Kaleo San Diego Church > Sermons

Galatians 2:14-21

David Fairchild
Aug 6, 2006
Series: Galatians

INTRODUCTION

The text we are going to look at this morning is so incredibly rich, and so powerful in its implications, that we can only look into a few doors this morning, but it’s going to take the entire letter of Galatians to explain with any depth the importance of these verses.

It was about 4 weeks ago that we were in Galatians, and if you remember that last message, we talked at length about the confrontation between Paul and Peter. This confrontation was over an issue of table fellowship between Jews and Gentiles. Peter removed himself from having a meal with the Gentiles because of peer pressure by Judaizers, who still maintained that you needed to be cleaned by Jesus and by the keeping of ceremonial laws. Though racism was the incident, the cause was a fundamental misunderstanding of the Gospel and what makes you “right” or “clean” or “justified” before God.

Paul then confronts Peter and says in verse 14 that he “was not in step with the truth of the gospel.” What was that truth? This is what we are unpacking this morning. His comments to Peter now take a decidedly theological turn as Paul begins to use terminology that has great significance to the hearers of this letter, the context in which it was written, and the opponents of these truths. God uses this conflict to teach us about His glorious Gospel of grace. The confrontation is not wasted because it is about the very heart of the Gospel message and therefore the Christian faith.

We will come back to this text next week to discuss further implications of some of these terms, but for today, we’re going to limit our attention to some of the big “E’s” on the eye-chart.

It’s important that we try not to dodge terms or words we find in Scripture just because they are not familiar to us, or may require further thought and inquiry that move beyond simple platitudes. Because I believe so strongly that what we believe about God affects everything we think or do, I pray you will begin to see how the pieces fit together. When we begin thinking through the Gospel at a deeper level, we start to see its depth, power, richness, and the effect it has on our hearts and lives. To get hot hearts for God, we need to kindle our minds with the truths of who God is and what He’s done. This is the essential core of what makes Christianity what it is. There are many things Christians might do or descriptions of what they might be, but that doesn’t really teach you what we are to believe. For instance, a doctor washes his hands frequently, but this isn’t the core of what he is. The Gospel is that which is the core of our faith.

We are getting the summary of Paul’s comments to Peter that was so controversial and theologically charged.

Let’s get back to context of the message in verse 14 and 15.

STUDY

Galatians 2:14-21

For context:

Verses 14-15 “But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;”

See above comments on this passage.

Verse 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.”

This is the Christian Magna Carta! This is astounding! That term, “justified,” is so powerful and so significant. Paul is saying that in light of Peter’s actions, no matter what we do to show ourselves to be righteous, no matter what we do to try to keep ourselves “clean,” we can’t. But, what we can do is place our faith in Jesus Christ who is perfectly righteous and who is perfectly clean. By trusting in Christ by faith, we are justified.

Now, the term “justified” needs to be defined. The word means to be legally declared not guilty. It is the opposite of condemned. It means to render or regard someone as just or without guilt. This was the great desire for the Jew—to be accepted in the presence of God in worship. They lived their lives for that very purpose: to be clean and pure before Him, without spot or blemish. So in one sense, to be justified is to be made clean and acceptable to God. But, to be clean and acceptable to God doesn’t mean that we ourselves become clean on our own, or that somehow we become righteous on our own. To further the thought, to be justified is to not be condemned. This doesn’t mean that we didn’t actually sin, or that we weren’t actually filthy or polluted, but that even though we are sinful and polluted, our status changes from guilty to not guilty.

An example would be telling your child that they must be home at a certain time or they’ll be in trouble. The child comes home late, but explains that their friend’s mother’s car had a flat tire on the way home and it took a ½ an hour to change it and that’s why they’re late. Does the fact of their being late change? No, what changes is their status. They are justified even though they are still late.

This means that even though we are actually sinners, God does not hold our sin against us and condemn us, because He held that sin against His own son and Christ faced condemnation on the cross. God accepts us despite our sin because His Son took the penalty upon Himself. It is not that we are acceptable to God because we are righteous; it is that we are declared righteous because we are accepted by God through Christ.

It is not enough that we sense or feel bad for our sin. It’s not enough that we see the law condemn us and we feel guilt for breaking it. It’s not enough that we sense alienation from God. Let me give you an example: A man who is facing sentencing for the crimes he committed may cry out to the judge in a sincere and tearful confession, “I have sinned and feel the weight of my crimes. I feel horrible for what I’ve done. And I promise I’ll never do it again!” The response of the judge would be, “Yes, you should feel terrible about what you’ve done, your crimes are horrific. And you should never do it again, because these are terrible crimes. But, feeling bad and promising not to do it ever again doesn’t change the fact that I still have to sentence you for the crimes you have committed and you still must be punished.” You see, we need justification, and we need Christ’s righteousness found in His record, or we won’t be found not guilty.

