Justification and union with Christ are by faith. Galatians 2:15-21 Three times, we are told that no one is justified by observing the law, and three times, the requirement of faith in Christ alone is emphasized. Being saved by grace through faith alone is the core of the Gospel. Faith is the means of our justification, not its foundation. We are saved by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Justification is the opposite of condemnation. God can accept us as righteous in His sight because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we receive through faith in Him.
It seems like those who opposed Paul’s teaching argued that trusting Christ for salvation and rejecting law-keeping made a person a sinner. He firmly stated that turning back to the law as a source of salvation would make him a transgressor against the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel message is clear: salvation is through faith in Christ alone – nothing else added!
Paul wrote to the Galatians that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners, but the Jews had special privileges that should have made them more aware of how we can be justified before God. The Jews should have known that they were not justified by the law because no one kept it. It was wrong to think that being justified by faith in Christ made the Jews sinners. God’s law convicts sinners, whoever they are, when they do not have faith in Christ alone.
Sometimes in life, we are called upon, one way or another, to face a serious problem. We can learn how to handle such situations by following Paul's example in this case. He didn't write letters of complaint to other assemblies about Peter's actions. He didn't go around gossiping about Peter behind his back. No, he did what Jesus said—he went directly to Peter himself. Moreover, since what Peter did was public, Paul corrected him publicly to address both Peter and those who followed his lead.
A man with a deep fear of God and a true commitment to His word can quickly resolve a problem once it arises. We need someone to "stand in the breach" when issues come up that must be handled swiftly and according to scripture. Peter joined the Judaizers and gave his "okay" to their doctrine. It’s unlikely he thought through all the implications of his impulsive action. Essentially, he was endorsing their claim that Christ alone isn't enough to save sinners without their additional efforts.
All of us, regardless of our religious background, are justified solely by faith in Jesus Christ. When we trust in Him, the works of the law become clear for what they are. They condemn us because we cannot meet God's perfect standard of righteousness. It is puzzling that Peter did not understand what he was doing, for some reason. We need to remind ourselves that we can make the same mistake—and even worse—if we listen to men instead of God.
If Peter was correct to separate himself from the Gentiles in the assembly because of the law, then Christ was promoting sin because He told them about the cleansing power of His death. Peter never forgot that we are "redeemed by the precious blood of Christ." God has cleansed all who, as believers, have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Peter first reached out to the Gentiles, and now he was building a wall to limit the fellowship of those who have freedom in Christ. He was a transgressor.
It was through the law that we died to the law. We cannot be saved just because we try to keep it. We have to trust in Christ Himself, who was able to fulfill the law’s demands through His perfection as a man. Because we are in Christ, we are able to live a life that pleases God. When Christ died, I died, and the new “I” lives in Christ, and Christ lives in me. Our life on earth is to be lived by faith in union with the Son of God. The motivation to live by faith is that He has loved us. He gave Himself for us to bring us to God and present us as righteous and holy people. Grace alone has made us fit to be in the kingdom of God.
“Justified by the faith of Christ” – what does this mean? How does it work? The focus of life is not on dying but on living, and we have been crucified with Christ. Therefore, we have been raised with Christ, which means that legally, I am reconciled to God and free to grow in the likeness of Christ. In my daily life, I possess resurrection power that enables me to fight and overcome sin. Christ lives in me, and He is my power for living and my hope for the future.
The Galatian believers needed to be reminded that the law condemned us all to death. The death sentence was issued, and we are all guilty before God. However, in Christ, the guilty verdict has been canceled because its demands have been met and God's justice fully satisfied. The sinless One was crucified for me, and I have been crucified in Christ. The death sentence has been executed, and the law is satisfied. When Christ died, I died in Him. When He was buried, the "old man" within me was done away with. When He rose from the dead, I also rose and now live in this body by "faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me." So now I am dead to the claims of the law, and sin no longer has dominion over me.
Now we are free from the guilt of our sins and the power of sin ruling in this mortal body. A new nature has been implanted in this same body I have always had. As a new creation in Christ, He lives in us, and we are alive to God by His grace and power. If we could have had the right relationship with God by keeping the law, there would have been no reason for Christ to die. To claim that we are justified by adding anything to the sacrifice of Christ is to deny the grace of God given to us through Christ.
Because of the redemption paid on our behalf, our lives are now lived "in Christ." We now walk by faith in Him who loved us. To a Jew, refusing to eat dinner with a Gentile might have seemed insignificant, but what was really happening was that God's grace was being disregarded for what was convenient to satisfy certain people. This led to hypocrisy and some deceit. Combining law-keeping or any form of legalism with grace corrupts grace and turns the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross into a mockery.
This was now happening in assemblies in Galatia and needed to be stopped. Not only had they chosen law and set aside grace, but that also indicated that there was no value in the death of Christ. We now live in the power of new life from God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That faith has justified us. It frustrates God's grace when we add anything to the work of Christ. The Galatian assemblies had set aside God's grace and chosen the law instead. Legally, we have died with Christ. Relationally, we are in Christ and live in Him daily. Practically, we must "reckon ourselves dead with Christ" and alive to God. We now live our daily lives in the power of Christ's resurrection. This is how we are to live today and every day. We rest in this truth and live our lives in the good of this truth.
The decision was clear when the conference in Jerusalem concluded, and the results were plainly outlined. Why return to the legal bondage imposed on Galatian believers and believers in Christ today? Why go back to what we have already left behind? Do not frustrate God's grace. Righteousness does not come through the law. Christ has died for us and did not die in vain. His death fulfilled every legal claim against us. We are free to live a new life—one lived by the faith of the Son of God. He loved me and gave Himself for me! “Free from the law, O happy condition!”