![]() And Paul figures that if there was any way on earth that people could get righteousness by keeping laws, then Jesus died in vain - and that is simply unthinkable. There is a contrast: Either righteousness is based on the law, or it is based on grace. Paul concludes: “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (v. This emphasis on Christ does not promote sin - it promotes a radically God-centered life. Christ gave himself to save Paul, and when Paul started to believe that, he abandoned his own agenda for life and began to live for God, letting his life be directed by Christ. The reference point for Paul’s life is not the law, but the fact that the Son of God loved Paul and gave himself to save not just the whole world, but for Paul himself. Whatever good he does, even his faith/fulness, is from Christ living in him. He was united with Christ in his crucifixion, and he is united with Christ in his resurrection. Paul considers all his previous merits as good as dead (see Philippians 3:7), and his life has value now only as it is empowered by Christ, only as it is in union with Christ. That old approach was flawed, and it died with Christ. Paul no longer views himself as an individual trying his best to keep the laws of God. 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” (v. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Paul explains his new outlook on life: “I have been crucified with Christ. Paul will elaborate on that in the last third of his letter. But this does not mean that we are free to live however we please - rather, it means that we are to live for God. Since we died with Christ, the law has exacted its penalty on us. Christ suffered the worst penalty of the law on our behalf, and it has no further claim on us. Elsewhere, Paul explains that people die to the law through Christ (Romans 6:3 7:4). His point seems to be about sin and the law, for his next statement is: “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God” (v. An inconsistency would prove that Paul broke the law either before or after his change. It seems that Paul was accused of being inconsistent, but it isn’t clear what he is referring to. Paul’s next statement is puzzling: “For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor” (v. (The opponents were apparently saying that Paul’s gospel encouraged people to sin.) God accepts us even though we are sinners, but his pardon should not be interpreted as permission to sin. When we trust in Christ rather than ourselves, we admit that we are sinners, and that we cannot be declared righteous on our own merits. We are justified in Christ, by being united with him, so that he shares his righteousness with us. Paul asks, “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!” (v. ![]() Does that mean that God doesn’t care whether we sin? No. Jews are not required to eat Gentile foods, but they should be willing to sit down at the same table! A perfect source of righteousness The implication here is that since Jews and Gentiles are accepted by God on the same basis, for the same reason, then they ought to accept one another. That is why the Jewish believers, like the Gentiles, put their trust in Christ, not in themselves. ![]() ![]() We cannot claim to be righteous on our own merits - if we are going to be declared righteous, it must be on some other basis. Even those who try to keep the law cannot be justified by doing the law, because everyone fails at some point or another. Paul uses their terminology, but turns it around. Rather, his opponents were using the word, saying that people could be justified (or declared righteous) only by keeping the law. This negative way of introducing the term suggests that it was not Paul’s original way of explaining the gospel. Paul’s first statement about “justification” is that it does not come through the law. ![]() Paul explains that Jews are saved by faith, not by keeping the law: “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” (vv. Epistles: Justified by Faith, Not by Law (Galatians 2:15-21) ![]()
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