It isn’t that we build righteousness and then give it to God, but that Jesus developed righteousness, and by faith gives it to us! Our sin is imputed to Him, and He was treated as if He had lived the life that we’ve lived, and His righteous record is given to us and we are credited and treated by God as if we’ve lived the life that Christ lived. Our sin is charged to His account, and His righteousness is credited to us!

Imagine the man in the courtroom, facing certain punishment for his crimes. Perhaps the crimes warrant the death penalty. And someone who is a family member of his victim steps in and says, “I’ll take his place and suffer his punishment.” Until the man on trial sees his need for righteousness and his need for justification, he’ll never be thankful for the sacrifice made by another. Once he sees his need for justification, he’ll cry out for mercy, if it is given by the punishment of another, he’ll live in gratitude and thankfulness to the one who stepped in on his behalf.

It is not now that you are sinless, beautiful, and righteous in yourself, but that God sees you as sinless, beautiful, and righteous, and He declares it so.

Verses 17-18 “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.”

See next week’s message.

Verse 19 “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.”

We have discussed on several occasions how the irreligious are actually quite religious. If someone says that they are not religious because they are going to live their lives according to their own standards, really what they are saying is that they are attempting to be their own lord. They are seeking acceptability and righteousness from themselves, and therefore are functionally acting as their own messiah and savior.

Now, this is where it gets even more dicey: Paul is not saying that he decided to move to the city and experiment with his sexuality, or to seek after a job or employment to give him significance. Paul is saying that he actually attempted to be made right with God through the law. He was a good religious Pharisee. He passionately kept the law. He outwardly, and before men, was very righteous.

Paul worked like mad to obey the law, and now that he’s a Christian, he sees that all of his efforts were not really for God but for himself. He wasn’t really keeping the law, and trying to deal with his nakedness and shame for God, but for himself. While Paul was trying to work for his salvation, he was working for himself. It wasn’t until Paul stopped trying to earn God’s favor that he really began to live to God.

It’s not that Paul was saying that the law had no purpose. We’re going to see in 3:24 what that purpose is. Paul is saying that he died to the law as a way of gaining approval and acceptability with God. In other words; he died to the law as a way of being saved. Paul’s gives us greater detail in Romans 7:1-13:

Romans 7:1-13 Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. 7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

Paul is saying that he died to the law because he saw how impossible it was to obey all of it. The law showed him his sin. This doesn’t mean that the law is wicked, it means that Paul is wicked and the law of God cries out against him. If he were to attempt to keep the law to earn God’s favor, he actually ends up in greater disfavor with God. If he attempts to be accepted by God through the law, he finds that he is actually rejected by God for attempting to earn his salvation by keeping the law.

When he saw that he could never obey the law, he came to the place where he saw that he was truly spiritually dead. He then dies to the law and sees it for what it was intended, to show him not his sin and therefore his lack of “righteousness” so that he might cry out for a savior. Paul now truly honors the law by seeing that only One could keep it, Christ himself, and by trusting in Christ’s righteousness (His rightness and acceptability before the Father) he is now alive to God.

The only way to honor the law is by trusting in Christ who the law points to. To keep the law to earn our favor shows that we don’t understand the law and we are actually dishonoring it because we misunderstand its purpose.

Until you know you’re already in by trusting in Christ, you won’t really understand the law or the Gospel. The best way to avoid Jesus is by being religious.

Verse 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.”

What does this mean? It means that when I become a Christian and place my faith in Christ, I’m treated as if I have died like Christ, and that I have lived like Christ. We have sinned and God has suffered. God was made the son of man, so that we might become the sons of God.

How do you think God delights in Christ? When the Father sees His Son in all His splendor and beauty, in all His wisdom and grace, in all His perfections and love for the Father, He is well pleased with His Son. Now, do you realize that as pleased as the Father is with Jesus is as pleased as He is with you if you trust in Christ? He delights in you because He delights in His Son, and you are absolutely clothed in the Son and display His beauty to the Father.

Verse 20 is God’s view of you and me. Verse 21 means that we can err by trying hard to be like Christ, verse 20 means that you sit back and do nothing. You let go and let God, but they must be kept together. When you do it means that when God looks at me He sees me as accepted and beautiful, but when I do live I live as someone already accepted through Christ and so I live to my fullest, with all my strength to love and honor God. When I sin, I’m forgetting who I am and what He’s done for me. Verse 20 says that the Son of God gave himself for me and loves me!

But this doesn’t mean we don’t live!! We do.

