Right Living and Wrong Dying
Galatians 2:15-21 “We have put our faith in Jesus Christ, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. (16) “I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
In the 5th century there was a man named
Saint Augustine, a philosopher and theologian who became the Bishop of Hippo. A Latin church father, Augustine is one of the most important figures in Western Christianity. He framed the concepts of original sin and just war. Augustine is best known for opposing heresies, such as by Pelagius who held that people can have the ability to choose to be good to such a degree as to merit salvation without divine aid. Augustine said we are justified by faith alone.
In the 16th century, a German monk of the Augustinian order, Martin Luther refused to obey the Pope, in selling indulgences, to raise money to rebuild the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Luther was a theologian, university professor, church reformer who changed the course of Western civilization.
Roman Catholic theology stated that faith alone cannot justify man; but faith expressed in charity and good works (fides caritate formata) can justify man. These good works could be obtained by donating money to the church.
Luther challenged this notion... According to him, salvation is a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus, a faith given by God unmediated by the church. Luther said we are justifed by faith alone.
Now we study one of the verses Luther and Augustine used. Our NT text today Gal 2:15-21
Justification by faith. Dying to the law. Justified by faith. Crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. What do they all mean?
1. Are we justified/made right with God, by faith or by works?
Or can we build a ladder to heaven? This question was a serious question not only for Augustine and Luther, but St Paul, as well.
Paul debated with the Judaizers, Jewish Christians, apparently and initially with Peter among them, who imposed Jewish circumcision and dietary laws, on Gentile believers, arguing that one is justified by law, by following God’s commandments.
Paul argued as Augustine after him, that salvation is a free gift of God’s grace. All they needed was to confess with their mouth and believe in their hearts that Jesus died for our sins, and they will be saved.
2. Now How is Living for the Law, Wrong Dying?
Justification is an act of God whereby He declares, on the basis of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that the sinner who puts his faith in Jesus is “not guilty” and made right with God.
When the Judaizers claimed that the Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the Jewish dietary laws, they assumed a religious superiority. If the Law of Moses was debased, then Christians would be conformed to the world. It was a kind of superiority they were proclaiming. They said, in effect, that there is only one way to God. It is the Jewish way.
But Paul said, “No, that’s not true.” We are all justified before God in the same way. We are justified by faith. It has nothing to do with our cultures.
Paul said, if we choose to live by the law, we only prove that we are sinners (18). Living by the law is dying for the wrong reason. The law gives us no power to obey. Once broken the law condemns us over and over, reminding us how unworthy we are before God. Through the Law, no one can be declared righteous since no one can perfectly obey the Law. But through faith in Christ, the believer is regarded as righteous.
3. Finally, how is Dying to the Law, Right Living?
Now for Paul it was important to Die to the Law in order to live rightly with God. We must put our faith in God, not in our works. We must put ourselves in God’s hands completely. It is the grace of God that makes us right, no obedience to the law can make us right. Therefore, we must die to the Law.
Martin Luther affirmed this by saying: “If ever a monk got to heaven by monkery, I would have got there too; all my brothers will testify to that. For if it had gone on much longer, I would simply have martyred myself to death with vigils, prayers, reading and other work.” Thanks be to God, through grace I am saved.
Living for the law, is a deadly notion. We are fundamentally idolatrous. Believing that one can do things to be right with God, is the way of death, Paul says. For when we develop a checklist of what to do and what not to do, and religiously follow that list, in order save ourselves, we deceive ourselves.
For our actions will always fall short. To believe that our actions can be sufficient will make the death of Jesus on the cross unnecessary. Living for the law is wrong dying. Dying to the Law is Right Living. Paradoxically…Paul finds life in death (20). I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Without faith in Jesus, God’s grace is insulted (21). “If righteousness comes by keeping the law, the Cross was the biggest mistake in the universe.” Or as Paul put it, “Christ died for nothing.”
Thank God, you are full of grace. You forgive even our attempts to save ourselves, as if we are God.
(sermon delivered at Silliman Church, 12 October 2008)
