Faith Makes Us Right (Galatians 2: 15-21) 6/16/13

It’s Father’s Day. This week my thoughts turned to my father. He has been gone from his earthly home for fifteen years now, but as time passes, I seem to become more attuned to his presence. It is as though he has somehow merged with all those things I identify as spiritual about me and there, in that spiritual awareness, I can feel him. It’s hard to explain, but I am aware of my father and not just through memory. Do you sometimes have similar experiences with someone you loved who is no longer part of this world? Perhaps the explanation says more about me than it does about my father. Perhaps during those moments, I am more alive in the Spirit and less bound by earthly limitations. In Scotland, people go to certain spots which are called “thin” places. It is said that there is more chance to be in touch with the spiritual side of our world in these places. Whatever separates earth from heaven is “thinner”. In those times, I feel closer to God, more able to feel his presence in and around me.

How do you acquire right standing with God? In today’s passage, Paul begins to spell out his definition and summary of the gospel. Central to that gospel is justification by faith, a doctrine which is essential to understanding the path to salvation. In this passage, Paul proclaims belief in Christ’s redemptive death as the sole path by which believers can achieve salvation. Christ comes into our hearts and we become new creations. When this is accomplished, we are justified. God can look at us because Christ has justified us. In the eyes of God, we are clean and fresh and holy. Our sins have been bought and paid for. But how do we acquire this justification that Christ paid for? We have only to believe. We believe in Christ and in the message of his life, death and resurrection.

One of my “thin” places is right here on these church grounds. Sometimes, when I need to seek something deeper, I get up from my desk and do a walkabout through the sanctuary or to the cemetery or down to the lake. Somewhere in those moments, I usually find what I am looking for. I find a more solid communication with my Father. But this time, I’m not talking about my earthly father. In such times, I am looking for that solid ground where I can re-enforce my faith with my Heavenly Father.

In Galatia, visiting evangelists had apparently persuaded congregants in the churches there to become Jewish in their religious practices, most notably by circumcision. Paul pleads with them to return to the true gospel. His concern over their being misled is much bigger than a ceremonial rite. To believe what they are preaching is to abandon the gospel.

What Paul understood is what we need to understand. The Gospel is a message about God…not about us. The Gospel tells us how God reconciles us to Him, not how we reconcile ourselves to God. God comes to us and we have only to respond in belief.

Paul renounces the law as an avenue to salvation. This is no ordinary statement. It is a theological declaration of great magnitude. Works have nothing to do with righteousness. Only faith in Jesus Christ can result in salvation. Circumcision and other ritualistic practices of the Jews were just another attempt by men to produce worthy works as an avenue to salvation. Such practices were a stumbling block to understanding the real gospel.

My father forgave me a lot of indiscretions.  As I look back over the things I did and didn’t do growing up, there were many times where only the love of a parent could condone my actions. Forgiveness almost always came quickly. Of course there was punishment. Saying you’re sorry doesn’t do away with the crime or the sin. It just puts you back on the right road again. Even when forgiveness comes quickly, there is still the price to pay for the deed. But as I walked down the path of fatherhood, I finally began to understand the depth of caring and love that my parents had given to me. I never deserved it. I never earned it. It was their gift to me. I passed it on as best I could to my own children. God is like that with his children. That’s why he came up with justification. He cares that much about us.

The book of James, written by the half-brother of Jesus, the leader of the Jerusalem church, was circulating then and it suggested a relationship between faith and works that might seem to have been at odds with Paul’s thought expressed in Galatians. James stated that faith without works was not faith at all. Paul said that we are justified by faith alone. But works for Paul was the evidence of the love that faith inevitably fostered. Galatians actually amplified, rather than challenged, James’ thought. In such way, these two views come together rather than separate.

In today’s passage, Verse 16 is a collection of threes. The terms “justified” and “faith” and the phrase “works of the law” are each used three times. “Justify” is first and it is mostly a Pauline term. It appears thirty five times in the NT and twenty seven belong to Paul. Justified or made right (righteousness) is not a thing earned or made. It is, rather, imputed or declared; in this case by God.   Paul maintains that justification is the gift of God earned not by us, but by Christ. Christ earned it and we are the beneficiaries.

“Works of law” is the second term.  It is used eight times in Paul’s letters, always with justification and typically in contrast with faith.   Here, it seems to point toward all of the Old Testament law, at least the Mosaic Law. That’s pretty big, but the concept is much bigger. This is not just a doctrine for the Jews but for all. Indeed, if Paul were writing today, he might shorten the term to simply “works,” as opposed to faith.

Third in this speech of threes is “faith,” specifically faith in Jesus Christ. We might use it interchangeably here with belief.  This is God’s method for salvation. Faith is the key to justification. Theologian Philip Ryken puts it simply: “How does a person get right with God? Not by keeping God’s law, but by trusting in Jesus Christ.”  

          Paul says we must be crucified with Christ. How do we do this? By living a life of faith in Christ.  This is how a believer is born again. We share death—death to the old order—death to the law—and resurrection to new life, with Christ as the operative power.  The old life in the body, or flesh, or law—is our weakness. Although Christ has told us that the old has passed away, we are not yet fully ushered into the kingdom. This verse is a mirror into the already, but not yet. The kingdom of God has already come, but it is not complete until Christ comes again. The language here becomes very personal. Paul talks about Christ who loves “me,” who gave himself “for me.”  It is no longer ethnic identity or legalism, but relationship with God’s Son that matters, that defines. 

At the end of this passage, Paul restates the case. God’s grace cannot be set aside. To do so would be to return to the law as the basis for salvation. To do that would be to say that Christ’s death was unnecessary, indeed, that Christ died for nothing. But the verdict is in. We are justified, not because of ourselves or our deeds, but because of Christ.

If the law were essential to salvation, if we needed works to save us, then what is the cross all about? Why else would the Son of God go to that end unless to save man? Why else was he sent? Righteousness cannot be through the law or Christ’s death was for nothing. If it is as Paul says and as we believe, that justification is by faith in Jesus Christ, then Christ’s death and the cross mean everything to us. Tim Keller says it this way: “Christ will do everything for you, or nothing. You cannot combine merit and grace. If justification is by the law in any way, Christ’s death is meaningless in history and meaningless to you personally.”  

How to achieve right standing with God was the question.  Paul was not interested in boundary markers or ethnic distinctives then any more than we should be today. There are no entitlements, no birthrights.  It is the hard truth that goodness and accomplishments have no shelf life; indeed, they have no relevance when it comes not only to salvation, but also to living in faith. They are God’s accomplishments and they are God’s gift to us. These are tenets which set Christianity apart from other religions. Justification by faith is a call to make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.  We are totally reliant upon God and our good works are simply acts of love given back to our Savior. Paul used the law itself to show it could not get us home by paraphrasing Psalm 143:2: “because by works of the law, no one will be justified.”

The door of life opens to all who would believe in Christ and accept him as their personal Savior. Christ alone is that door. It will always be about the Cross. This is the true gospel. This is Paul’s message to us. We are justified only by our faith in the One who died for us. By God’s grace we are saved through faith. It is just as if we had not sinned.