This doesn’t mean that you learn about Jesus and put your faith in Him so that you can learn to be like Him and therefore be saved. This is just another spiritual way of being under the law.

Verse 21- “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness came through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

“If righteousness came through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Some of you might be thinking that the term righteousness is outdated. That it doesn’t really apply to today since it’s an old religious word. Some of you might be thinking that people today aren’t really struggling with righteousness, so why make a big deal about it. The truth is that all of us struggle with and for righteousness. Everybody wants righteousness and we are all living for it. This is not an obsolete or ancient problem.

Why is it that some of you can’t look at yourself in the mirror? Why is it that we don’t want to see our imperfections? Why is it that some of you are unable to view your own work of art? Why is it that some of you don’t like to listen to your recorded voice? Why is it that some of you look into the mirror too much, or you stare at your work too much, or you have to listen to yourself? Why is it that some of you are absolutely driven to work? You keep yourself busy by doing things so that you won’t be still and relax. Why? It’s a struggle for righteousness.

Now, here is where we have to define our terms. The word “righteousness” in our day has a view of being good. But the term “righteousness” in this letter had to do with relationships. It meant to be right with someone or something. An example would be your relationship with the finance company that owns your car. If you pay your payments on time, you are rightly related to them; you are “right” with them. If you make your payments you get to keep your car, if you don’t make your payments they’ll take your car, and you’ll have a hard time getting another one because of your bad record. You will not be “right” in the eyes of the companies you want to be related to.

It is the same with our friends. If you are caring and loving, if you listen and are sensitive to their needs, if you’re faithful and not overly critical, you are “right” with your friend. If you start to be selfish or insensitive, your relationship will be disrupted and your record will cause your relationship with them to be severed. To be rightly related to someone means that you have the record that gives you the right to be included in a relationship.

The Bible speaks about this in a very profound way when you read the story of Adam and Eve. In the beginning of humanity, when humans decided that they were going to be their own masters, they immediately sensed that they weren’t “right” with the universe. As soon as they decided they were going to be autonomous from God and run the universe and their lives, they became naked and ashamed. They were severed from God and were no longer “rightly” related to Him. They were severed from one another and were no longer “rightly” related to each other. They were severed from creation and were no longer “rightly” related to it. And, they were severed from themselves and are now no longer “rightly” related to themselves but were disconnected and ultimately alone within themselves.

Adam and Eve sensed that something was wrong with them. They no longer had their original righteousness, their original beauty, worth, and acceptability. They no longer had their original “rightness.” Instead, they began to see that they had lost their acceptability at a very profound level. And the Scriptures teach us that everyone is born without acceptability and without a “rightness” or “righteousness.” We are all born with the realization that we’re not valuable, we’re not acceptable, we’re not beautiful, and so we live our lives seeking a way to make ourselves so.

Of course this isn’t helped by our parents who struggle with this same desire for “righteousness,” and in doing so cause us to feel even uglier and less acceptable. But this is not the real reason for our lack of being “rightly” related. We can love and nurture our sons and daughters as much as is humanly possible and still watch them struggle with acceptability, and watch them be driven to be accepted by their peers or to gain our approval, driven to go out and get “A’s” or to be beautiful or athletic or funny.

Why is it in our culture we struggle so much with sexuality? Why is it that we seek it so much that we’re willing to destroy our families, lose our jobs, and bring chaos to our lives? What is it about sex that causes such insanity? Is it the few moments of bliss that drive us to potential destruction? I don’t think so. I think it’s a struggle for “righteousness.” The Bible pictures sex as the most intimate act between two human beings. It is physically the closest you can become to someone. It is incredibly personal. It is where we sense the ultimate “rightness” with someone. It is an act that demonstrates an ultimate acceptability by another. This is why we are so quick to physically make up after a fight; it is a demonstration that we are “rightly” related to one another.

Here’s the bomb; many of us have heard or have thought that religion is nothing more than repressed sexuality. It is nothing more than a way to control our sexuality. But the story of Scripture sees our pursuit of sexual partners and therefore most of our motivation for sex as repressed religion. We seek after partners, and not just any partner, but beautiful ones—almost god or goddess like— and you want them to find you acceptable and beautiful. This is a way of dealing with our repressed needs to be accepted by God. Sex then becomes our way of repressing our true desires for righteousness, to be rightly related to Him.

Work, looks, art, physical accomplishments, and so on, can all be ways we are struggling for righteousness. This is why the Gospel is so powerful. This is why it is such “good news” because in it we find that we can be accepted by the One who’s fellowship is most important. We can be “rightly” related to the One that will ultimately and eternally accept us. Even the ones who think they are totally irreligious are seeking for righteousness and won’t find it until they believe the Gospel.