14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? 15 We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
Paul delivered to Peter a pointed lecture in theology – the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ supersedes the Law of Moses. Chapters three and four flesh this out more, but his comment here was wry. He pulled no punches. Peter was living two different lives, depending on who was present. Hypocritical!
On the one hand Peter was living like a Gentile, as one apart from the law. This was the natural extension of the gospel of grace, freeing believers up from the yoke of the law. Yet, when the legalists from Jerusalem arrived, he pulled away from the Gentiles, and in effect sent them a message by his behavior. It had the effect of pressuring the Gentiles to follow the law.
When Paul referred to Jews as not being “sinners from among the Gentiles,” he was speaking in the sense of Gentiles not keeping the Law of Moses, and therefore being sinners. The Jews kept the law, at least ostensibly. He went on to say that despite that, justification is not about keeping the Law. That is impossible to do, as he shows later. Justification comes through faith in Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT distinguishing faith from works and it highlights the core issue of justification. Indeed, the book of Galatians has sometimes been referred to as the Magna Carta of the Christian faith. We are freed by the grace of Christ from the bondage of the law. Jews are justified apart from works of the law—this is also true for the Gentiles. So there is no basis for Jewish believers to pull back from non-Jewish believers or to pressure them into keeping the law.
Many “so-called” Christian denominations teach just the opposite, that a person must keep the law in order to be saved. For some it is the requirement of baptism, as a kind of surrogate for circumcision. For others is it giving to charity, doing good or obeying church laws. On an individual basis, many call themselves Christians because they are trying with all their effort to live rightly. But Paul was unequivocal. Justification comes through faith, apart from works. Anything else is “another gospel” and is anathema to God (Gal 1:8-9).
Lord, help me to rest fully in Your grace, knowing that I am accepted, not based on my works which can never be enough. Your grace is sufficient, Amen!
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