Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, does anybody remember who wants to tell the group what we've been studying? Where are we in the Bible?
It's not on your handout today, so you're just going to have to remember.
Yeah, that's right. It's an inductive study of the book of Galatians. What is an inductive Bible study from the inside out? That's right. We're looking, you know, at the small details, and we work our way out, but we want to start with the Word so we can understand it in context and the way that God wants us to understand it.
Now, before we get into Galatians 2, we're going to be Galatians 2, starting in verse 17.
Before we get into it, I want to hear at least a few examples from you guys. What is a great gift you've received?
Could be the best gift you received. Or if you can't think of what might be the best, what's a great gift? Okay, Caleb, I saw your hand.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: So, last Christmas, my uncle, he felt.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Bad because he hasn't always been, like, the most consistent with giving gifts. So he gave me, my brother, a PS5. That is a good gift, but you guys get a lot of use out of that.
Okay, we'll go. Hank, first solidation.
Oh, salvation. Okay, That's a great gift.
Fantastic. Levi.
Wow. He got salvation. You got a bat.
Hey, that's cool.
What kind of bat?
Okay, cool.
Nice.
Yeah.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Legos.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Legos.
Great gift.
Fantastic.
Anyone else want to share? Katie.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: When I was, like, maybe six or seven, I got an American Girl doll.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Like, a really big purchase for my family.
And it was like, you'd open all the gifts and, you know, my mom probably said something like, oh, wait, there's one more gift for everyone. And my sister got a bike or something.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: Wow.
Yeah. What a. What a great gift. American Girl dolls.
Iconic, huh?
You have an American Girl doll? Yeah, they're. They're great. My sister's had Valentine's Day. Increasingly, I received well over a hundred KitKats.
Ate them all in less than a week of days.
If you didn't hear, he said on Valentine's Day recently, he received, quote, well over 100 Kit Kats, and he ate them all out in under a week.
Okay, so you like Kit Kats? I do, too. Good candy. Okay. Those are great gifts and something common among all these gifts, and it'd be kind of weird. Contrary. So we just intuitively understand that there's no condition. You had to meet.
Maybe you just had to be the type of person to receive Kit Kats on Valentine's Day. But you know, parents giving an American Girl doll or a baseball bat or a PS5, they, or I guess that was an uncle, they just do it out of their love.
It is not something we have to, you know, be good. I know Christmas, you know, when, when you're young, talk about being good to receive things, but you'll probably receive gifts no matter what if your family is able to provide them.
But it's just not something we earn. It is a gift. It's given to us. And that brings both you great joy to receive a gift and also gives the giver great joy because they're giving out of their love for you. And Hank kind of hit, hit it. You know, salvation is a wonderful gift. Justification, which is what we talked about last week, is a gift. There are not no preconditions, no prerequisites that we have to meet in order to be given, that we simply receive it through faith and live holy ever afterwards. But there are no pre. That means before conditions.
And you know, just so we can get a little review, we were in just the two verses prior last week, verses 15 and 16 of chapter two.
So we spent a lot of time just defining a couple of words or phrases.
So can anyone remind us, what does justification mean?
You don't have to get everything, but what are some, maybe some things you remember talking about?
It's.
Can you say that again?
Yeah. To make something bad.
Okay, so, yeah.
So when we're talking about Christian justification, what specifically bad is being made? Right.
Yeah. And even maybe more particularly your. Your status before God where you have done bad, as in sin. We are not only born into sin, but commit actual sins ourselves.
So we are.
Unrighteous is a term we want to use. Unrighteous before God.
And justification is declaring that in fact you are righteous and the guilt and deserved punishment is wiped away from your slate.
How is that done?
Because remember, we also talked about good judges punishing the wicked and vindicating or even rewarding the righteous.
We read about that even in the Old Testament law. So it's part of God's character to punish the wicked and vindicate or release or free the righteous. So how can a sinner be declared righteous without God being unjust or a bad judge?
How can God declare righteous a sinner without being a bad judge?
Well, Christ died, so there was a sacrifice made. Okay, so there's something about this sacrifice that can be.
Does anyone remember the word that starts with I?
Christ's righteousness Credited.
Imputed. That's the fancy word. But you can say credited.
So through his death, somehow his righteousness, which is saving and perfect. So that was a really particular question. Perfect can be credited to your account.
That's the only way God can look at a sinner and say righteous.
If the one righteous person's righteousness is. Is credited to you, it clothes and covers your sin.
And this is granted through what or what's it not granted through? Yeah, it's through faith and not through what Paul was saying. Works of the law. So if you remember, we went through a lot of verses and passages that were talking about justification and contrasting faith and works of the law. Does anyone remember what works of the law mean?
Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think it's maybe even also talking about the whole of God's old covenant law.
