Is there a difference? Galatians 2:11-21 The issue of Gentile believers being free from the works of the law was addressed when brethren from Antioch and Jerusalem gathered to clarify that salvation is by grace alone, without imposing the law on the Gentiles. Those false teachers, the unbelievers the Galatians were listening to, were opposing the doctrine of God that the apostles, who were the foundation of the church, had accepted. But there were Jewish people who claimed to be saved. Were they also free from the law, or did they need to keep the law to be saved because they were Jews?
It is crucial that we understand that when a person is saved, they become a new creation in Christ Jesus. "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Attempts to follow the law are futile because of our imperfection and guilt as those born in sin and shaped in iniquity. It is only through God's grace that we can receive forgiveness. Grace is our only hope for salvation; we have died to the law. Sin no longer has dominion over us, and it is through the law that we become aware of sin.
The issue in Antioch was not whether Gentile Christians must follow Jewish law. Instead, it was whether Jewish Christians should continue observing the law while also having faith in Christ. In Antioch, Jews and Gentiles ate together and shared fellowship because they were now saved; there was no difference between them. They weren't two separate groups. They were one in Christ. Peter had come to Antioch to support the work and had no issue with the unity of both Jews and Gentiles. He fit in with the work there just as he had when he was there the first time.
“The faith of Jesus Christ” – what does this mean? God has provided a way of salvation that cannot be earned by law-keeping. How has the law condemned us to death for sin and stated that we have been “crucified with Christ”? Legally, God sees us as dead and yet alive because we have been crucified with Christ. Relationally, we have become one with Christ, and His experiences are ours. In unity with Him, we died to our old life when He died. In our daily lives, we crucify the sinful desires that hinder us from following Christ.
When those brethren gathered in Jerusalem, they did a wise thing – they communicated. They didn’t go behind each other’s backs with subtle, divisive opinions but prayed, talked, and listened. One group of men accused Paul of watering down the Gospel to fit the Gentiles. Paul accused them of nullifying the Gospel by adding conditions to it. The conclusion was clear: Man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. We have died to the law, and it has no claim on us: we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.