1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
Jesus and the 12 Apostles ministered to the Jewish believers. Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus and was given the mystery hidden that salvation would come, not only to the Jews, but also to the world in God’s dispensation of grace.
Acts 15:1-5 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. 3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. 4 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. 5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
Paul contended with the Jewish believers in Christ. The Pharisees, the legalistic branch of the believing Jews, wanted to bring them into the law of Moses. The 12 Apostles had a very hard time believing that all of humanity could enter into eternal life by faith in Jesus the Christ.
Galatians 2:14-21 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Jesus nailed the law to the Cross of His salvation. In Him, through faith in Him, we are no longer embroiled in the traditions of men. In Him we are free from the Law and enter by faith. We trust in Holy Spirit to do what we cannot. We are no longer bound in the Old Testament Law that was a shadow of the things to come and in itself had no power to save. Christ within is our hope to His glory.
Galatians 1:6-10 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
We now live, not by the letter of the Law, but under the guidance of Holy Spirit who will teach us all things pertaining to our salvation in Jesus. Jesus died for our sins that we could live free from them. We now live in our love for God and in the freedom that only Jesus can give us. We were created for good works to show others the love of God for His creation. John 3:16
Revelation 22:19-21 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. I Am Coming Quickly 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Nothing can separate believers in the love and grace of God in Christ and in the power of Holy Spirit who can establish us in our salvation. God knows the heart of mankind and loves us in spite of it. We heard the Gospel of Grace and we believed. It is finished! Carla
Paul uses this phrase in Galatians to describe actions that violate the truthfulness of the gospel message (Galatians 25; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5). By withdrawing from meals with Gentiles, Peter and Barnabas effectively returned to life under the law and discredited the gospel’s promise of freedom in Christ. Peter, an ethnic Jew who followed Jewish food laws (Acts 10:14; Leviticus 11), began to practice table fellowship with Gentile believers on account of the revelation that God can make all people clean (Acts 10:15, 34–35). Peter’s actions demonstrate the irrelevancy of the law for those “in Christ.”
Gentiles to live like Jews expresses the aim of Judaizers to force non-Jewish believers to observe certain aspects of the law. Judaizers insisted that Gentile Christians be circumcised, obey food laws, and observe calendar cycles in accordance with the law. In Galatians 2:14, Paul accuses Peter of trying to “judaize” the Gentiles, using a Greek verb meaning “live in a Jewish way.” Josephus uses the word to describe how a Roman soldier captured by the Jews during the revolt (ad 66–70) avoided execution by promising to be circumcised and live as a Jew.
Paul believed Gentile followers of Jesus were not required to become Jewish in that sense because the gospel transcended ethnic and social boundaries. This captures the attitude of most Jewish people of the time toward Gentiles. From the Jewish point of view, a sinner is a person who does not live by the law. Because the Gentiles were not given the law, they are sinners by default (Romans 2:17–29).
Paul’s notion of justification can be interpreted as an ethical transformation that makes a person righteous or as a forensic transaction by which a person is declared righteous and acquitted.
Paul likely has both aspects in mind: Those who place saving trust in Christ are declared righteous by God and become righteous. Refers primarily to requirements of the law that Jews observed to preserve their ethnic identity and honor their covenantal obligations (dietary laws, circumcision, etc.). The works of the law also might describe legalistic observance of these requirements to gain favor before God.
Paul recognized the significance of these works for those under the law, but insists they have no value when it comes to justification (Galatians 5:6). Faith in Jesus Christ refers to the believer’s saving trust in what God has done through Christ or, possibly, to the faithfulness of Christ. Paul contrasts faith in Christ with the works of law that are described in chapters 3–4.
From the Jewish perspective, being without the law means being a sinner. According to this view, if Paul teaches that justification in Christ requires that one abandon the law—and thus become a sinner—then Christ must be a promoter of sin. Paul addresses this quandary in the following verse. Paul preached a law-free gospel that did not require non-Jewish people to observe the law. If his words or actions suggested that law observance was necessary for salvation, he would be contradicting that gospel. Christ’s death and resurrection frees believers from the law and its curse. Paul does not refer here to physical death, but to the death of his former self (Ephesians 4:22).
Paul’s understanding of union with Christ begins with the cross of Christ. This enables Paul to endure shame, contempt, and false accusations like Jesus, God’s Suffering Servant (Colossians 1:24; Philippians 1:29).
Crucified with Christ refers to new life in Christ as well as the presence of God’s Spirit, which empowers obedience to the gospel (Galatians 3:2; 4:6; 5:16–18, 22–25). The Son of God,Paul’s title for Jesus, anticipates the parallels he will draw between slavery and the law, as well as sonship and promise (4:4–7).
Faith in the Son of God transforms a person from a slave to a child of God. Paul describes the sacrificial love of Christ in personal terms. Christ’s willingness to die on behalf of sinners brings deliverance from the power of sin for those believe in Him (1:4). The grace of God suggests that Paul’s opponents had accused him of using God’s grace to justify unrighteous living. Faithlife Study Bible
Peter’s hypocritical example implied that Gentiles had to behave like Jews in order to receive God’s grace. Thus, Peter was not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel of God’s grace. It had already been decided (verse 1–5) that it was not proper to compel Gentiles to live as Jews because salvation was through faith alone. The NKJV Study Bible
Galatians 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
Romans 3:20–31 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets…
Romans 7:4–6 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death…
Psalm 143:2
Do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no one living is righteous.
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