Justified by Faith

…we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-21

Peter’s going from eating with the Gentile Christians at Galatia to avoiding believers who did not keep circumcision, kosher, or other similar parts of the Law was not without consequences. His actions divided Jesus’ followers according to their belief in the Mosaic law, and removing Christ and His work as the defining mark of the new covenant community. Though Peter had no intention to bring about this split, Peter’s acts called into question Christ’s sufficiency, for which Paul rebuked him publicly so others would not be led astray. Today’s verses begin a transition from Paul’s defense of his apostolic office to Paul’s exposition of faith. Justification, most importantly, means being declared righteous in God’s sight. The Judaizers (false preachers/teachers) said we are right before our Creator through faith in Jesus and our obedience to the Law. To Paul, this amounts to our being justified by our own efforts because we can do nothing to bring about our own salvation. Salvation is a work of God and our belief comes down to, “either nothing or all must be ascribed to faith or to works.” Peter’s actions implied that Gentiles must live like Jews to be true Christians which was hypocritical because even Peter, a Jew, did not live like a Jew. All who rely on any of their own works of the Law for justification will fail every time. If Paul and Peter, Jews who had the oracles of God, could not obey these oracles, how could they rightly lay Mosaic law burden upon Gentiles? All of Scripture points to the inability of Israel to be declared righteous through the Law and Paul knew that! We see clearly that we are declared righteous before God through faith in Jesus alone. Martin Luther wrote on this in a commentary, “God is honored in His Son. Whoever then believes that the Son is our mediator and Savior, he honors the Father, and him again does God honor; that is to say, adorns him with gifts, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, the Holy Ghost, and everlasting life.” To receive the gifts of God, we must repent of our sins and trust Jesus alone. In whom do you put your trust?

Source: S C Ball January 12, 2024