offering and by offering it in the wrong spirit. Rather than bring the animal sacrifice that God had commanded, he brought the fruit of his own labor, proudly supposing that his offering of disobedience would be acceptable to God. By rejecting God’s prescribed animal sacrifice, Cain rejected God’s provision of substitutionary salvation in His Son toward which that blood offering pointed.
Abel on the other hand, by obediently offering the blood sacrifice God required, in faith leaped forward in history and touched the cross of Christ. God accepted his offering not because it had any spiritual benefit in itself but because it was presented in faith and obedience.
Since that time of Cain and Abel there has been two distinct lines of works and faith in man’s religious life. Whosoever follows the way of man (like Cain), whatever it is, follows Satan’s lie. The person who follows God’s way follows the way of Abel, the way of grace and forgiveness.
At the time of Jesus birth the vast majority of Israelites, whether in Palestine or other parts of the Roman Empire, continued to pervert and to Old Testament revelation and to put their trust in themselves, looking to their own goodness and accomplishments to make them acceptable to God. The great body of rabbinic traditions was grounded in works righteousness, in the idea of attaining merit before God through strict observance of an almost endless list of man-made regulations and ceremonies.
It is from among that vast group of legalistic Jews that the Judaizers arose, claiming to follow Christ but teaching that a Gentile had to be circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law before he could be saved and that all believers, Jew and Gentile alike had to continue observance of that law in order to maintain their relation to God.
The Judaizers were therefore not teaching Old Testament doctrine but the cardinal doctrine of Satan, that a person can by his own goodness and works gain favor with God. Paul reminds us though in Romans 2:28-29 that the circumcision of the flesh is outward in the flesh. But the true believer is one who is circumcised inwardly, by the circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit. In Phil. 3:3, “Paul explained that we are the true circumcision to the Philippian believers, ‘who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh’”.
No other person of his day had more reason than Paul to boat in his Jewish heritage and accomplishments than Paul. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, but even he says that “whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”
The Judaizers recognized Jesus as the Messiah, but their view of the Messiah was corrupt. They did not look to the Messiah as the Lamb of God who would take away their sin, because they did not believe they had sin that demanded such sacrifice in order to be forgiven.
Here in our text tonight, even the Apostle Peter has been caught up with the Judaizers and Paul confronts him and then goes on to present the true way of justification. Tonight I want you to see just how one can be deceived into false teachings and then I want you to see the true doctrine of the Word of God concerning justification by faith alone.
I. Peter’s Deviation (vv. 11-13)
a. The Clash (v. 11)
• Because the Judaizers had told the Galatian church members that Paul was not a true apostle, makes this verse very significant.
o Paul was not only equal to the other apostles, but at this time he is reprimanding Peter (Cephas) the lead apostle of the twelve.
o Both Peter & Paul had experienced salvation by grace thru faith.
• By Peter withdrawing from the Gentiles, he in effect had joined the Judaizers in belittling Paul’s inspired teaching, especially the doctrine of salvation by God’s grace alone.
o Peter knew better and Paul opposed him the verse tells us.
o Now Peter was not condemned in the sense of losing his salvation, but in the sense of being guilty of sin, for taking the wrong position.
• Before Peter’s compromise with the Judaizers could do serious damage in the Antioch church, God sends in Paul to put an end to it.
o Here we can see that God a purpose even in the worst circumstances.
o What could have been a tragedy, god used for His glory and for the strengthening of His church.
b. The Cause (v. 12)
• Peter had been with the church of Antioch for some time now before the Judaizers arrived in town.
• During that time he used to eating and fellowshipping with the Gentiles.
• These Judaizers who came along claiming to be sent by James, were anything but.
• James (the half brother of Jesus) the leader of the church of Jerusalem had made his thoughts clear about the Judaizers in Acts 15:19, “It is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles.”
• Peter had partaken in many feast with the Gentile believers and had Lord’s Supper with them, before the Judaizers came.
• The Christian church today cannot be, what it is called to be when ritual, race, class, or other discriminations separate members from each other.
• The label men put on themselves is irrelevant to God.
• Better than any other Apostle, Peter knew this.
• He had received a vision from God before going to Cornelius (the Roman Centurion) house and God had made it clear, that we are not to judge what is clean and unclean.
• Who is good enough or not for God.
• Here we see a glimpse of the old Peter
• The same one that told Jesus that he would never go from Him and then rebukes him three times.
• Peter knew what was right, but when the Judaizers came into town he changed.
• Peter didn’t fear these men, they had no authority over him.
• The most they could have done was ridicule him and malign him in Jerusalem, like they did to Paul in Galatia.
• Peter was afraid of losing his popularity and prestige with a group of self righteous hypocrites.
• Peter was not unlike most Christians today in finding it difficult to be consistent in spiritual commitment.
• He would show great courage and conviction on moment, and then turn around and stumble.
• When he did this at Antioch he played right into the hands of the Judaizers, who were probably elated that they got the great Apostle Peter into their camp.
• Christians who refuse to share the Lord’s blessings with other believers, because of fear and prejudice fall into the same spiritual error as Peter.
• And this causes a fracture in the unity of the church.
c. The Consequences (v. 13)
• Peter not only withdrew from the Gentile believers himself, but by example he indirectly, induces other Jews to do the same.
• The separation became so wide spread and influential that even Barnabas (a Godly man) got carried away in sin.
• Peter was a natural leader and his actions invariably took others with him.
• When he acted on his own wisdom the results were tragic and when others followed, it became disastrous.
• Peter and the others that withdrew from the Gentiles knew what they were doing was wrong, but they were intimidated by the Judaizers.
