Sermon on Galatians 2:15–21, Luke 7:36-8:3 St John's 10am 17 June 2007
By Paul Stone
IN CHRIST ALONE
Galatians 2:15–21
15 "We who are Jews by birth and not`Gentile sinners' 16 know that a man is not justified by observing 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 observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified. 17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a law-breaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 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. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" [NRSV]
15 "We who are Jews by birth and not`Gentile sinners' 16 know that a man is not justified by observing 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 observing the law, because by observing the law no-
Luke 7:36-8:3
36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner." 40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41 "Two men owed money to a certain money-lender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. 44 Then he turned towards the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-- for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." 48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" 50 Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." 8:1 After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. [NRSV]
36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-
INTRODUCTION
Last week we were introduced us to Paul’s letter to the Galatians. A letter in which Paul has to defend that he is a genuine apostle of Christ, that what he preaches is true and that if the Galatians follow any other teaching then they will no longer be trusting in Christ alone to save them. Today we are going to be looking at why Paul was so concerned that the Galatians understood the basis of how God saves people – what theologians call the doctrine of justification by faith – because it is the central plank as to what it means to be a Christian.
WHY DO WE NEED TO BE JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD?
However, before we look in detail at the passage I think we need to first ask another question, because in today’s society there are many who in response to today’s passage will perhaps respond like Catherine Tate’s character Lauren and say “Am I bovvered?” What relevance does this reading from Galatians have to me and my life today? What is justification or “being justified” all about and why do I need to be justified before God? Never mind how it is achieved, does it matter at all?
The term “justification” that Paul uses is a legal term borrowed from the judicial system. It means “declared “Not Guilty””. So what Paul is saying when a person is justified is that they are declared not guilty. So to understand today’s passage we must understand Paul’s assumption that the reason justification is important is that there is some crime that a person is being tried for and that there is a judge who will make a judgement of “Guilty” or “Not Guilty”. So who is the judge and what is the crime that Paul has in mind?
Although not a popular message today, the Biblical record from Genesis to Revelation is that there is a God who will judge us and that when the evidence of how we have lived our lives is given before Him, the verdict will be “Guilty. Why? Because of that nasty little word that we don’t like to talk about today – sin.
At its heart, sin is about disobedience, rebellion against God. It started with Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden and it continues in each one of us today. It is part of our nature from when we are born all the way through our adult life. Where, as Frank Sinatra sang, “I did it my way”. Though many today choose to ignore it or attribute it to anything but themselves, the evidence of sin is all around us. Not only in the moral evil we see reported in our papers and on the TV, but in the breakdown of our relationships at home in our families and in the wider community. Even within ourselves there is often the evidence of sin manifested itself as inner conflict, regret and guilt.
Paul in his letter to the Romans Ch 3 v 23 summed it up like this “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and in Romans Ch 6 v 23 he goes on to identify the consequences“…the wages of sin is death…” both physical and spiritual. As Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert said “Houston – we have a problem”. That’s why finding out about justification, about how we get a “Guilty” verdict changed to a “Not Guilty” verdict is important. It’s not just an academic theological question. As was said last week; it is a matter of life and death.
So having sorted out why justification by faith is important, let’s first turn to the New Testament sections of our Bibles and look at what God has to say to us today from Galatians Chapter 2 verses 15 – 21.
HOW IS A PERSON JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD?
The basic question which Paul asks in this passage is - “How does a person become justified before God?” As well as believing in Jesus, did one also have to essentially become a Jew and be circumcised and follow the Jewish law, as some were saying, or was it sufficient simply to believe in Jesus to be put right with God? Paul’s answer in Galatians 2 v 15 is quite clear. He reminds the Galatians that it is simply by faith in Jesus Christ that a person is justified, is declared “Not Guilty” before God, not by observing religious rituals, not by following rules and regulations.