Because remember in context that the Galatians were being legalists and requiring observance of old covenants, Testament law, to be saved and admitted to the church.
And Paul continues to explain.
So he started last week saying, no, we're not justified by works of the law, but through faith. And he continues to explain in this section. So let's read it and we can go through it starting in verse 17. He then says, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?
Certainly not.
For if I rebuild what I tore down, 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. 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. I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
I will stop there and get into chapter three in a couple of weeks.
So we'll start just going through. He says, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ.
So we see. I don't know if you guys have different translations, but you see. But if, comma, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, what is the purpose of this phrase within those commas?
Just generally, Maybe this is a grammar question.
Does anyone know what type of phrase it is?
Clarifying Phrase. It is clarifying. It is clarifying the type of phrase. It starts with the word in what? What part of speech is that word?
It's a prepositional phrase. Right. And it's clarifying something like Seth said, that's. That's really important.
Or. And even we could say it qualifies the rest of a sentence. So he's saying, you know, in our. We want to be justified. Right. Nobody wants to not be justified, even an atheist. They all want to be. If they were to face judgment, they would want to be considered in the right.
Nobody wants to be considered in the wrong outside of maybe insane people.
So everyone wants to be justified. So we're endeavoring, that is, we're trying to achieve that.
So in that he says if, in seeking justification, we too were found to be sinners.
Now I want to ask, is it a matter of if we are found sinners? He says if we're found sinners.
No.
Right. Obviously, we all are sinners. It's not a matter of if.
But this is kind of his rhetorical device to say, you know, if we're trying to be justified, but we're found sinners.
Is Christ then a servant of sin? What type of question is this?
Paul uses these a lot.
Yeah, we call it a rhetorical question.
The answer is obvious and implied. And so the answer is certainly not. He tells us anyway. He doesn't have to say. Sometimes he asks these questions and doesn't answer them because you're just supposed to know. But here he just to be ultra super duper clear, he says, certainly not. Absolutely not. He puts a very emphatic no, like a double negative. But in Greek, it doesn't switch it. A double negative in Greek just means, like, emphatically. No, not at all. Christ is not a servant of sin because sinners can be justified. He's not serving sin.
And so this is how Paul answers some objections.
Now, what is the logic behind the objection? So here's the objection.
Well, if sinners can be justified, but they're still sinners, then Christ is just serving sin. Does that make sense?
Do you guys get that?
Why would someone think that Christ justifying sinners makes Him a servant of sin?
Because his actions are for the sinners.
Yeah, his actions are for the sinners. I mean, he empties himself, puts on flesh, dies on a cross, a gruesome death for sinners.
So we could see why people might say that.
But we understand, as Christians that have read this book and seen this revelation played out more fully, that in fact, this is just because of his wonderful love and mercy towards sinners.
And ultimately, it is for his glory.
It's for our good and our joy, but for his glory, on top of that he is not subservient and just serving at our feet as sinners. It's the opposite.
Him dying and saving some of us is for his ultimate glory.
And that's what the objector is. Those who have not seen the truth of Christ, that's what. They're mistaken.
You'll probably see people make similar mistakes in your life, just not quite understanding. How is this good?
God had to kill his own son.
How can that be good?
They simply don't understand the beauty of justification by faith alone.
Then Paul goes on and he kind of tries to illustrate. He says, if I. In verse 18, if I rebuild what I tore down.
Now, what did Paul tear down?
What's he talking about?
Might be hard. So you can take a guess. It's okay if you're wrong.
His past self. His past self. That's a good guess. Especially with verse 20 where he says, I've been crucified with Christ.
And I think that's like a partial right, But I think it might be more narrowly something else.
But it could be that. I gotta admit, it could be that. Anyone else.
I think he's talking about the works of the law, obeying the Old Testament law, which of course is part of his old self. And so I think that is hitting on the right beat.
Now, how would he be rebuilding it?
I'm sorry.
Okay, yeah, I. I see what you're. Where you're going, but in this verse, he's saying that the rebuilding is a bad thing.
Right? Because he says if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Right?
And so if he tore down works of the law, then I think the rebuilding would be referring to if I rebuild works of the law. If I. If we reestablish works of the law as a means for justification, then all that does is prove that he's a transgressor.
If it. If we have works of the law, then we're all just transgressors. None of us are redeemed. That's what he's saying. Now. What is a transgressor? We don't use that word very much, at least in normal life. You probably hear it in the church a lot. What does it mean?
A violator.
A violator. Yeah. So we see it kind of a lot of times paralleled with sinner. But it does have that more specific meaning as violating the law.
A transgressor of the law.
That's kind of the context you usually see it in. I think that's why he's using that word here.
So how would building up the law, which the law is good, right, or am I wrong? Is the law good or bad?
It's good. The law is good. And it is exactly as God wanted it to be. And it reveals his heart and his moral law, the natural law that governs all things.
