This blog series has begun to explore how the book of Galatians has been misunderstood by most evangelical Christians. Written around 48 AD, Galatians is probably the Apostle Paul’s very first canonical letter, and certainly the first place that he expounds his famous doctrine of “justification by faith.”
Evangelicals have long thought that Paul is confronting the Galatian Christians for trying to add their own good works to what Jesus has already accomplished through his sacrificial death on the cross. What they need to do is to simply have “faith” (passive belief/trust) in Jesus’ saving work without attempting to add their own efforts. They can then be justified (or declared righteous) based purely upon their “faith” in Jesus rather than in their “works.” This formulation has been cherished by Protestant Christians since the time of Martin Luther, who launched the Reformation by posting his famous 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
As the last two blogs have noted, when we carefully read Galatians, we discover that the true meaning of justification by faith is very different from the formulation given above.
It’s crucial to recognize that the main problem Paul faced did not involve a dichotomy between passive trust in Jesus (“faith”) versus active effort (“works”). Rather, the true conflict involved the Apostle Peter & other Jewish Christians excluding Gentile Christians from full inclusion & fellowship in the church. The key verse is Galatians 2:14, where Paul critiques Peter by asking, “How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”
The dispute centered on the question: “What defines the people of God?” For over a thousand years, circumcision functioned as the symbol of inclusion in the people of Israel. Circumcision signified that a person was member of the covenant God made with the descendants of Jacob.
Of course, the Old Testament prophets made it abundantly clear that circumcision alone wasn’t enough. What God truly sought was genuine covenant faithfulness. Israel had been called by God to be his special people, set apart from all the other nations. They were required to worship the one true God and obey his commandments.
In his final speech to the Israelites, the prophet Moses declared, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13) Moses went on to insist that the Israelites must “circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” (Deuteronomy 10:16) Circumcision of the heart may strike us as an odd turn of phrase. But its meaning ought to be clear: Moses was emphasizing that the sign of circumcision must be accompanied by actual obedience.
But all this had been radically changed by the death & resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. No longer would the people of God be recognized by their adherence to the Torah, or “works of the law.” God had always intended to call for himself people from every nation. But the Torah limited covenant membership to the Jews alone, effectively shutting out the Gentiles. By his death and resurrection, Jesus had been enthroned as the Messiah, God’s anointed king over all creation. Membership in God’s new covenant people was now based upon loyalty to the Messiah (“faith in Christ”) and was therefore available to all people, not just Jews.
By demanding that the Gentiles be circumcised, Peter was clinging to the past. But this was tantamount to denying that Jesus had died for the sins of the whole world and had been enthroned as God’s sovereign king over all peoples.
Paul writes, “We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners” know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah.” (Galatians 2:15) The end of this verse if often translated “…but by faith in Jesus the Messiah.” The Greek phrase is pisteos Christou Iesou. Importantly, pisteos refers, not just to faith in the sense of passive belief, but to the more active concept of faithfulness, loyalty or allegiance. Paul’s emphasis at this moment is not our response to Jesus (which he will address shortly) but in Jesus’ own faithfulness.
The key is to recognize the larger scriptural narrative that Paul has in mind. Israel had been called to be God’s image bearers, offering God the worship & obedience he requires so that they might enjoy His blessing and the creation might flourish. But the Old Testament demonstrate that Israel had manifestly failed to fulfill her vocation. Even so, Israel’s unfaithfulness would not thwart God’s saving purposes. The task of Israel had ultimately fallen upon Jesus the Messiah. He was the faithful Israelite who offered God complete obedience. And he was the true human being who perfectly reflected God’s image.
Our justification therefore rests upon the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. Justification means that a person has been made “righteous” or “set right.” If we want to be set right & become the genuine human beings that God created us to be, Jesus is our model. He is the truly righteous one.
But how can his righteousness become ours? That question Paul addresses in the second half of Galatians 2:16: “So we, too, have given our loyalty to Jesus the Messiah that we may be justified by the faithfulness of the Messiah and not by the works of the law, because by works of the law no flesh will be justified.”
This verse is often translated “So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus…” This translation misleads many Christians into thinking that justification rests upon simple belief. As we shall see, that is not at all the case. It’s far better to recognize that Paul is referring to a whole-person response of loyalty or allegiance to Jesus.
The gospel announces Jesus as the Messiah, God’s anointed king. The appropriate response isn’t merely to “believe” that Jesus is the king, but to submit to him in loyal obedience. When we faithfully follow and imitate Jesus, his righteousness becomes ours, not just as an abstract status, but as a concrete reality. Paul will shortly elaborate on how exactly this works out.
But he finishes verse 16 by asserting, “by works of the law no flesh (Greek: pasa sarx) will be justified.” Most evangelicals misread this phrase, in part because of translation. For example, the NIV reads “by works of the law no one will be justified.” “No one” sounds as if Paul is making a general statement about all humanity, that no good behavior can justify us in God’s sight.
However, Paul’s meaning is quite different. Paul is specifically referring to the people of Israel, attempting to keep the Torah. Although the Torah showed them the path to blessing & life, the Israelites were “in the flesh”; that is, they were hard-hearted, rebellious & sinful. Because of their disobedience, they suffered the covenant curses.
Therefore, Paul isn’t saying that all human actions are hopeless. He is saying that Israel, because of their fleshly rebellion, could never be justified by obedience to the Torah.
Paul then puts the final stake in the Old Covenant: “But if, in seeking to be justified in the Messiah, we Jews find ourselves also among the “sinners”, doesn’t that mean that the Messiah promotes sin?” (Galatians 2:17)
Paul here puts himself in the shoes of Peter and his fellow Jews. For centuries, the Jews had tried to walk in the light of Torah, God’s holy law. Apart from the Torah, the Gentiles could only stumble about in darkness as hopeless sinners. But now, at Antioch, Jews & Gentiles were eating together, celebrating their shared identity as people of the Messiah. It would be very natural for Jews to ask themselves whether, by fraternizing with Gentiles, they were regressing into the realm of pagan idolatry & wickedness. By leaving behind the Torah and joining the family of the Messiah, would they be promoting sin?
“Absolutely not!” Paul answers. “If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.” Paul is here referring to the barrier which the Torah erected between Jew & Gentile. We’ve previously noted that this strict separation was a huge part of Jewish existence. For instance, recall Peter’s comment when he first entered the home of Cornelius the centurion, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.” (Acts 10:28)
This barrier was not always merely functional. At the temple in Jerusalem, there was actual physical barrier, a low wall or balustrade, which separated the outer Court of the Gentiles from the inner precincts accessible only to Jews. Fascinatingly, archeologists have uncovered inscriptions from this wall which bear this stern warning: “No foreigner is to enter within the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught doing so will be himself responsible for his ensuing death.”
The church in Antioch had been happily enjoying table fellowship together. Paul tartly points out that if Peter & his fellow Jews rebuild the barrier between Jew & Gentile, it will only confirm the sad conclusion of the entire Old Testament: the people of Israel were fleshly, hard-hearted & sinful. They were “lawbreakers” who had been unfaithful to the covenant. If they continued clinging to the Torah, the outcome would be certain condemnation & death.
But thanks be to God, who had made a way forward! Through Jesus the Messiah, we can put to death our old fleshly, sinful identity and be raised to walk in newness of life. This is the subject of Paul’s next paragraph, to which we shall turn next.
