17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, as Paul writes in Romans 3:23. However, that is not his point here. In context “sinners” refers to the Gentiles who do not keep the Law of Moses. What he is saying here is that, according to the legalist’s thinking, if in the process of being justified in Christ through faith, people are led to freedom from the law—which the Jews would consider sinful—then believing in and following Christ would in fact be encouraging sinfulness.
First, the legalists’ way of reasoning would mean Christ Himself encourages sin, for His Gentile followers have not embraced circumcision and the Mosaic Law. Paul responds to this with a tight, concise retort—me gnoita (“may it never be”). He frequently used this explosive phrase in the book of Romans when addressing objections to justification by grace (Rom 3:4, 6:2 etc.)
Second, if Paul began to require circumcision and the law, then he would be essentially admitting guilt to transgressing the law by not having required it before then. He would be rebuilding the message of the gospel to require the law, something he had tried hard to not do (i.e. to destroy).
However, Paul had already gone on the line by saying that anyone who preached a different gospel (and that would include those who preached a gospel which required circumcision) is to be cursed (anathema) (Gal 1:8-9) Furthermore, in his own life, he “died to the Law” and this came about “through the Law,” so that he might “live to God.” In other words, by living the way of the Law, he discovered his inability to live fully the way the law circumscribed and therefore became spiritually dead, the law did not have the intended effect in his life, thus he “died to the Law.” However, the happy result was his living for God, something the law could not accomplish. Of course, this came about through faith in Christ. As Paul said on his first missionary tour, “… everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses” (Acts 13:39).
Someone has said a majority of people attending Christian churches today are unsaved, still trying to merit their salvation by keeping the commandments. Let each of us examine our heart to see if we really do believe.
Lord, thank You for setting me free from the law of sin and judgment. Your grace is wonderfully sufficient and I praise and worship You for this, Lord!
Another great one Chuck! My constant need is for the gospel, to have it always set before me. Thanks for doing that!