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After his stories of encounters with the other apostles, now Paul switches to the main argument of his letter. First, in verses 15–17, Paul shows that justification before God is by faith and not by works. Second, in verses 18–21, Paul shows that having been justified by faith, we also now live the Christian life by faith, united to Christ as we’ll see in more detail on Day 8.
To be justified before God is an unspeakable privilege. It means to be declared right with God. It is the opposite of being condemned for our sin. Notice how many times Paul uses the word in verses 15–17. Even thoroughly Jewish apostles knew that trying to earn salvation by keeping the law is not how it works. Salvation, whatever your background, whatever your level of personal morality, is only possible by trusting Jesus Christ. (Remember that faith, belief and trust are all words for the same idea.)
In verse 15 Paul refers to the Gentiles with this typically Jewish label – ‘Gentile sinners’ (ESV). This is because the Gentiles had no regard for the law. By verse 17 Paul recognises that Jewish followers of Jesus could also be labelled as sinners because they weren’t passionate about the law. So does this faith-gospel that seems light on law make Jesus a promoter of sin? Paul replies to this accusation in the strongest possible terms: ‘Absolutely not!’
We all struggle to shake an assumption ingrained in our fallen world – specifically, that righteous living is something we can achieve by our effort to keep rules. So even though the gospel declares that we can only be justified by faith, not by works of the law, still we will find ourselves continually pulled back to our ingrained assumption that we need to try hard to be good.
It is so easy to confuse the gospel message with language of personal commitment and renewed moral effort. Paul will definitely explain how God will make us holy, but let us be really careful to never let our understanding of justification be diluted, or even poisoned, by mixing in our own effort to the gospel of grace.
Reflection
Being good does not make anyone acceptable to God – how would you explain this to a friend? If you have trusted in Christ and His death, you will not be condemned by God – do you really believe this to be true?
Scripture
About this Plan
Paul wrote the book of Galatians to Christians who were tempted to add good works to the gospel. Although we might not want to admit it, adding to the gospel is a great temptation for us too. So be encouraged as Peter Mead takes us through these devotions, be reminded that Christ is everything, and that the gospel is all we need for our lives now in Jesus.
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