Through Faith In Jesus Christ

Loopholes

Galatians 2:1–21 ESV

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 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?” We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 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. 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! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 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. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Justified - Dikaioo - Declared Righteous

Dee KI OH

Opening Up Galatians (Justification (vv. 14–21))

The sixteenth-century German Reformer Martin Luther, for example, said of it: ‘This is the truth of the gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, wherein the knowledge of all godliness consisteth. Most necessary is it, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.’

Again, he said, ‘… if the article of justification be lost, then is all true Christian doctrine lost.’

Most memorably of all, he described it as ‘articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae’—‘the article of faith that decides whether the church is standing or falling’.

Deuteronomy 25:1 ESV

“If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty,

SDQ - pronounced sah doc

Proverbs 17:15 ESV

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

We know that God is a right judge. He will clear the innocent and punish the guilty. We need a way to be made right before God.

On what basis can we be made right before the Lord?

Paul argues that it is faith in Christ, not works that will lead to our justification.

License vs. Legalism

Romans 6:1–2 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

James 1:22 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Romans 2:13 ESV

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Be careful that these passages do not get taken out of context.

Saving faith produces godly attributes, Godly attributes do not produce saving faith.

Robby Gallaty once said

“Your lips can lie but Your life cannot”

No Longer I Who Live

This means that it is no longer about my life, it is about His.

Opening Up Galatians (Justification (vv. 14–21))

It is this that makes God’s justification of sinners so astonishing, for the very thing that he condemns in others he himself does, righteous God though he is. He justifies the ungodly. He finds in their favour, granting them the standing before his holy law of righteous men and women, and treats them accordingly. He makes them wholly free from condemnation and heirs instead of eternal life.

If my deliverance relies on anything I have done, I AM LOST

Place your faith in the person and work of Christ.

Galatians 2:16 ESV

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.

Through Faith in Jesus