The Gracious Gift of Faith

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. – Galatians 3:23-29 ESV

There is an interesting thing going on in these verses. Paul is discussing faith and juxtaposing it against any kind of merit-based salvation. He contrasts the faith that is required to believe in Jesus and accept Him as your Savior with the false gospel of a works-based faith being taught by the Judaizers. But if we're not careful, we could easily turn faith itself into a kind of works that is based on our own human effort. We could easily make salvation all about our faith and wrongfully conclude that it is still about us having to do something to merit salvation. That wrong assumption can lead to some false and very faulty outcomes. 

If salvation is dependent upon the degree of our faith, it could result in a dangerous atmosphere of comparison and competition among believers. It is a natural human tendency to compare oneself with others. But when applied to salvation, this can produce a false sense of pride or an unhelpful attitude of unworthiness. When faith becomes the object rather than a means of salvation, we miss the point of God’s grace and mercy.  Comparing the amount or degree of our faith with other Christians is counterproductive and takes the focus off Christ’s fully sufficient sacrifice on our behalf.

Paul wrote, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT). This applies to our faith as well. Faith is not a self-produced commodity that we bring to the table. We don’t manufacture it and can’t make more of it. Yet, we wrestle with the size of our faith and wonder if it is large enough, strong enough, or sincere enough. But in verse 23, Paul states, “Now before faith came we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed."

Is Paul talking about the revealing of their faith? He tells them that they were being held prisoner under the law "until the coming faith would be revealed." Is Paul saying that they were prisoners until they could muster enough faith to believe? Had the ball been in their court all along, and they just didn't have enough faith?

More and more New Testament scholars have come to the conclusion that the faith Paul is talking about is the faith of Christ, not faith in Christ. When Paul says, "Now before faith came," he is speaking of the faith of Christ, or better yet, the faithfulness of Christ. It was Christ's faithfulness to God and His faith in God that qualified Him to be our sinless substitute on the cross. He was completely faithful to the law, and He never wavered in faith or doubted the plan of God for His life. He was obedient to the point of death. His faith in God was so great that He willingly gave His life, knowing that God would raise Him up three days later. It is the faith and faithfulness of Christ that set us free, not our own limited faith.

Look closely at verse 24: "Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ..." Our subjection to the law was in place until Christ came. He is the one who set us free. It is belief or faith in His faithfulness that is the point here. In verse 25, Paul says, "But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian." Now that Jesus has come and lived a perfect life of faith, faithfully keeping the law of God and obediently following the will of God, He has satisfied the just penalty that God had imposed on mankind.

Jesus has provided a way for us to be made right with God. We can be declared righteous, not based on anything we have done on our own, but simply by having faith in the faithfulness of Christ. We must believe that what He has done has been effective and requires nothing more from us. In verse 26, Paul writes, "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith." While our faith certainly plays a role, it is the object of our faith that must be the focus. It is the faithfulness of Christ that gives our faith its power. Paul seems to be saying that if the Galatian believers put their faith in the wrong thing – like circumcision – it will be ineffective.

What gives our faith its saving power is the faith of Christ, exhibited in His death on the cross. It is not the size, but the object of my faith that matters.

It is not the size, but the object of our faith that matters.

Prior to Christ's coming, a Jew could put as much faith as he wanted in the hope that obedience to the law could save him, but it would never happen. The Pharisees had faith in the law. They had faith in their own ability to keep the law, but their faith was misplaced. They were making it all about them when Jesus told them that it had to be all about Him.

Our faith must rest in the faith and faithfulness of Christ. It is our belief in what He has done that saves us, not the size or sufficiency of our faith. Yet, this seems to fly in the face of a statement that Jesus made to His disciples after they were unable to cast out a demon from a young boy. The disappointed and disillusioned disciples, asked, “Why could we not cast it out?” (Matthew 17:19 ESV), and Jesus replied, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20 ESV). 