This was something that both Paul and Peter had found from personal experience. They were both Jews, they knew all about the Jewish law and they had found that despite following it and doing all that it required, it didn’t justify them before God. What had declared them “Not Guilty” was faith in Jesus because Jesus, through His death on the cross had suffered the punishment for our sin. As Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians Ch 5 v 21 “For our sakes He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”. That is what happened on the cross. Jesus bore the punishment of God for our sins so that we might be justified, declared “Not Guilty”, and not only that, He declares us righteous, acceptable before Him. So in Jesus’ death on the cross we see both the justice of God and the love of God satisfied. He is able to both punish the sin and save the sinner.
What is more, apart from faith in Jesus there is absolutely nothing we can do to contribute to being justified. Nothing we can do to gain the “Not Guilty” verdict. In verse 16 where it says quoting from Psalm 143 v 2 “…no one will be justified by works of the law” it means just that, no one. It doesn’t matter who you are, your racial origin, your intellect, religious upbringing, social status. It doesn’t matter what you have and haven’t done, it doesn’t matter how good or bad you have been, you are only justified before God by faith in Jesus, by believing that your sins have been dealt with by Jesus on the cross. That is the only basis on which God declares you justified, not guilty. It’s amazing isn’t it? If people simply believe in Jesus, then God declares them justified, not guilty and accepts them into His presence as righteous. That’s what the grace of God is all about. That’s why the gospel of Jesus Christ is such good news because potentially anybody can be put right with God. All that is required is faith. It is also why Paul was so angry with those who were saying to the Galatians that as well as believing in Jesus they had to observe certain Jewish rituals and rules to be declared justified, because basically it was tantamount to telling God that a person by His own efforts could justify himself before God, when God has declared you can’t do it, only Jesus can. That is what Paul is getting at in verse 21. If a person can justify themselves by their own efforts, then Jesus death was pointless. Yet isn’t that exactly what millions who follow other religious and moral systems try to do?
SO CAN WE CARRY ON SINNING?
One of the problems that justification by faith in Jesus raises, is that if God can justify really bad people simply on the basis of faith in Jesus what is the point in being good? In fact can’t it be said that Christ is a servant of sin actually encouraging people to sin. This is the argument Paul addresses in verses 19 – 20. Paul’s answer is an emphatic No! If after my justification I continue in sin, then it is me who is the transgressor, because faith in Jesus Christ is more than just an intellectual assent. It is a commitment to base one’s actions and the way one lives one life on the belief that Jesus death on the cross justifies me before God. Let me illustrate it like this. I know from reading the Virgin Trains timetable that at 7:28 each weekday morning a train arrives at Blackwater destined for Reading. I can believe that i.e. give my intellectual assent to that fact and do nothing more about it. 7:28 can come and go each morning. It doesn’t really matter if the train does arrive at Blackwater and travel on to Reading as it will have absolutely no impact on my life whatsoever. However, if I act on my belief and go to Blackwater for 7:28 then I can get on the train and I will end up in Reading. That is what faith in Jesus Christ means, it means not just giving an intellectual assent that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that I am justified before God, it means committing my life to that belief and acting in a way that demonstrates that I believe what Jesus did is true.
A JUSTIFIED LIFE IS ALSO A CRUCIFIED LIFE?
This is why Paul goes on to say that a justified life is a crucified life. Verses 19 and 20 “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 it is 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”. What Paul is saying is that the law’s demand for my death due to my sin has been satisfied by the death of Christ. By faith in Jesus, by committing myself to Him, I become crucified, united with Him in His death. (4th Slide, 1st Bullet) His sin-bearing death blots out my sinful past. So in effect my former life dies too and I am also united with Christ in His resurrection to rise in Christ to a new life. I become alive to live to God. In fact it is no longer me living in my own strength; instead Jesus lives in me through the Holy Spirit. So the life I now live on this earth (in the flesh) I live by faith (a committal of trust) in Jesus. It’s a life that believes I’ve been forgiven because of Jesus death on the cross. It’s a life that is committed to allowing Jesus to live in me through the Holy Spirit.
