Free Bible Commentary
“Galatians 2:15-21”
Categories: Galatians“We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 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. 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! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
---End of Scripture verses---
Paul is still addressing the hypocrisy of Peter and his other Jewish brethren in Galatia who stopped eating with Gentile Christians when certain men from “the party of the circumcision” paid them a visit (verses 11-14). The fact that Paul’s brethren who were “Jews by nature” turned to Christ for salvation was ample proof that they knew they could not be justified by the Law of Moses (verses 15-16). God had shown Peter that all the dietary restrictions associated with the Law of Moses had been abolished as well, along with all the prejudices that the nation of Israel had attached to them.
The Holy Spirit had made it clear to Peter that he could go in to the Gentiles and freely associate with them (Acts 10:20; 11:1-18). If it was actually sinful for Peter to eat with Gentiles after God told him that it was not, then Christ had become “a minister of sin” (verse 18). But of course, this was not the case. The problem was that many of the Jewish Christians had a hard time letting go of the Law and their national prejudices. They were either holding on to it, or trying to “rebuild” it in certain situations (verse 18).
Peter was a hypocrite because he “rebuilt” what he once had “destroyed”. This made him guilty as a sinner either way he went. If it was right for him to abide by the Law of Moses, then he never should have “destroyed” it in the first place. If it was wrong to go back to that Law, then he was “rebuilding” something that was better left in the annals of history. There’s really nowhere to turn when we get caught up in the sin of hypocrisy. You simply can’t play both sides of an issue and come out looking good to the people on either side of that issue, or to God in heaven. God wants us to be “all in” with Christ and totally committed to the way of truth and righteousness.
“For through the Law I died to the Law” (verse 19). I can think of at least two ways that this is true. First of all, once you violate the law, you are condemned by it and therefore “dead” spiritually speaking (Romans 7:9-10). Law does not save but only condemns. Secondly, the Law of Moses itself foretold that there would come a time when God would make a new covenant with His people (Jeremiah 31:31-34). When the heavenly Father sent Jesus into the world to die for the sins of the world and establish this new covenant, the Law was effectively “completed” and “ended” (Romans 10:4).
Since Christ gave His life to accomplish for us what the law could never possibly do, we should give our lives completely TO Him and live our lives solely FOR Him. Have you been crucified with Christ so that you may live through Him (verse 20)? You do that through the waters of baptism, when you make the determination to turn from your sins and bury that old person of sin in that watery grave (Romans 6:3-6). Only then can you truly “arise” to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4
Christ gave himself up for us (verse 20)! We need to give ourselves up for Him!
Please read Galatians 3:1-5 for tomorrow.
Have a great day!
-Louie Taylor