Is Jesus emphasizing their lack of faith? Is His point that their faith was too small? Matthew uses the Greek word apistia to describe the disciples' faith. The letter “a” at the beginning of the word can be translated as “no.” The disciples had no faith or, to put it another way, they were wanting in faith. Earlier, Jesus had sent out His disciples with the following order: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Matthew 10:8 ESV). But when faced with the challenge of casting out the demon from the possessed boy, they failed. It had nothing to do with the size or quantity of their faith; it was all about their failure to recognize their need for the power that was only available from Jesus. 

“The disciples were treating the gift of healing that Jesus had given them as a magical ability that worked regardless of their faith in Him. Now they learned that their power depended on proper response to revelation, namely, dependent confidence in Jesus to work through them to heal. Continual dependence on Jesus rather than simply belief in who He is constitutes strong faith.” – Thomas L. Constable, Notes on Matthew

Faith is not about self-effort, and saving faith is never self-produced. Human faith is a powerless faith. It cannot save because it is contaminated by a fallen, sin-prone nature. Jesus Himself stated, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44 ESV). Philippians 1:29 reveals that the ability to believe in Jesus has to be granted by God. It is a gracious gift bestowed on sinful men by a merciful, loving God. 

It was He who accomplished that which sets us free from the law. In verse 27, Paul tells us that we have been clothed in Christ. We now wear His righteousness, not our own. It is that fact on which we place our faith. I stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and do not have to depend on my feeble attempts to manufacture righteousness. Apart from Christ, all my best efforts are as filthy rags in God's eyes (Isaiah 64:6). But thankfully, I don't have to place faith in my efforts, but in the faithfulness of Christ alone. And even my faith is a gift from God, producing in me a capacity to see and hear the truth of the gospel and accept the gracious offer of new life through His Son.

Father, never let me mistakenly make all this about my faith. It is not the degree of my faith that counts, but the object of that faith. Don't let me try and take credit for anything I do because it is all about what Christ has done for me. It is because He was faithful that I can even have faith. He has provided me an object in which to place my faith that can actually deliver the newness of life He made possible. Thank You Father for the gracious gift of faith. Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling – by faith. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. – Galatians 3:1-14 ESV

This was obviously a massive issue for Paul, as he continues to discuss it well into the body of his letter. He is going out of his way to let the Gentiles know that there is nothing more that they need other than their faith in Christ. These men, who had shown up declaring that the salvation of the Galatian believers was incomplete because they had failed to convert to Judaism, were, in Paul's eyes, false brothers. If what they taught is what they really believed, they weren't true believers at all, because their gospel was false.

They somehow believed that their "Jewishness" put them ahead of the curve. After all, they thought, Jesus had been a Jew who had kept the law and obeyed all the ceremonial requirements, and so had His disciples. So if someone wanted to be one of His followers, they concluded, he had to become a Jew. In their minds, the Jews were the chosen people of God.

But Paul puts that logic to rest. First, because that is not what Jesus taught.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” – John 5:24 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” – John 6:27 ESV

Secondly, the good news had always been based on faith, not works. Long before the law had been given, God declared Abraham righteous because of his faith, not because of his obedience or adherence to any laws or requirements. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God's way. For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith’ (Romans 4:1-3 NLT).

Paul used the patriarch of the Hebrew people as an example of faith. He wasn’t chosen by God because he was Jewish. He wasn’t seen as righteous by God because he kept the law. After all, the law didn’t even exist yet. He wasn’t even deemed righteous by God because he had been circumcised. Paul goes on to elaborate on this vital distinction.

Was he counted righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous – even before he was circumcised. – Romans 4:10-11 NLT).

Lawkeeping has a particular attraction to us as human beings. It appeals to our pride and sense of self-accomplishment. From the time we are children, we are trained to aspire to get the gold star on our homework or the A+ on our paper. We are driven to make it onto the winning team. We become obsessed with achievement and recognition for our efforts. This attitude infiltrates and permeates every facet of our lives, even the spiritual dimension.

We look for ways to measure up and can actually end up competing with others to see who is the most spiritual. We use criteria such as quiet time, prayer, service, giving, Bible study attendance, and biblical knowledge to achieve some degree of righteousness and demonstrate our spiritual depth. But Paul warned the Galatian believers, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life” (Galatians 3:11 NLT).