So the law is good.
So how would building up the law make Paul a transgressor?
[00:17:59] Speaker B: Because then it would imply that you're saved through your works, not by faith.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: Implying that you're saved through your works and not by faith. Jonah, I was kind of going to say same thing. Same thing. Yeah, I think that's right.
It's really just reestablishing what the law did. One of the main things the law did was kind of show our sin.
None of the. None of the Israelites could obey the law. They were all transgressors. Yeah.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: It would mean that Paul would be ignored from what he has now in grace.
Ignoring it so much better.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Yeah, he would be ignoring how much better grace is over works of the law.
I think that's. That's exactly right. And he kind of explains more in verse 19.
He says, for through the law I died to the law.
Does anyone really. Can anyone unpack through the law I died to the law?
Anyone want to unpack that real quick?
Died to it, through it.
Now, if not, what does it mean? We'll kind of maybe break it down a little bit. What does it mean to do an action through something?
What does through mean?
In this setting, prepositions are important.
If I go through a door, what is through meaning?
It's just meaning the way in which something happens. But if I quench my thirst through a bottle of water, well, then now the water is more of the source.
So we could kind of use these in slightly different meanings. So I think through is the source of what he did.
So through the law, it was the means. It was the tool, the weapon, if you will, through which.
So through the law, he died to the law, then. Okay, so the word to is functioning in a different way. He's saying that the binding legal obligations of the law no longer apply.
So he's saying these binding legal obligations don't apply to justification at all.
And so I've died to the law, but I've only done it through the law.
So in the eyes of the law, he is dead.
And now do we hold dead people accountable to the law?
Not typically.
You know, sometimes if there's like a generational thing, I don't know, there Might be some posthumous thing, but they're not putting like a casket on trial in a court.
So we don't hold dead people to the law. So he has died to the law. He is done with that.
And he did it through the law.
Now remember, how are sinners justified?
Through faith. In what?
Christ. And what did Christ do?
He did die. But we're talking about doing works of the law. Did Christ do works of the law?
Yes. And how well did he do them?
He did them perfectly.
Christ met the standard of perfection in works of the law.
And so how can we be saved? See, Christ did the works of the law perfectly and through faith.
Those works, those.
The perfection in works is credited to you. That's what Paul was saying when he introduced justification. And now he's just kind of explaining more about how it works.
Sinners are saved.
One word we can kind of understand. This is the word vicariously. Does anyone know what that means?
To live through someone else's experience. That's a great definition.
We are saved and live through the actions of another people can be justified, saved and have life eternal through the actions, the perfect works of Christ.
We are saved through Him. So what he has done and accomplished is given to you to clothe you to cover your sin. That's what he's saying.
So sinners are saved through Christ's perfection and keeping the law. And by his will. We are now dead to the law because we live in and through Christ through faith.
So dead to that standard because he already met it.
He was showing us that we cannot justify ourselves through works of the law. So he did it for sinners so that we can live through Him.
And now through him being justified, through him, his works alone, we now can actually look at the law and see that it is good and moral and it can guide us into holiness and righteousness after we've been justified.
So it's not a condition, remember, it is an after the fact deal.
And so Paul says he would be a transgressor by rebuilding the law in the previous verse, because he would be disobedient to the will of God.
He would simply prove himself to continue to be a sinner. But also he'd be disobedient to God's will, because God's will was for salvation to be accomplished by grace alone, through faith alone.
And so this is what he wants to remind the Galatians of. This is something that we can so easily forget in the way we live and talk.
It's so easy to slip into thinking, man, I need to clean up this or fix this part of my life or whatnot.
God is not going to know me. I just got to do this or that or stop sinning in this area, or do this a little bit better. We do this all the time, even if we know, well, I'm not working for salvation.
But you intuitively might feel unworthy to come to Christ. Unworthy to come to church to sing to him, to pray to him, to read your Bible and meditate on his word. But what we must remember is that that is foolishness.
That is what the foolish Galatians we're believing.
We can't require these legalistic things of ourselves and even others, because we've been justified through faith in Christ's works, not our own.
So we must remember that. Then we get to verse 20.
Verse 20 is a famous verse that you may have heard a time or two.
He says, I have been crucified with Christ.
So there's that vicarious thing with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, in the life I now live, in the life I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
So again, famous verse, great memory verse. You can memorize the whole passage, too. This is just. This is. We're really kind of getting at the heart of Christianity in these chapters now. Can someone maybe explain what is this verse saying?
How can you be crucified? How can Paul say, I've been crucified with Christ?
His sins died with Christ. Yeah, that's such an important part of that verse.
Christ atoned, which is to say he covered the sins of his beloved people.
He covered them, satisfied God's wrath against them.
So we see he took our sins, but we are actually crucified with him on the cross through faith.