You see, you can tell Paul’s gospel is genuine because you find what He speaks about is consistent with elsewhere in the Bible. What Paul is talking about here is the same as what Jesus talked to Nicodemus about the need to be born again in John 3. It’s why Peter starts his letter by praising God who “By his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1 v 3).
That’s why someone who is justified by faith in Christ is no longer free to carry on sinning. Putting one’s faith in Christ means new birth, starting a new life with new holy desires put there by Jesus, there’s no going back to the old life. You can read in Galatians 5 and Romans 6 – 8 about the day to day practicalities of what it means to live the crucified life, but that point of committing oneself to Jesus is a point of no return to the former life. It’s what repentance is all about. It is more than saying sorry, it’s about turning from our old ways to God’s ways. It’s a truth we often fail to grasp and why we often make such slow progress in developing a Christ-like character because we try and live our old and new life in parallel. It can’t be done. The old life must die for the new to begin.
THE RESPONSE OF LOVE
I’d like now to just briefly turn to our gospel reading from Luke Ch 7 of the Bibles as in it Jesus highlights the reason why people do or don’t put their faith in Him to be put right with God. Jesus tells of a creditor who had two debtors, one with a small and the other with a large debt. The creditor cancels both debts and Jesus asks Simon the Pharisee to tell Him who will love the creditor more? The answer is pretty obvious – the person who owed more – but it also gives an insight into Simon’s heart who had failed to offer even the most basic courtesies to Jesus when he had invited Him to a meal and also the heart of the sinner woman who had washed Jesus feet with her penitential tears. It’s about the response of love. Both Simon and the sinner woman were in debt, but who went away forgiven? – the woman – and what did Jesus say to her “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. She had just experienced being justified by faith. She had lived an immoral life, had probably done, said and thought a lot of bad things but she had simply come to Jesus, she had committed herself to Him in love and had heard the words “Your sins are forgiven”. Not Guilty! She had realised the size of her debt. She had realised that it was Jesus alone who could save her.
As well as those who don’t even think there is a problem, there are unfortunately, many today like Simon the Pharisee. Respectable, religious, living under the belief that they are not so bad, they live a good life, they do the right things, God will accept them on their own merits won’t He? Not according to Galatians 2 v 15 – 21 He won’t. “…we know that a person is justified, not by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ”. We are justified, declared “Not Guilty” by faith in Christ alone.
Let’s pray.
CLOSING PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for Jesus. For what He has done for us on the cross. For bearing the punishment for our sin. Thank you that when we put our trust in Him, You justify us, declare us not guilty. Help us, like the sinner woman, to see the enormity of our debt, our guilt before you and to come to you with penitential tears, in true repentance and faith so that we may hear those words “Your sins are forgiven”, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”.
Amen.
Last week we were introduced us to Paul’s letter to the Galatians. A letter in which Paul has to defend that he is a genuine apostle of Christ, that what he preaches is true and that if the Galatians follow any other teaching then they will no longer be trusting in Christ alone to save them. Today we are going to be looking at why Paul was so concerned that the Galatians understood the basis of how God saves people – what theologians call the doctrine of justification by faith – because it is the central plank as to what it means to be a Christian.
WHY DO WE NEED TO BE JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD?
However, before we look in detail at the passage I think we need to first ask another question, because in today’s society there are many who in response to today’s passage will perhaps respond like Catherine Tate’s character Lauren and say “Am I bovvered?” What relevance does this reading from Galatians have to me and my life today? What is justification or “being justified” all about and why do I need to be justified before God? Never mind how it is achieved, does it matter at all?
The term “justification” that Paul uses is a legal term borrowed from the judicial system. It means “declared “Not Guilty””. So what Paul is saying when a person is justified is that they are declared not guilty. So to understand today’s passage we must understand Paul’s assumption that the reason justification is important is that there is some crime that a person is being tried for and that there is a judge who will make a judgement of “Guilty” or “Not Guilty”. So who is the judge and what is the crime that Paul has in mind?