Studying the Bible, prayer, service, and giving are all evidence of a life of faith, not the means to get there. These things don’t make us right in God’s eyes, because we can’t earn His favor or acceptance through our own efforts. As believers, we do these things because of our faith in His Son and our acceptance of His gift of salvation made possible through His death on the cross. We read the Bible to get to know God and His Son better. We pray so that we might share with and hear from Him. We serve because His Son served us and left us an example to follow. We give because God has so graciously provided for us, and we have been called to share with others out of that abundance.

It is so easy to let an attitude of earning based on effort creep into our spiritual lives. Paul is warning us to be wary of works, not to avoid them altogether. His message is that faith leads to righteousness, and any works we perform are a byproduct of that reality. Belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior is the only requirement God has placed on us. Our obedience to His laws or commands is based on an attitude of gratitude, not earning or merit. We have nothing to prove to God. We have nothing we need to do to make God love us any more than He already does. We don't have anything we need to do to keep God pleased with us. He loved us even when we were still trapped in our own sinfulness and sent His Son to die for us. God didn't save us because we deserved it, and it takes genuine faith to believe that.

The Galatians didn’t need circumcision to complete their salvation. What they needed was continued faith in the grace and goodness of God. He wasn’t done yet. Paul knew that the Galatians had not yet arrived. Their salvation had been accomplished but their sanctification was a work in process. God, through the indwelling presence and power of His Spirit, was molding each of His children into the likeness of His Son; a process that the apostle John said will one day be made complete when Jesus returns.

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3 NLT

Father, salvation by faith alone is so counter-intuitive. It goes against our human reasoning. It makes no sense. Nobody gets something for nothing. Everything in life has to be earned. But You have made salvation a gift. You gave us Your Son in spite of us, not because of us. You gave us what we could never have earned or ever deserved. And it takes faith to believe that. Help us to continue to replace faith in ourselves with faith in Your Son. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Nothing More, Nothing Less

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 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. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 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; 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.

17 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. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 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. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. – Galatians 2:11-21 ESV

To some, this whole confrontation between Paul and the Judaizers may appear overblown. Paul may come across as petty and too harsh in his opinions. After all, how can he be so sure that he's right and everyone else is wrong? Aren't they welcome to their own opinions? Can't there be more than one way for people to be made right with God? According to Paul, no. And he has already made it perfectly clear why he could be so adamant in his opinion, because it was not his opinion; it was the word of God given to him by Jesus Christ Himself. For Paul, this was serious stuff. It wasn't just a matter of a difference of opinion; it was a case of truth versus falsehood and the word of God versus the lies of the enemy. Paul was so firm on this point that he was willing to confront one of the recognized leaders of the early church, the former disciple of Jesus, Peter.

On a visit to the region of Galatia, Peter had sat down and eaten a meal with Paul and some of the Gentile Christians, even though the men in this group were uncircumcised and not converts to Judaism. But later, when some Jewish friends of James, another former disciple of Jesus, came to Antioch, Peter snubbed the Gentile Christians, refusing to associate with them. It seems that Peter did not want to offend his Jewish comrades. Evidently, these men were not willing to associate with the Gentile believers because they were uncircumcised and, therefore, unclean.

Peter's actions appalled Paul, and despite Peter's rock star status in the early church, Paul confronted him. As far as Paul was concerned, Peter’s actions gave credence to the message of the Judaizers and led others to believe that faith in Christ was not enough. But Paul made his position on the matter clear: "Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law" (Galatians 2:17 NLT). Case closed. Because otherwise, if these Gentile believers had come to salvation through faith in Christ alone, and then discovered that they were actually sinners because they had refused to keep the law, then the message Jesus had given Paul would have been the impetus or cause of their sin.

