Galatians 2:15-17

INTRODUCTION

This week

Galatians and Romans have proved to be the most influential and perhaps the most controversial letters.

Luther misunderstood Galatians; so, at least, it can be argued. Galatians is not about “justification by faith,” as Luther and his followers through the centuries have believed. It is about sanctification by faith. It is not about how one gets sins forgiven. It is about how one is to live when that initial forgiveness has been received.

Psalm 143:2 “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous in your sight.”

Romans 2:14 “So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.”

1 Corinthians 9:21 “To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law.”

Matthew 7:7 ““Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”

Because Peter doesn’t appear anymore in the chapter, it is safe to assume that verses 15-21 are not directed specifically to Peter but as a statement of his gospel in miniature (1:1-5), directed to the situation in Galatia.

EXEGESIS

Galatians 2:15 “We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,””

Theologically, Paul knew all people (not just Gentiles) are sinners (Rm 3:23). He was likely using a phrase Gentile sinners that his opponents, who were Jews by birth and apparently conceited about it, used to describe non-Jews. But because of God’s gracious covenant with Israel, the Jews did have certain spiritual advantages.

Gentile sinners, that is, Gentiles who do not even attempt to follow the OT laws and therefore clearly do not live up to them.

Not sinful Gentiles. Eating with sinners (see v. 12 and note) might evoke Jesus’ ministry (Mk 2:15–17).

sinful Gentiles. This is used in the legal sense since Gentiles were sinners by nature because they had no revealed divine written law to guide them toward salvation or living righteously.

This was not only birth but a nurture, a way of life, a heritage, a destiny, and a missionary task that gave the Jew a nature different from sinners of Gentile stock.

The Jew in that day looked upon the Gentile as a sinner. In fact, Gentile and sinner were synonymous terms. Therefore, the rebuke that Paul gave shows the folly of lawkeeping - how really foolish it is.

Paul extracted from Peter the acknowledgment that the two of them, being native Jews and having enjoyed the special advantages of Judaism, including the possession of the Law, had nevertheless been obliged to come to the place of simply trusting Christ for salvation, just as any poor Gentile had to do.

Galatians 2:16 “and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.”

Justification is a legal idea, meaning “to be declared (not made) righteous.” Faith means trusting in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. When Paul speaks of the message we . . . believed, the plural “we” may refer to: (1) “all the brothers” with Paul at that time (1:2); (2) Paul and the Galatians, who believed when they first heard Paul’s preaching (3:2); or (3) both.

“Justified” means “counted righteous” or “declared righteous” by God (see esv footnote). If people were sinless and perfectly obeyed all of God’s perfect moral standards, they could be justified or “declared righteous” on the basis of their own merits. But Paul says that this is impossible for any Gentile or even for any Jew to do (cf. Romans 1–2). we know that a person is not justified by works of the law. Paul saw that Christ had taught justification by faith, and so he called God the one “who justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5). Paul will soon show that this view was taught even in the OT (see Gal. 3:6–18), though it was not the view of most of first-century Judaism. (For example, a 1st-century-B.C.Jewish writing states, “The one who does righteousness stores up life for himself with the Lord, and the one who does wickedness is the cause of the destruction of his own soul” [Psalms of Solomon 9.5]). In Gal. 2:16, “works of the law” means not only circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath, but any human effort to be justified by God by obeying a moral law. faith in Jesus Christ. Some contend that the Greek means the “faithfulness of Jesus Christ.” But “faith in Jesus Christ” seems much more likely since “faith in Jesus Christ” is synonymous with the next phrase, “we also have believed in Christ Jesus.” “But through faith in Jesus Christ” is the opposite of depending on one’s own good deeds for justification, since justification comes through faith in Christ alone. We also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ implies that justification is the result of saving faith. The contrast and not by works of the law shows clearly that no human effort or merit can be added to faith as a basis for justification. (This verse was frequently appealed to in the Reformation by Protestants who insisted on “justification by faith alone” as opposed to the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification by faith plus merit gained through the “means of grace” administered by means of the Roman Catholic sacraments such as penance and the Mass.) Paul concludes decisively: by works of the law no one will be justified (cf. 3:10–14; Acts 13:39; Heb. 10:1–14). On justification, see also notes on Rom. 4:25; Phil. 3:9; James 2:21.