Although not a popular message today, the Biblical record from Genesis to Revelation is that there is a God who will judge us and that when the evidence of how we have lived our lives is given before Him, the verdict will be “Guilty. Why? Because of that nasty little word that we don’t like to talk about today – sin.
At its heart, sin is about disobedience, rebellion against God. It started with Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden and it continues in each one of us today. It is part of our nature from when we are born all the way through our adult life. Where, as Frank Sinatra sang, “I did it my way”. Though many today choose to ignore it or attribute it to anything but themselves, the evidence of sin is all around us. Not only in the moral evil we see reported in our papers and on the TV, but in the breakdown of our relationships at home in our families and in the wider community. Even within ourselves there is often the evidence of sin manifested itself as inner conflict, regret and guilt.
Paul in his letter to the Romans Ch 3 v 23 summed it up like this “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and in Romans Ch 6 v 23 he goes on to identify the consequences“…the wages of sin is death…” both physical and spiritual. As Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert said “Houston – we have a problem”. That’s why finding out about justification, about how we get a “Guilty” verdict changed to a “Not Guilty” verdict is important. It’s not just an academic theological question. As was said last week; it is a matter of life and death.
So having sorted out why justification by faith is important, let’s first turn to the New Testament sections of our Bibles and look at what God has to say to us today from Galatians Chapter 2 verses 15 – 21.
HOW IS A PERSON JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD?
The basic question which Paul asks in this passage is -
This was something that both Paul and Peter had found from personal experience. They were both Jews, they knew all about the Jewish law and they had found that despite following it and doing all that it required, it didn’t justify them before God. What had declared them “Not Guilty” was faith in Jesus because Jesus, through His death on the cross had suffered the punishment for our sin. As Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians Ch 5 v 21 “For our sakes He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”. That is what happened on the cross. Jesus bore the punishment of God for our sins so that we might be justified, declared “Not Guilty”, and not only that, He declares us righteous, acceptable before Him. So in Jesus’ death on the cross we see both the justice of God and the love of God satisfied. He is able to both punish the sin and save the sinner.
What is more, apart from faith in Jesus there is absolutely nothing we can do to contribute to being justified. Nothing we can do to gain the “Not Guilty” verdict. In verse 16 where it says quoting from Psalm 143 v 2 “…no one will be justified by works of the law” it means just that, no one. It doesn’t matter who you are, your racial origin, your intellect, religious upbringing, social status. It doesn’t matter what you have and haven’t done, it doesn’t matter how good or bad you have been, you are only justified before God by faith in Jesus, by believing that your sins have been dealt with by Jesus on the cross. That is the only basis on which God declares you justified, not guilty. It’s amazing isn’t it? If people simply believe in Jesus, then God declares them justified, not guilty and accepts them into His presence as righteous. That’s what the grace of God is all about. That’s why the gospel of Jesus Christ is such good news because potentially anybody can be put right with God. All that is required is faith. It is also why Paul was so angry with those who were saying to the Galatians that as well as believing in Jesus they had to observe certain Jewish rituals and rules to be declared justified, because basically it was tantamount to telling God that a person by His own efforts could justify himself before God, when God has declared you can’t do it, only Jesus can. That is what Paul is getting at in verse 21. If a person can justify themselves by their own efforts, then Jesus death was pointless. Yet isn’t that exactly what millions who follow other religious and moral systems try to do?
SO CAN WE CARRY ON SINNING?