As far as Paul was concerned, that was ridiculous and impossible. Jesus never taught that salvation was some combination of faith in Him PLUS adherence to the Jewish law. The law was never meant to save anyone. It simply revealed the full extent of man's sinfulness. The law was intended to stand as a standard of God's righteous expectations. It was the measuring stick by which He judged the righteousness of men, and no one measured up. No one kept the law in its entirety. The law exposed man's sinfulness and revealed just how far he fell short of God's righteous standard. Paul wrote, "For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me" (Galatians 2:19 NLT).

But Jesus came to fulfill the law. He took on human flesh, lived as a man, and kept the law of God to perfection. He did what no other man could have ever done. He satisfied the righteous standard of God, which is what made Him the perfect sinless sacrifice, worthy to offer His life as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 ESV). He willingly laid down his sinless life as payment for mankind’s sins. And when He died, those sins were crucified with Him.

Our old selves, our sinful selves, were put to death, and by dying with Christ, we were freed from having to keep the law as a means of maintaining a right standing with God.. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ" (Romans 7:4 NLT). As a result, we no longer have to try to keep all the requirements of the law to be made right with God. Salvation is not about self-effort; it is about faith in Christ alone. To try to add to this message or require anything more for salvation to be available is to treat the grace of God as meaningless and the death of Christ as insufficient.

For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. – Galatians 2:21 NLT

But He did die because He had to. It was a necessity.

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. – Acts 4:12 NLT

As Augustus Toplady wrote in his well-known hymn, Rock of Ages, there is nothing we can bring to God that will make ourselves acceptable in His sight. We must simply cling to the cross of Christ and rest in His saving grace.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.  – Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me, Augustus Toplady, 1740-1778

Father, man is always trying to figure out a way to play a more significant role in his own salvation. We so desperately want to earn or deserve Your grace. We want a set of rules to keep or standards to live up to. But we can't even keep the rules we make, let alone the righteous standard You demand. And yet, You offer us a restored relationship with You through Jesus Christ, completely apart from our own self-effort. But we can’t seem to stop adding things to the equation. Help us grasp the unbelievable nature of what Christ made possible through His death. He is the key to our salvation, nothing more, nothing less. There's nothing more that needs to be done. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

It Always Comes Back to Grace

11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. – Galatians 6:11-18 ESV

The fear of man has always been a real-life, everyday problem for believers and non-believers alike. Everyone fears being rejected, disliked, misunderstood, or mistreated for their views. Our deep-seated desire for attention and affection sometimes drives us to do and say things that go against what we believe. We don’t want to be the odd man out so we tend to give in rather than stand up for our beliefs. Peer pressure is a powerful force in every person’s life, and Paul knew that. He was fully aware that following Christ put a target on the back of every believer. Bearing the cross of Christ was a costly endeavor that often brought His followers rejection and ridicule, including his brothers and sisters in Galatia.

Paul had first-hand experience with persecution and rejection. As a Jew and a former member of the sect of the Pharisees, he faced intense backlash when news of his conversion to Christianity became known. His entire public ministry as an apostle of Jesus Christ had been marked by conflict and the constant temptation to give in to the fear of men by compromising the gospel message and disobeying his divine calling.

Yet Paul had stood his ground, refusing to allow his fear of man to get the better of him. But he couldn’t say the same thing for the Judaizers, those individuals who were demanding that all Gentile converts undergo the Jewish rite of circumcision to validate their salvation. According to Paul, their zealous efforts to persuade the Galatian believers were motivated by the fear of man. The party of the circumcision, as Paul referred to them, were Jews who confessed to being followers of Christ, but Paul insists that they were promoting circumcision out of fear of rejection by their fellow Jews.

Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. – Galatians 6:12 NLT

Paul insisted that these Jewish Christians feared being persecuted and ridiculed for putting all their hope and faith in the cross of Christ alone. To do so would require them to reject their dependence upon the law and their reliance upon their own self-effort to justify themselves before God. Their commitment to the doctrine of faith alone in Christ alone would make them social pariahs among their Jewish brethren, and they were not willing to endure that kind of rejection.

But Paul pointed out the absurdity of their logic.