• When seeking to please the hypocrites they became hypocrites themselves.
• From Peter’s failure here at Antioch we can see several important truths that need to be learned.
1. Even uniquely gifted ministers of the gospel can commit serious transgressions. Sin had no qualifiers.
2. Faithfulness involves more than believing the right doctrine. Right doctrine without right behavior always promotes hypocrisy.
3. Truth is more important than outward harmony and peace. Christian fellowship and unity are built on truth, never falsehood.
4. Situation ethics are ungodly ethics. God’s Word, not a given situation, determines what is right and wrong.
5. Falsehood is not to be ignored, regardless of the consequences that opposition to it may bring. When the falsehood strikes at the heart of the gospel, like the Judaizers, opposition is all the more imperative.
II. Paul’s Doctrine (vv. 14-21)
The actions of Peter, Barnabas and the other Jewish believers in Antioch were not simply a matter of personal hypocrisy. Their submission to the Judaizers was fracturing the church. Peter and Barnabas were spiritual leaders. They had taught for years that salvation by faith alone was the way. The church of Antioch was the model of Jewish-Gentile fellowship and harmony, and almost overnight it became the opposite.
a. His Reaction (vv. 14-15)
• The withdraw of the Jewish believers from the Gentiles was probably gradual, but as soon as Paul heard of it he immediately reacted.
• Because Peter’s offense was public, Paul rebuked him in the presence of everyone.
• Every believer in Antioch and probably a large number of unbelievers knew that Peter was no longer associating with the Gentiles.
• Augustine once said, “It is not advantageous to correct in secret an error which occurred publicly.”
• Unless the public sin of a believer is not dealt with publicly, people will think that the church does not take sin seriously.
• After Paul made sure what he was hearing was true, he rebuked Peter, showing us that no Christian, regardless of stature is beyond discipline by the body of believers.
• Paul had not desire to lord it over Peter or to build up his own reputation at the expense of a fellow apostle.
• His motive was not to humiliate Peter, but to correct him in a serious error that had caused many believers to stumble with him.
• He could tolerate nothing that threatened the integrity of the gospel, especially if that threat came from a prominent and influential leader, like Peter.
b. His Statement (vv. 15-16)
• The heart of man’s spiritual dilemma is that he is incapable of overcoming the total sinfulness that separates him from God.
• Paul’s rebuke of Peter culminated in one of the most forceful statements in the New Testament on the doctrine of justification.
• Paul in effect was saying, “Peter, I am rebuking you because you are violating the cardinal truth of Christianity by your behavior you are condoning works-righteousness, a system of legalism that is contrary to the covenant given to Moses, not to mention the New Covenant given by Jesus Christ himself.”
• Martin Luther said, “If the article of justification by faith is lost, all Christian doctrine is lost.”
• No amount of law-keeping can make a person righteous, because the root of sinfulness is in the fallenness of man’s heart, not his actions.
• Man’s basic problem is in what he is, not in what he does.
• Consequently no amount of works of the law can save a person because even the best of human works cannot change the nature of the person doing them.
• Only faith in Jesus Christ can bring a person the gracious gift of righteousness that provides forgiveness and salvation.
• Three times in Gal. 2:16, Paul declares that salvation is only through faith in Christ and not by the law.
• The first statement is general: “a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ.”
• The second statement is personal: “even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law.”
• The third statement is universal: “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
• All three affirm the same great reality.
• All claims that salvation is through belief in Jesus Christ, PLUS something else are blasphemous lies of Satan.
• There can be no effective or acceptable human addition to Christ’s work on the cross.
• This passage is a forceful and unequivocal a statement of the doctrine of salvation by faith alone as can be found in Scripture.
1. Paul establishes it on the basis of his own apostolic authority.
2. He establishes it on the basis of his own experience.
3. He establishes it on the basis of God’s Word.
c. His Defense (vv. 17-21)
• By their behavior, Peter and the others had given approval to the Judaizers’ idea that it was necessary for a Gentile to keep the Jewish rituals before they could become a Christian.
• Paul’s defense of justification by faith in vv. 17-21 continues his contradiction to this legalism that Peter and the others had succumbed too.
• It is crucial to understand that as in the previous two verse, “we” refers to Jewish Christians. “But, if while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves (Jewish Christians) have also been found sinners,” Paul then asks rhetorically, “is Christ then a minister of sin?”
• Paul is making two point here that you need to catch:
1. If the Judaizers were correct in their doctrine that believers are saved in part by keeping the ceremonial law of Moses and continue to be band by the law to maintain their salvation, then even before the Judaizers arrived in Antioch, Peter, Barnabas, and all the other Jewish believers, including Paul had fallen back into sin by having eating and fellowshipping with the Gentiles.
2. If you become sinners because of fellowshipping with your Gentile brothers, then Christ Himself became a minister of sin, because he taught in Mark 7:19, that no food can spiritually contaminate a person, because food cannot affect the heart.
• But, if the Judaizers were right, Paul pointed out that Jesus was wrong; if they taught the truth.
• Paul answer his own questions here though, “May it never be!”
• It must have been hard for Paul to even suggest hypothetically that Christ could participate in or much less promote sin.
• But the drastic danger of legalism demanded it.
• It was the only way to bring Peter and the others to their senses.
• Legalism’s most destructive effect is that it cancels the effect of the cross.
• We need to repeat to ourselves from time to time the words given here by Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.!”
Closing
The person who insists that he can earn salvation by his own efforts undermines the very foundation of Christianity and nullifies the precious death of Christ on their behalf. I pray to God, that, that would never be found in us. Let’s Pray.
