Verses 15-21 may represent the continuation of Paul’s confrontation with Peter, or it may represent a statement of the central point of his letter: that Christians are justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
In verses 15-17, Paul is not denying that those who are Jews by birth are sinners, as are all Gentiles (rom 3:23). Rather, he is implying that Jews enjoy spiritual privileges (Rom 9:4-5) that should make them more knowledgeable about how to be justified before God (3:6; Gen 15:6). The Jews should have been more aware that no person could be declared righteous or justified by obedience to the Law of Moses (3:10-21).
Verse 16 is one of the most important verses in Galatians because in it Paul states the content of the gospel of grace. This is the first time Paul uses the word justified which means “to declare righteous.” Justification is the act of God, whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Jesus Christ.
In verse 21, Paul presents a brilliant conclusion. The very reason Christ died on the cross to pay for sin was because the law could not remove sin or impart righteousness. Grace provides what the law was powerless to provide—righteousness.
The simplest way to look at this section is that verses 15-16 are the transition to the content of the Gospel, while verses 17-21 show that grace does not promote sin.
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Never allow grace to be a cloak for sin.
- We are justified by faith alone, and set free from sin, not for or to sin.
- Never forget what grace cost Christ!
- Christ set us free from the Law by bearing its/our curse on the cross.
- If righteousness is attainable through keeping the law of Moses, then God’s gracious act of sending Christ to die on the Cross to pay for sin was unnecessary and useless
CLOSER LOOK:
Verse 15: But how far did the rebuke extend? Considerable discussion has centered on the question as to whether Paul’s direct remarks to Peter were limited to verse 14 or whether, as in the NIV, they continued to the end of the chapter.[1] While it is impossible to determine, it would seem that Paul uttered more than one sentence in reproving Peter. The remaining verses of the chapter develop, then, the inconsistency between Peter’s behavior and his beliefs. At the same time, they form a magnificent transition and introduction to chapters 3 and 4 in which Paul defended the key doctrine of justification by faith.
Paul’s argument was addressed to those who were “Jews by birth,” including Peter and himself, who in spite of their superior advantages were saved by faith. Why then bind the Law on “Gentile sinners” (said in irony), who likewise were saved by faith in Christ? Quite often, the Jews could not mention Gentiles without calling them “Gentile sinners.” Yet, in Paul’s eyes, the sinners were the Judaizers, not the Gentile Christian believers in his church.
Verse 16: In this verse, one of the most important in the epistle, the word justified occurs for the first time (and a total of three times in this one verse). It is a legal term, borrowed from the law courts and means “to declare righteous” or “pardoned.” Its opposite is “to condemn.” But since people are condemned sinners and God is holy, how can people be justified? In answer, Paul made a general declaration that negatively “a person is not justified by works of the law,” but positively, justification is “through faith in Jesus Christ.” This is a strong affirmation of Paul, Peter, and the rest—introduced by “we know.” It is followed by a statement in which Paul explained that he had put this doctrine to the test and validated it in his own experience (v. 16b). Finally, in verse 16c the apostle reaffirmed that justification is by faith and not by works (cf. Gen. 15:6). By the grace of God (v. 21), the only way to be justified is through faith in Jesus Christ. Any other way allows works, whether keeping the law of Moses or performing good deeds in general, to play a role in justification. This is the main point of Paul’s letter to the Galatians: salvation or righteousness cannot be obtained by obeying the law or performing works. Salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:20)
Verse 17–18: Paul’s opponents argued, however, that since justification by faith eliminated the Law, it encouraged sinful living. Meaning, if people aren’t under law then they will freely sin. A person could believe in Christ for salvation and then do as he/she pleased, having no need to do good works. Paul hotly denied the charge, especially noting that this made Christ the promoter of sin. Paul strongly rejects the erroneous conclusion that being justified by faith in Christ actually made the Jews sinners, thus painting Christ as a promoter of sin. On the contrary, if a believer would return to the Law after trusting Christ alone for salvation, that Law would only demonstrate that he/she was a sinner, “a transgressor.” Those who attempt to be justified through the works of the law are cursed (3:10). If anyone attempts to reassert the works of the law as having any part in justification before God, the law itself convicts that person of being a transgressor (3:19-25). The law itself is not sinful; its purpose is to convince individuals of their personal spiritual deadness in sin outside of faith in Christ (Rom 7:7-13).[2] Though Paul used the first person here, he clearly had in mind Peter, who by his act of withdrawing from Gentile fellowship was returning to the Law.[3]