…even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples. – Galatians 6:13 NLT

They were more concerned with what their fellow Jews thought of them than they were with how God would perceive their actions. This was man-pleasing at its ugliest. Paul knew that their message had a deadly side-effect that would lead people away from the saving knowledge of faith in Christ alone. For Paul, the message of salvation had nothing to do with works or human effort. It could not be earned. It was a grace gift provided by God Almighty Himself. This is what led Paul to append the following line to the end of his letter: “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14 ESV).

Paul wasn’t going to boast about his Hebrew heritage, his resumé as a Pharisee, his education under Gamaliel, the great Hebrew rabbi, or his missionary exploits. At one point he confessed, “But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me – and not without results” (1 Corinthians 15:10 NLT).  Paul had been transformed by the saving work of Jesus Christ. His efforts on behalf of the gospel were the result of the Spirit within him, not his own efforts.

The primary issue threatening the Galatians believers was that of circumcision. But Paul said, “It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation by faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:15 NLT).

This rule or principle regarding the efficacy of the gospel would bring peace and mercy to all who lived by it. Giving in to the false message of the Judaizers would result in guilt, shame, and a never-ending attempt to win favor with God through self-effort. Paul found that choice appalling. He also wanted his readers to know that he was anything but a man-pleaser. He had suffered greatly in his effort to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentile world, and he had the physical and emotional scars to prove it. He closed his letter with the words, “I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus” (Galatians 6:17 NLT).

The message of faith in Christ is a difficult one for people to understand and even harder to accept. It sounds absurd. The story of God taking on human flesh, dying on the cross, and being raised from the dead sounds crazy to most who hear it. Yet for Paul, it was the truth. Over the course of his ministry, he had seen it transform his life and the lives of thousands of others. The gospel was not just a message, but a powerful force for change in the world, and he believed in it wholeheartedly and preached it unapologetically.

He told the believers in Rome who were living under the persecution of the Roman government, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 ESV).

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because he believed in its life-transformative power. He was willing to suffer ridicule and rejection at the hands of men because he had placed his hope and trust in the promises of God. He wanted every believer in Christ to know the joy of living with their faith placed firmly in the saving work of Jesus Christ and the future redemption promised to them by God. Their hope was never to waver from the simple message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. This is what led Paul to close out his letter with the following words of encouragement.

May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God. – Galatians 6:16 NLT

The Galatians were already the new people of God; they didn’t require a physical change to their bodies or a set of rules and regulations to obey. Their lives had been transformed by the power of the gospel and nothing else was needed to guarantee their membership in God’s family. In the end, all they needed was a reminder of the reality of grace.

…may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. – Galatians 6:18 NLT

With this closing line, Paul returned to the opening theme of his letter.

May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen. – Galatians 1:3-5 NLT

All the glory belonged to God because He made salvation possible. It was His grace that made the incarnation possible; He willingly sent His Son as the payment for mankind’s sin debt. And Jesus, in full compliance with His Father’s will, fulfilled the divine plan by serving as the sacrificial substitute whose sinless life satisfied the just demands of His Heavenly Father. Jesus willingly gave His life in the place of sinful men and women, so that they might be justified before God and declared righteous in His sight. And it was all the result of grace, not human effort. It was a gift freely given, not a reward for good behavior.

Paul closed his letter with a reminder of God’s grace. Salvation wasn’t available for purchase or accessible through good works, and Paul wanted the believers in Galatia to refocus their attention on the irrefutable nature of God’s redeeming grace. This was the same message he conveyed to the believers in Ephesus.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT

Their salvation was secure and nothing else, including circumcision, was required. As long as they continued to embrace grace, the Galatians could resist the fear of man and the false teaching of the Judaizers. They could live as the new people of God, empowered by His Spirit and fully confident in the promise of their future reward of eternal life. 

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

By Faith Alone

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 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. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 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; 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. – Galatians 2:11-16 ESV

During the early days of the church’s growth after Pentecost, there was a natural or, better yet, supernatural division of responsibilities. Peter, along with James and John, “had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised” (Galatians 2:7b ESV). Yet Paul wrote, “I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised” (Galatians 2:7a ESV). Jesus had given Paul his commission and declared Paul to be “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15 ESV).

