Law and Grace (20) Galatians

Most Christians assume that Paul’s letter to the Galatians dispatched the Torah to the rubbish dump, but that is not quite correct. Paul was actually concerned about the practices being imposed on the growing church.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “…How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs (Gal 2:14).

He was worried that Gentiles were being forced to take on Jewish customs. He called this “judaising”. The most worrying custom was circumcision.
He began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group (Gal 2:12).

Eating with Gentiles was another concern, although the law did not forbid it, just as it did not command circumcision. Most of the Jewish customs that concerned Paul were not even in the law. The other big burden was the sabbath and the feasts that had been fulfilled by Jesus and were no longer relevant.

You are observing special days and months and seasons and years (Gal 4:10).

Paul reminded the Galatians that they have received the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus. They were not to go back to things that were cultural markers to distinguish Israel from the other nations, because they had never been able to make a person righteous. He explains that a person cannot be made righteous by keeping laws or complying with rules.

We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified (Gal 2:15-16).

Paul claimed that all real Jews knew this. They understood that human effort (works) to fulfil the standard of the law could not make them righteous. The Gentiles who do not understand the purpose of the law did not know this.

The conflict is not between faith and law, as many Christians claim, but between faith and “works of laws” (ergon nomos). Law and faith are not in conflict, because they have completely different purposes. Works of law are a distortion of the law, and false substitute for faith. Those relying on works of law are under a curse.

All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse (Gal 3:10).

Efforts to earn righteousness by works of law come from the flesh.

Are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh (Gal 3:3)?

The flesh is the sinful human nature. The idea that a person can do things to put things right with God by human effort or works is an affront to God and a serious sin whether they are part of the law, or just the traditions of men (Gal 3:21).