Justified by Faith

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

Gal 2:14-16

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? 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.

NIV

Paul is still correcting Peter in his behavioral change once certain Jews showed up. Peter was eating with Gentiles but then withdrew because of the other Jews, so then Peter was more concerned about appearances than truth. Paul told him that was not acting in line with the truth of the gospel. The whole of the idea Paul was making is that none of us can be justified by the law, or as what the law requires, works. We cannot be justified by anything we do whatsoever. It might be easy to get caught up in the trap of “Good deeds”, thinking that is how we earn something in the kingdom. But the truth Paul was telling Peter is there is no Jewish custom which justifies a man. All of them, Jew and Gentile alike are sinners and the only way to be justified is through faith in Jesus Christ. Observing any set of laws, or rules and regulations may gain us access to membership into a particular club, such as a church or denomination, but observing them has absolutely nothing to do with our justification, our salvation, and our relationship with our Lord. Of course, Jesus did say that if we love him we would obey his commands. The problem is when we start trying to decipher between his commands and our added on club rules. There are many things Jesus said that we would be blessed if we developed certain attitudes in our lives, but they were not commands. There were many parables or examples as to how we should interact with others, but again they were not commands. Jesus did tell us there were two commands which encompassed everything. That is to love the Lord our God with all of our being, our heart, our mind, our soul and our strength or body, and love our neighbor as ourselves. However, even doing all of that, if that is totally doable, does not justify us. Justification is an act of God, not an act of man. However, if we could define faith as an act of man, then we have a part in our justification. Yet, even our faith is a gift of God, for he gives every man a measure of faith. It is what we do with that measure of faith God gives us which could be defined as our part in justification. If we accept that faith and use it to believe in Jesus Christ then we are justified by faith.