God had divided up the task of disseminating the gospel, but He would not tolerate a dividing of the gospel message. It would be by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That is why Paul claimed, “…when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (Galatians 2:11 ESV). Those are bold words and can come across as a bit arrogant, but they simply reflect Paul’s determination to proclaim the gospel message he had received from Jesus Himself. As a former Pharisee, he knew all too well the pantheon of rules and regulations associated with Judaism. Paul still considered himself to be a faithful Jew. But he knew that when it came to salvation and man’s justification before God, the works of the law were worthless, “because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16 ESV).

Paul’s primary issue with Peter was his hypocrisy. When Peter came to Antioch to witness the ministry firsthand, he gladly associated with the Gentile believers, even eating with them. But when a group of men showed up who represented “the circumcision party,” Peter disassociated himself from the Gentiles. Paul does not provide the identities of these men but indicates that they had been sent by James, the de facto head of the church in Jerusalem. They could have been members of the church in Jerusalem.

What made all of this so confusing and frustrating for Paul was that the leaders of the Jerusalem church had given Paul their official seal of approval.

James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. – Galatians 2:9 NLT

This letter was likely written before the Jerusalem Council, a gathering of church leaders to discuss the matter of circumcision. There were those among the Jewish Christians who believed that circumcision was a necessary requirement for a Gentile to be welcomed into the faith community. Paul and Barnabas would be a part of this event and present their side of the argument. But they would face stiff opposition from the other camp.

But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” – Acts 15:5 ESV

But long before this seminal event took place, Paul was forced to confront Peter about his duplicity. When members of the circumcision party arrived in town, Peter altered his behavior, choosing to disassociate from those he had earlier embraced. Peter’s course reversal irritated Paul because it sent a mixed message to the Gentile believers. Peter’s actions would have brought into question the validity of their salvation, and Paul was not willing to let that go unchallenged. To make matters worse, Peter’s decision influenced Barnabas and the other Jewish believers in the church to follow his example. They withdrew from fellowship with the uncircumcised Gentiles as well, creating a rift in the local faith community. Peter’s face-saving decision ended up dividing the body of Christ and Paul would not stand for it – regardless of Peter’s position as the elder statesman of the apostles.

As far as Paul was concerned, Peter stood condemned. He was guilty as charged. Paul boldly claimed, “their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:14 ESV). They were guilty of adding unnecessary requirements to the gospel, and were, in essence, preaching a different gospel.

Paul had opened his letter with these words of warning:

…there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. – Galatians 1:7-8 ESV

Peter’s actions were hypocritical and ultimately divisive. They caused the Gentile believers to doubt their salvation. Since they had not been circumcised, they were tempted to see themselves as somehow lesser Christians or perhaps, not Christians at all. They would have also wondered why Paul had not told them about circumcision if it was a non-negotiable requirement for salvation. So Paul’s ministry and message were at risk of being undermined.

But for Paul, there was no question about the truth of his message. He was confident that salvation was through faith in Christ alone. Circumcision was not necessary. He even reminded Peter and the other Jews, “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” (Galatians 2:16 ESV).

Paul made this same claim in his letter to the Romans:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.– Romans 3:21-25 ESV

Paul would stubbornly hold to his belief that salvation could only be received by faith. No human effort was required. No rules had to be obeyed or rituals observed. Nothing was to be added to the offer of salvation. There were to be no addendums or alterations of any kind. Salvation was the work of God, not men. We bring nothing to the table. We are made right with God not by what we do, but by what Christ has done for us. All men stand before God as sinful and worthy of condemnation. His judgment against our sin is just and righteous. Our penalty of death is well-deserved and well within HIs rights to enforce as the righteous judge of the universe. But He provided a means by which all men, including Jews and Gentiles, might be restored to a right relationship with Him, despite themselves.

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 NLT

Faith alone in Christ alone. That is the only requirement.

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. – Romans 3:28-30 ESV

We are made right with God by believing in what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross. He died so that we might live. He rose again so that we might have eternal life. He has done it all.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.