Galatians 2:18-21

INTRODUCTION:

Sunflower festival and the bees.

butterfly and metamorphosis

THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST, WE ARE ALIVE TO GOD.

TEXT

Galatians 2:18–21 CSB

18 If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

EXEGESIS:

v 18. “If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.”

Paul warns against trusting in Christ and then returning to live like your acceptance before God is based on following the law

It is one thing when a non-believer lives like a non-believer; but a bigger issue is when a believer acts like a non-believer.

Placing our faith in Jesus as Lord means that you are swearing allegiance to Jesus and not yourself. One throne chair in your heart and your life.

Like a person who is recovering from an addiction. Been sober for X-days/months but fell off the wagon…….

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

Paul meant by his statement through the law I have died to the law that because Jesus died under the law (3:13), Paul was now separated from the law.

Paul tells us why he died to the law: “so that I might live for God.” Not only are we justified by faith, but we live by faith. Paul had no room for a salvation that consists of praying a prayer, supposedly trusting in Jesus, and then living your life the same after that. Impossible. Faith isn’t just for receiving salvation; it’s also for enabling us to live out salvation. We live every day, every moment, by faith.

It means we die to sin—its penalty, power, and dominion. All our sin—past, present, and future—has been paid for on the cross. Christ has taken all of it. So when a Christian sins, God doesn’t say, “You’re not justified anymore.” No, your justification is sealed; you have died to sin. God’s declaration is final.

v 20. “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Although the OT spoke of the Spirit empowering God’s servants (e.g., Nu 11:25; 27:18), the experience of Christ’s life active in believers indicates even fuller identification.

By faith, the believer is united to Christ; everything that belongs to Christ is transferred to the believer, and everything that belonged to the believer is transferred to Christ. In this regard, the death of Christ, his crucifixion, becomes the death of the believer. Therefore, through the death of Christ, the believer is freed from the demands and curse of the law. This is why Paul says that he was crucified with Christ. However, notice how Paul goes on to say that Christ now lives in him. In other words, it was the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that enabled Paul to live by faith in Christ, not his own efforts to merit justification by obedience.

You don’t just believe intellectually that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. No, when you place your faith in Christ, you die with Christ. Your heart of stone is crushed, your pride is shattered, and your life is surrendered. You die to your old self that was dominated by sin.

Christ is in us. And the Christian life is not so much about you and I living for Christ as it is trusting Christ to live for us and through us and in us.

The best commentary on this text may be Jn 15:1-17. Being in Christ is tied inseparably and mystically to our radical union with Christ in his death and resurrection. It is a life lived by faith in the Son of God. We let Christ direct our thoughts and actions. We bury selfish interests in the interest of Christ.

This is Christianity: believing Christ to be everything you need for every moment you live. You live by faith in the Son of God.

Death and resurrection is the rhythm of the Christian life. Baptism marks the death of the old person and the miraculous beginning of a new life under the banner of the resurrection. So Paul declares, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

v 21.“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”

If the believer’s justification is based upon the work of Christ and the obedience of the believer, then Christ came in vain. In other words, the work of Christ is insufficient to save and requires augmentation—the addition of the believer’s obedience. If the false teachers are correct, then Christ did not secure salvation for anyone, but only the possibility or opportunity for salvation to those willing to complete their salvation with their own good works. This, however, is the farthest thing from the truth. This is why Paul calls the Galatian heresy a false gospel. Christ did not come to give people the possibility or the chance at salvation; he came to save his people from the wrath of God: actually, finally, completely, eternally, and immutably.

woman at festival who believes that there is a nugget of truth in it all and just be a good person.….

APPLICATION:

So how do you please God? How can you obey all these radical commands of Christ that we see in the Gospels and throughout the New Testament? The answer is you can’t. You need Christ to do it. And He’s there. So trust Him. And realize that God’s pleasure in you is not based on your performance for Him; instead, God’s pleasure in you is based on Christ’s performance for you. And remember, even after we have been accepted by God, our good works are still the result of Christ’s work in us. We must trust Him daily to produce in us that which pleases God.

The more we exercise faith in Christ the more he is free to live through us! We need to submit to His Lordship.