Verse 19–20: In verses 19–20 Paul teaches about the transformation that occurs in believers. He is continuing to correct Peter for cowering to a legalistic system that is powerless to change lives. Paul uses the death and resurrection motif in each verse. Paul distinguished himself from Peter, contrasting what he did with the Law with what Peter did with the Law. Paul described the transformation in a person who has come to God by faith in Christ in terms of a death and a resurrection. The concept is repeated in both verses and the reference in both cases is to a believer’s union with Christ in His death and resurrection. First, Paul stated that “through the Law” he “died to the law.” The Law demanded death for those who broke it, but Christ paid that death penalty for all sinners. Thus the Law killed Him and those joined to Him by faith, freeing them to be joined to another, to live for God (cf. Rom. 7:4).[4]
When Paul says “through the law I died to the law.” Paul may have meant by this that, when he tried to live up to the law, he saw that it was impossible. He saw that the penalty for failing to live up to the law was death. Seeing his clear condemnation according to the law drove him into the arms of grace, to rely on Jesus to save him. Or he might have meant that, when he saw that the law was insufficient to save him, he turned his back on the law and made it no longer of any influence in his life. Or he might have meant that the law demanded death for sin. Christ died because he took our death penalty upon Himself. By believing in Christ, his death pays for the death that the law required of us. Whatever Paul meant, the result is that he no longer is under the jurisdiction of the law. It is powerless over him.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul expanded on the meaning of verse 19. He “died to the Law” because he was “crucified with Christ;” he was able to live for God because Christ lived in him. Paul and every believer were crucified with Christ in order to die to sin, the law, and “this present evil age” (1:4). While believers live on physically, Christ also lives within them spiritually. Christ’s resurrection power through the Spirit is worked out through the Christian (Rom 6:4-11) who chooses to “live by faith in the Son of God.” There is some debate on what Paul meant about having died in Christ, but the point is that Christi’s death severed him (and all of us) from the requirements of the law.
Basic to an understanding of this verse is the meaning of union with Christ. This doctrine is based on such passages as Romans 6:1–6 and 1 Corinthians 12:13, which explain that believers have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ and into the church, the body of all true believers. Having been thus united to Christ, believers share in His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul could therefore write, “I have been crucified with Christ” (literally, “I have been and am now crucified with Christ”). This brought death to the Law. It also brought a change in regard to one’s self: “and it is no longer I who live.” The self-righteous, self-centered Saul died. Further, death with Christ ended Paul’s enthronement of self; he yielded the throne of his life to Another, to Christ. But it was not in his own strength that Paul was able to live the Christian life; the living Christ Himself took up His abode in Paul’s heart: “Christ who lives in me.” Yet Christ does not operate automatically in a believer’s life; it is a matter of living the new life by faith in the Son of God. It is then faith and not works or legal obedience that releases divine power to live a Christian life. This faith, stated Paul, builds on the sacrifice of Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. In essence Paul affirmed, “If He loved me enough to give Himself for me, then He loves me enough to live out His life in me.”[5]
Verse 21: Summing up his case, Paul declared, “I do not nullify (or set aside) the grace of God. The clear implication is that Peter and the others who followed him were setting aside God’s grace. The essence of grace is for God to give people what they have not worked for (cf. Rom. 4:4). To insist on justification or sanctification by works is to nullify the grace of God. Further, such insistence on legal obedience also means “Christ died for no purpose.” If righteousness comes by keeping the Law, the Cross was a futile gesture, the biggest mistake in the universe. If righteousness is attainable through keeping the law of Moses, then God’s gracious act of sending Christ to die on the Cross to pay for sin was unnecessary and useless (Rom 3:4-26).
[1] Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 595.
[2] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 1521.
[3] Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 596.
[4] Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 596.
[5] Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 596.