works of the law. Some believe these “works” refer to distinctively Jewish customs such as circumcision and food customs, which had become crucial to Jewish people as identity markers. With others, the phrase more likely refers to all Biblical laws; the distinctive markers may well, however, have been those most prominent in people’s minds.

works . . . faith. Three times in this verse Paul declares that salvation is only through faith in Christ and not by law. The first is general, “a personis not justified”; the second is personal, “we may be justified”; and the third is universal, “no one will be justified.” justified. This basic forensic Gr. word describes a judge declaring an accused person not guilty and therefore innocent before the law. Throughout Scripture it refers to God’s declaring a sinner not guilty and fully righteous before Him by imputing to him the divine righteousness of Christ and imputing the man’s sin to his sinless Savior for punishment (see notes on Ro 3:24; Php 3:8, 9). works of the law.Keeping the law is a totally unacceptable means of salvation because the root of sinfulness is in the fallenness of man’s heart, not his actions. The law served as a mirror to reveal sin, not a cure for it (see notes on 3:22–24; Ro 7:7–13; 1Ti 1:8–11).

By the grace of God (v. 21), the only way to be justified (declared righteous or pardoned) is through faith in Jesus Christ. Any other way allows works, whether keeping the law of Moses or performing good deeds in general, to play a role in justification. This is the main point of Paul’s letter to the Galatians: Salvation or righteousness cannot be obtained by obeying the law. Salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:20).

Law keeping is a hopeless ground for acceptance with God.

{Isn’t it interesting that the one who devoted his life to learning, teaching, and applying the law of Moses is not saying that there is no salvation in it. Likewise, we can tell others that there is no life in anything outside of the person and work of Christ.}

As a Pharisee, Paul had been taught that works of law were deeds done in obedience to the Torah, contrasted with things done according to one’s own will.

To be justified in the Pauline sense means that the sinner is acquitted, accepted, set right with God, saved, despite his crimes. That goes against all earthly court systems.

To say that you have to add anything to faith in Christ absolutely mutilates the gospel.

This is the first time that the word appears in the epistle.

Galatians 2:17 “But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!”

Paul’s opponents in Syrian Antioch and Galatia were apparently depicting his message of being justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone as “lowering” Jews spiritually to the level of being sinners, which somehow would make Christ . . . a promoter of sin (i.e., by making Jews common “sinners”). Paul’s response to this preposterous idea was the strongest possible negation—absolutely not!

found to be sinners. Paul has just discussed how Gentiles are known among Jews as “sinners” (v. 15). When Jewish Christians associate with them, they are liable to the charge from traditionalist Jews of becoming “sinners” themselves. Paul firmly dismisses any such charge.

Paul refutes a potential objection (cf. notes on Ro 2:1–29; 1Co 6:12).

we . . . find ourselves also among the sinners. If the Judaizers’ doctrine was correct, then Paul, Peter, Barnabas, and the other Jewish believers fell back into the category of sinners because they had been eating and fellowshiping with Gentiles, who according to the Judaizers were unclean. promotes sin. If the Judaizers were right, then Christ was wrong and had been teaching people to sin because He taught that food could not contaminate a person (Mk 7:19; cf. Ac 10:13–15). He also declared that all who belong to Him are one with Him and therefore each other (Jn 17:21–23). Paul’s airtight logic condemned Peter, because by his actions he had in effect made it appear as if Christ was lying. This thought is utterly objectionable and causes Paul to use the strongest Gr. negative (“certainly not”; cf. 3:21; Ro 6:1, 2; 7:13).

