Today’s reading is Galatians 3:1-4:31.

As if to correspond with Nathan’s comment from Friday’s post, Paul steps up in Galatians 3:25-29 to explain that while we are justified by faith and not works of the law, if we don’t have some works then we cannot claim we have saving faith.

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Did you see what that said about baptism and faith? It said we are sons of God through faith. We are not sons of God through works of the law, but through faith. However, how do we know we are sons of God through faith? “For” or because when we were baptized into Christ we put on Christ. I know this is not commonly accepted among most religious circles these days. But in the same way that I cannot help but see we are justified by faith and not by works of any law, I can’t help but see that I’m only a son of God through faith if I’ve put Christ on in baptism. I may believe in Jesus. I may think Jesus is great. I might even assent to all the facts about Jesus’ life. However, if my faith doesn’t carry me to surrender to Him in that first step of baptism, then my faith hasn’t saved me. I haven’t put on Christ, I’m still only an outside observer who thinks very highly of Him.

Please notice very carefully what Paul did not say. He did not say that we put on Christ through a prayer. He did not say we put on Christ through speaking in tongues. He did not say we put on Christ through an overwhelming spiritual experience. He did not say we put on Christ by being good enough. He did, however, say that we put on Christ in baptism and that we were baptized into Christ. 

That is only the beginning of a life surrendered to Jesus by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20). However, it is the beginning.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Galatians 1:1-2:21.

These chapters, or rather the end of these chapters, brings up a question for me. Galatians 2:15-21 says no man is justified by works of law. I’m no Greek scholar, but what little I know demonstrates that the article “the” is not in the original text. It doesn’t actually read “by works of the law no one will be justified” but “by works of law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

My common approach to this passage has been to say that no one will be justified by works of the Old Law. However, now we have a new law that does justify us. I do know there is a law of Christ, to which I must submit myself. Paul wrote about it in I Corinthians 9:21. But what is its place in my justification?

As I read these verses in Galatians 2:15-21 again, I have a really hard time seeing this passage as saying, “by works of the Old Law no one will be justified, but by works of the New Law will everyone be justified.” Instead, it seems to be saying, “we won’t be justified by works of law, old or new, but by faith in Jesus.” Don’t misunderstand, this faith is not merely a mental assent to some facts. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This faith is an increasing surrender to Christ and His will. Yet, when it is done is this just semantics? “No we aren’t save by keeping the new law, we are saved by faith, but by faith we really mean keeping the new law”? I can’t see this as just a semantic wordplay. Paul is saying we aren’t justified by keeping the law. We are justified by faith in Jesus.

What exactly is the point? What does it really say about law? What does it say about the place of the New Law in my justification?

Right now, I think Paul’s point is the same here as it was in Romans 9:30-10:4. Yes, there is a New Law. Yes, Christians submit to the New Law. However, the law’s purpose is not to justify us. Because of our weakness, God cannot provide a law that can justify us. If He could, then law would have done it (Galatians 3:21). All law does is demonstrate how we violate law and therefore are not justified (Romans 3:20). Thus, the more we focus on the law aspect of the New Testament, the more likely we are to sin, rebuilding what we have torn down and proving ourselves transgressors (Galatians 2:18). The problem with the Old Law was it had nothing that justified. Under the New Law, we still see God’s laws, but we have Jesus’ whose death justifies us and sets us free to live God’s will. But how do we attain that? Do we attain that by trying harder to simply keep the legalities of the New Testament? No. We accomplish that by increasing our faith in Jesus. The more we increase our faith in Jesus, the more God will work in our lives, the more God will strengthen us according to the gospel and preaching of Jesus, the more we will actually submit to God’s will.

This seems counterintuitive to me. What Paul seems to be saying is the more we focus on keeping God’s law, the less we will do so. However, the more we focus on believing Jesus and relying on His death, the more we will actually follow God’s law. Keeping God’s law doesn’t justify us, after all, we are sinners and not sinning today doesn’t take away our sins of yesterday. However, Jesus’ death does take away our sin and increased faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior gives us the strength to do God’s will.

What do you think?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?