One of the problems that justification by faith in Jesus raises, is that if God can justify really bad people simply on the basis of faith in Jesus what is the point in being good? In fact can’t it be said that Christ is a servant of sin actually encouraging people to sin. This is the argument Paul addresses in verses 19 – 20. Paul’s answer is an emphatic No! If after my justification I continue in sin, then it is me who is the transgressor, because faith in Jesus Christ is more than just an intellectual assent. It is a commitment to base one’s actions and the way one lives one life on the belief that Jesus death on the cross justifies me before God. Let me illustrate it like this. I know from reading the Virgin Trains timetable that at 7:28 each weekday morning a train arrives at Blackwater destined for Reading. I can believe that i.e. give my intellectual assent to that fact and do nothing more about it. 7:28 can come and go each morning. It doesn’t really matter if the train does arrive at Blackwater and travel on to Reading as it will have absolutely no impact on my life whatsoever. However, if I act on my belief and go to Blackwater for 7:28 then I can get on the train and I will end up in Reading. That is what faith in Jesus Christ means, it means not just giving an intellectual assent that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that I am justified before God, it means committing my life to that belief and acting in a way that demonstrates that I believe what Jesus did is true.
A JUSTIFIED LIFE IS ALSO A CRUCIFIED LIFE?
This is why Paul goes on to say that a justified life is a crucified life. Verses 19 and 20 “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 it is 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”. What Paul is saying is that the law’s demand for my death due to my sin has been satisfied by the death of Christ. By faith in Jesus, by committing myself to Him, I become crucified, united with Him in His death. (4th Slide, 1st Bullet) His sin-
You see, you can tell Paul’s gospel is genuine because you find what He speaks about is consistent with elsewhere in the Bible. What Paul is talking about here is the same as what Jesus talked to Nicodemus about the need to be born again in John 3. It’s why Peter starts his letter by praising God who “By his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1 v 3).
That’s why someone who is justified by faith in Christ is no longer free to carry on sinning. Putting one’s faith in Christ means new birth, starting a new life with new holy desires put there by Jesus, there’s no going back to the old life. You can read in Galatians 5 and Romans 6 – 8 about the day to day practicalities of what it means to live the crucified life, but that point of committing oneself to Jesus is a point of no return to the former life. It’s what repentance is all about. It is more than saying sorry, it’s about turning from our old ways to God’s ways. It’s a truth we often fail to grasp and why we often make such slow progress in developing a Christ-
THE RESPONSE OF LOVE
I’d like now to just briefly turn to our gospel reading from Luke Ch 7 of the Bibles as in it Jesus highlights the reason why people do or don’t put their faith in Him to be put right with God. Jesus tells of a creditor who had two debtors, one with a small and the other with a large debt. The creditor cancels both debts and Jesus asks Simon the Pharisee to tell Him who will love the creditor more? The answer is pretty obvious – the person who owed more – but it also gives an insight into Simon’s heart who had failed to offer even the most basic courtesies to Jesus when he had invited Him to a meal and also the heart of the sinner woman who had washed Jesus feet with her penitential tears. It’s about the response of love. Both Simon and the sinner woman were in debt, but who went away forgiven? – the woman – and what did Jesus say to her “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. She had just experienced being justified by faith. She had lived an immoral life, had probably done, said and thought a lot of bad things but she had simply come to Jesus, she had committed herself to Him in love and had heard the words “Your sins are forgiven”. Not Guilty! She had realised the size of her debt. She had realised that it was Jesus alone who could save her.
As well as those who don’t even think there is a problem, there are unfortunately, many today like Simon the Pharisee. Respectable, religious, living under the belief that they are not so bad, they live a good life, they do the right things, God will accept them on their own merits won’t He? Not according to Galatians 2 v 15 – 21 He won’t. “…we know that a person is justified, not by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ”. We are justified, declared “Not Guilty” by faith in Christ alone.
Let’s pray.
CLOSING PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for Jesus. For what He has done for us on the cross. For bearing the punishment for our sin. Thank you that when we put our trust in Him, You justify us, declare us not guilty. Help us, like the sinner woman, to see the enormity of our debt, our guilt before you and to come to you with penitential tears, in true repentance and faith so that we may hear those words “Your sins are forgiven”, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”.
Amen.
Paul Stone © 2007