We see also that we don't live any longer when we've come to Christ. But it's Christ's life now in us.
Even our life in the flesh is lived by faith in God.
So we see that we are united to Christ.
Faith in Christ unites us to him. Theologically speaking, union with Christ is the heart of Christian salvation. It is the very center. We don't hear that phrase union with Christ a lot. We hear salvation and saved and Jesus into my heart and even justification or sanctification.
We hear the word atonement. We hear all these words, but really the heart of it all is union with Christ, to be unified to him in his death and in his new life. This is what's depicted every time Someone comes to the Lord and is buried with Christ into the water of baptism and raised to new life. We see it every, Every single time. That's the very central heart of the faith.
Union with Christ actually saves us. Grace is the gift of that salvation. And faith is the means through which we're united to him and raised to a new life. And. But it is this union that is the heart.
So I want us to kind of see. It's not often very specified, but you can kind of see it in this, the words and phrases that Paul is using that we are united to him.
When you're unified to Christ, you have actually been crucified to him. Your sins have been nailed to the tree and gone into the depths of the dead. And when he raised, they are left there, they are covered in God's eyes, and you can be raised to a new, eternal life in Christ.
And we see in verse 20, this is all because he loved Paul and gave Himself for him. That can be said of all Christians. He loves you and gave Himself for you.
And so that is why Paul is laboring so much to make this point to the Galatians.
He says in verse 21, I do not nullify the grace of God.
What does nullify mean?
To make invalid, to just throw aside, make it not irrelevant so that I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
This is one application of that gospel truth presented.
What is the application that Paul is drawing here?
The application for both Peter, who I think he's still kind of talking to, but also to the Church.
What is the application?
What's the issue the Galatians are facing?
What's the heresy?
Legalism. Right. So legalism, he's saying the application is this legalism that you're committing and requiring of people through circumcision, is emptying the purpose of Christ's death.
The cross, the symbol of the faith, is empty, purposeless, nullified through legalism.
I'm not sure a greater condemnation could be said about that belief.
God did not put on flesh and die for no purpose. He did it because it was the only way to rescue sinners, to present them holy and pure and justified in his sight.
God's love was set to bring us to Himself for our joy and for his glory.
Christ loves the Church. He died for her.
God says in his word in Song of Solomon, seven, six, the groom, which I think is symbolizing Christ, says, how beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights.
That's his heart towards the Church.
How beautiful and pleasant you are. Dirty and corrupt, sinners and vile we are.
Through Christ you will look on you as beautiful as a delight.
One whom he loves.
He loves the Church and died for her. And I hope we never nullify the grace of God and empty the cross of its wonderful meaning.
Now, one of the most popular commentaries on Galatians is actually written by Martin Luther.
And he says. He says the Antichrist, which, when he says Antichrist, he's thinking of the Pope.
So that that was his belief. The Antichrist teaches. I'm not saying I necessarily believe that, but the Antichrist teaches that faith is no good unless it is combined with works instead of the grace of Christ in His kingdom.
The Antichrist has established the doctrine of works and ceremonies. Thus we may never understand what it means to reject God's grace. It is to seek righteousness through the law. He's saying that's how we reject his grace, if we're seeking righteousness through the law, any law.
He continues, whoever heard of people consciously rejecting grace by keeping the law?
But in fact, we despise grace when we observe the law in order to be justified through it.
The law is good and holy and profitable. And yet it does not justify us.
And now, whether I'm not taking a stand on whether the Pope is the Antichrist, I do think the spirit of Antichrist does exactly this.
It wants to nullify. He wants to nullify the grace of God. And especially at the time the Roman Catholic Church was doing that.
In fact, they still teach, and it's not them alone, but they still teach that you doing different means and observing sacraments like the Mass and the Eucharist is building up your justification.
And what you lack when you die is made up for with the purging in Purgatory.
This is emptying the cross of all meaning. It's emptying and despising the grace of God.
The grace of God is clear in Galatians that he is justified not by works of the law, but through faith.
So as we close, I want you all.
Hopefully you have notes, but if not, you'll just have to think on this, and I trust you will. I want you to write down or think an answer to this question.
And then I challenge you to share it with someone you trust.
In what way or ways are you not living by faith in the Son of God?
Are you not living by faith in the Son of God?
Let's ask it another way.
If you've been crucified with Christ and now live in Him. How should your life change?
If you've been crucified with Christ and now live in him, how should your life change?
Okay, let's pray.
Father, we praise you for your glorious grace in Christ that has rescued us from sin, that justifies us not because of any works or righteousness that we have earned, for we have none but God, we praise you for your love for the church, that a group of sinners can be seen as beautiful and a delight to your eye.
Lord, we pray that those who don't know you will come to you and the rest of us would aspire to live more like Christ each and every day.
And we pray this all in his name. Amen.
