Galatians 2

As we begin the second chapter of this letter, we are provided with more details about the message that Paul considers such an attack upon the gospel in the churches of Galatia. It has something to do with circumcision, but not just circumcision. Because of the book of Acts and other letters from Paul, we are not surprised to find that there are some outsiders who are making the claim that the Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be ceremonially right before God.

Was it the Lord’s will that Gentiles would be brought into “Israel” and that the new expanded Israel would continue to pursue all of the ceremonial requirements of the Old Testament Law even though the Passover Lamb had come and had shed His blood, or was there strong indication that the way of the Old Covenant was coming to a final end in the destruction of the temple that Christ had spoken of in the gospels? Was there further proof in Moses and the prophets (see Jeremiah 31) that the Old Covenant era of the Law would be superseded by a new era of the Spirit, yet still maintaining the continuity of grace from the promise to Abraham, and even before that, the promise to Adam? These were questions that troubled the church. Those who would welcome Gentiles once they became ceremonial Jews had in their favor the weight of their communal experience that was life as they had always known it, now with Jesus and certain additional practices like the Lord’s Supper. Those who saw that the age of resurrection had started in Christ and that the era of the gospel and the Spirit had now broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile had in their favor a right understanding of the Scriptures. The former way of living according to the weight of tradition has always led to an extra-biblical fundamentalism that is disruptive of the peace of the church and corrosive to the message of grace. The latter answer is the only one that is consistent with the eternal purpose of God, not to restore Old Covenant life in Canaan, but to unite all things in the renewed heavens and earth in Jesus Christ.

Paul notes some facts here in support of his case. He reminds the Galatians that Titus was not forced to be circumcised in order to have fellowship with the apostles in Jerusalem, and that Paul had received apostolic encouragement for his ministry. Despite efforts on the part of the other party to bring the New Covenant churches among the Gentiles into the bondage of Old Testament ceremonial Law, Paul had held firm in the past, and had even confronted Peter to his face when that great apostle had succumbed to the outside pressure of these Jewish visitors.

In the process of that confrontation, Paul said this: “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.” These terms require some definition. To be “justified” is to be counted as righteous before God. This happens only through “faith in Jesus Christ” who is the long anticipated Substitute for sinners. In particular, our right standing with God does not come through our observance of the “works of the law,” that combination of tradition and biblical precept that was the way of the Pharisees so familiar to the old Saul of Tarsus. Paul is very explicit that no one will be justified through their own obedience to that Pharisaic way of life.

In fact, no version of fundamentalistic rules has the capacity to bring us peace with God. This must be considered regularly as we make efforts to bring our life into accord with the way of love that is the fulfillment of the Law. While the true eternal moral law of God concerns outward and inner realities, it is always easier to do outward things seen by men than it is to have the fruits of a renewed heart in fuller measure. This is frustrating to those who are unwilling to rest upon the grace of God. They long for a list of rules that they can clearly do, so that they will have no doubt, and others will have no doubt, concerning their right standing with God.

The problem with this kind of approach of “Yes we all agree about Jesus, that’s a given; but we need to make sure we also all do these other things if we are to be right in God’s eyes,” is significant. We don’t all agree about Jesus. We easily move away from Jesus in favor of rules that we can keep and involve some obvious outward display. Justification for sinners comes in Christ alone. Anything other than that message is not consistent with the Old Testament Scriptures, and cannot have the approval of the Lord who died to save us.

This does not mean that the Ten Commandments have been repealed, or that there is no Law of love, of life, and of liberty that is to be earnestly pursued. It does mean that the first step toward real progress in holiness and obedience is to fully rest upon the One who is our justification. In the Law we are dead, but now we live again through the death and resurrection of Jesus, so that we might live to God. We have died with Him who took the death that we deserved. Now He lives in us to the glory of God. Our life of obedience is by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. If justification could ever come through some system of rule-keeping, then Christ would have died for no purpose.