QT 9/20/2022 Gal 2:16; 19-20, True righteousness

Galatians 2:16 (ESV) —

16 yet 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 2:19–20 (ESV) —

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 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.

 

NOTE: It was hard for the Jewish Christian to give up all those years of law, obeying commands that were different from how others lived. They set the people apart. They were part of what it meant to be holy and to be God's people, but they did not solve the sin problem. Sacrifices only covered over the sin. Justification, being declared righteous was not possible through the law. So they (the Jewish Christians) did what many do today -- they mixed their faith and the law. As George writes,

 

We should remember that the problem in Galatia was not the overt repudiation of the Christian faith by apostates who formerly professed it but rather the dilution and corruption of the gospel by those who wanted to add to the doctrine of grace a dangerous admixture of “something more.” (George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 188). )

 

Gal 2:20 is one of my favorite verses of the bible, as it is for many others. For me, it is a reminder that my savior died for ME. Yes, he died for the world, but he died for me. He loved me, although I was unlovable, and he died for me. What does it then imply? Again George has a great thought and challenges me to how I should then live.

 

Being crucified with Christ implies a radical transformation within the believer. The “I” who has died to the law no longer lives; Christ, in the person of the Holy Spirit, dwells within, sanctifying our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit and enabling us to approach the throne of God in prayer. (Ibid, p.201)

 

I'm a new creature now, the old has gone, the new has come. He has changed me. I am no longer that person, and because of that I desire to live my life wholly for him. Thank you Jesus!

 

PONDER:

1. Do I mix works and faith?
2. Is my life radically changed by the savior?

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you so much for my salvation, my breastplate of righteousness. There is nothing the enemy can do to me to take my salvation away. I am secure in a righteousness that was obtained for me by Jesus.