Living by the law means I must do something to please God, while grace means that God has finished the work for me and all I need do is believe on Christ. Salvation is not by faith in Christ plus something; it is by faith in Christ alone. While church membership and religious activities are good in their place as expressions of faith in Christ, they can never be added to faith in Christ in order to secure eternal life.

It is not only forgiveness of sins, which is subtraction; it is the addition of the righteousness of Christ. He is declared righteous. The righteousness I have is not my own righteousness, because my righteousness is not acceptable; but I have a perfect righteousness which is Christ.

They claim Paul is teaching that to be justified in Christ, it is necessary to abandon the law, and the abandon the law is to become a sinner. That means, in effect, that Christ promotes sin (literally: Christ is the minister or agent of sin). Paul refutes this argument.

APPLICATION

This

Paul’s Opposition to Peter, to Preserve the Truth of the Gospel. Paul had said that he was not a people-pleaser (1:10), and his confrontation with Peter as reported here bears that out. It is unclear when Paul’s speech to Peter stops and his direct address to the Galatians begins again, but 2:15–16 (“We ourselves are Jews by birth”) was surely addressed to Peter.

Paul is not denying that those who are Jews by birth are sinners, as are all Gentiles (see Rom. 3:23). Rather, he is implying that Jews enjoy spiritual privileges (see Rom. 9:4, 5) that should make them more knowledgeable about how to be justified before God (see 3:6; Gen. 15:6). The Jews should have been aware that no person can be declared righteous or justified by obedience to the Law of Moses (3:10–21).

Paul’s rebuke of Peter serves as one of the most dynamic statements in the NT on the absolute and unwavering necessity of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith (see note on Ro 3:24). Peter’s apparent repentance acknowledged Paul’s apostolic authority and his own submission to the truth (cf. 2Pe 3:15, 16).

As his apprentices, we pass through a course of training, from having faith in Christ to have the faith of Christ. As a proclaimer and teacher of the gospel of his kingdom, I do not cease to announce a gospel about Jesus. That remains forever foundational. But I also recognize the need and opportunity to announce the gospel of Jesus (Mark 1:1 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”) - the gospel of the present availability to every human being of life in the Kingdom Among Us. Without that, the gospel about Jesus remains destructively incomplete. (Dallas Willard - The Divine Conspiracy)

Not justified “from works” but for works, as Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10 “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Here Paul makes wonderfully clear how “works” are related to our first experience of salvation (including our justification): it is not “a result of works.” Rather, it happened “for good works.” Justification doesn’t rest on good works; it results in good works. But, while “good works” are not the ground or the instrument of our justification, they are the necessary fruit of justifying faith. Every good tree bears food fruit. This means that justification and sanctification always go together.

Social atmosphere or climate does affect men who are not otherwise held fast in deepest convictions.

3. How he rebuked Peter's inconsistent conduct (2:11-21)               a. The circumstances when giving the rebuke (Galatians 2:11-13)                    i. The fact of his rebuke of Peter (Galatians 2:11)                    ii. The reason for his rebuke of Peter (Galatians 2:12)                    iii. The effect of the inconsistent conduct of Peter (Galatians 2:13)               b. The justification for giving the rebuke (Galatians 2:14-21)                    i. His question of rebuke to Peter (Galatians 2:14)                    ii. His explanation of his doctrinal position (Galatians 2:15-21)                        a. The insufficiency of the law (Galatians 2:15-18)                             1. The discovery of believing Jews about justification (Galatians 2:15-16)                             2. The rejection of a conclusion from Peter's action (Galatians 2:17)                             3. The significance of a return to law-works (Galatians 2:18)                        b. The new life in Christ (Galatians 2:19-21)                             1. The effect of the law led to the new life (Galatians 2:19)                             2. The nature of the new life (Galatians 2:20)                             3. The grace of God nullified by law-keeping (Galatians 2:21)