Lesson 9: Counting on the Right Principles
Read Galatians 2:1-21 - www.bible.com/bible/59/gal.2
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
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.
17 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!
18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
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.
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.


The basic question in our verses today was whether or not believers in Christ were required to follow the Law as it had been given to Israel by God through Moses. It is still a question for many today. We find God’s answer through Paul’s words in these verses.

Verse 16 says we can never be justified by the works of the Law. Said in other words, no matter how good you are at following the Ten Commandments, you can never do enough to make yourself pleasing to God. A pastor said it this way – if you place yourself on a scale and try to lighten yourself by doing good works (keeping the Law) you can never make your side of the scale rise even a fraction of an inch because you cannot do enough good works to get rid of your ABILITY to sin.

Every time we try to do something good to make ourselves acceptable before God, that very desire to try is enough pride to condemn us to death. We are telling God we can do it without Him. So our very action of trying makes us a sinner and unworthy of God.

Verse 17 argues that since Peter and Paul and Barnabas had already been eating with their non-Jewish brothers in Christ, Peter’s sudden walking away was telling these brothers that he had sinned by eating with them. But Jesus had told Peter in Mark 7:19 that food could not contaminate a person. Essentially, Peter had just called Jesus a liar with his actions.

The purpose of the Law was to condemn our actions as sinful. It was to show us we needed God’s grace to save us. Jesus, by His death on the cross, paid the full penalty-price for our sin. All we need to do is to accept His gift of His grace by faith and we are covered forever under the blood of His sacrifice. If we still say we can make ourselves acceptable to God by what we do or do not do, we have just called God a liar and said that Jesus’ death means nothing.

*Ask God to show you if there is anything you are doing (or not doing) to try to make yourself acceptable in His sight. Then thank Him for His amazing grace!