Justification by Faith
Galatians 2:15-16 · Roger Henderson · Mar 28, 2010
Galatians (2010), No. 13
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926158377205

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Well this morning we're going to continue on two more verses in Galatians chapter 2 and I get a volunteer to read these. You can read them from the overhead if you like or you can read them from your Bible. I decided to put in verse 14 and I'll tell you that shortly after someone would read those verses.

So when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, if you being a Jew live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews? We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ. in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. Great, thank you.

Okay, well this section, actually when Paul addressed Peter and basically gave him a rebuke If you notice in almost, I'm not sure, at least in my Bible, I think in most Bibles, there are quotation marks on what Paul says. When Paul says, I said to Cephas, or Peter, the quote starts, if you being a Jew, notice there's a quote there, and then you go down to verse 15, there's quotation marks. Every place where there's a quotation marks, open your Bible and look, there are quotation marks starting in the middle of 14 there with Paul saying if you being a Jew quotation marks go down all the rest all the way to 21. So basically and there's there's some and looking at this or some people that we know don't totally agree.

But this this seems to be this was an extended. This is more than a rebuke. When Paul told Peter that you're causing Gentiles to act like Jews, he went on to explain some other wonderful truths. And that's the rest of this chapter, basically. So that's why I wanted to kind of continue on. And it kind of fits. Verse 15, in a way, kind of fits with 14, in a sense. And we'll see that shortly. But that's something to kind of observe. talked to Cephas and corrected his error, he went on to explain what justification by faith is all about.

So that's something that maybe, and I actually hadn't seen that before. It's one of those things that's probably there, and probably somebody mentioned it, but I never looked at it the first time. Wow, look at that. So that's one thing to note. And also, if you notice, he again uses we in 15 and 16. And we're going to see what that's talking about. That's certainly Paul and others.

And then there's kind of two main tensions here, if you will. There's the works of the law. And in this context, the definite article is not there. So it's just works of law versus faith in Christ. That's going to be kind of the tension between what's going on here and his presentation of justification.

He talks about first, nevertheless knowing in verse 16, and then very shortly after, he talks about believing. So we know something, and then we have the facts, and then we can believe it. And so that's kind of how verse 16 divides up. And we'll see that. We're going to spend some time going through that. So that's kind of the plan here for it. OK. Now, let's go on to the next chart here.

So we're going to start in verse 15. So he starts off, we are Jews by nature. And I think the we here from the previously said before is Paul and the other Jewish Christians there. That would be Barnabas, right? Peter. So he's going to, he rebuked Peter for having Gentiles act like Jews. Now he's going to kind of, he's going to talk about how Jews view Gentiles, I believe. And basically he says, by nature, in our lineage, we're Jews. Their origin or birth, we're Jews. That's pretty straightforward.

Nobody seems to have a problem with that. It's the second half of this verse that seems to be a little harder to... We are not sinners from among the Gentiles. And so this is a compound sentence. So if you look there, we are Jews by nature and not sinners. So I just basically put the subject, we are, and then I separate it into two pieces so you can see it better. So basically it's saying we are not sinners from among the Gentiles. So the question is, what does this mean? Gentiles are sinners? You'd probably agree with that. Jews are not sinners?

Tom? heard of God, they were never really a conversion in any nature of moral law at all. They were just out of it, totally. Anything that got filtered over there from the Jews indirectly was just kind of corrupted by the time it got there in their culture. And they just kind of played with what they got. And that had nothing to do with even knowing what sin was or anything. Right, right. The Jews were privileged and they realized that. And I think that's, you're on the right track I think there. They viewed things differently. They were God's chosen people. So they figured, well we have a leg up on this.

And so Gentiles were viewed And Paul's going to correct that. Paul's going to correct that viewpoint. But it's interesting that he says, after telling Peter, you're making the Gentiles act like Jews, then he comes back and makes a statement about, which seems like saying, boy, Jews are, you know, we're with the program here, right? Okay, so let's, here's some thoughts, let's go on to the next chart.

Go ahead. Right, I think also the Jewish people, they worship the one true God. It's a big difference. And I think the Gentiles worshipped all kinds of gods. Exactly. Even though they had the covenant with Abraham and they were a chosen race, they were worshipping the one true God. And I think maybe that might have significance with this as well. Yeah, no, I agree. There's some verses that I think kind of show how the Jews view the Gentiles. So let's look, before I look at the three points I had, let's just look at, I need someone to read Ephesians. Chapter 2, 11-13.

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called on circumcision by the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands, remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So what some of you said, that's exactly what that says.

So a couple of the key points is that they were called the uncircumcision, and that was a covenant mark with God, with the true God, right? So they were the uncircumcision, they weren't in the fold, right? They were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.

A case where Christ was talking about the breadcrumbs, I've forgotten how that goes exactly, where Christ talks to the woman, or the woman says to Christ, even the dogs get the breadcrumbs. Basically, the Gentiles only got the leftovers, if you will. If they happened to hear about the true God, they had no direct revelation. The covenants from the false gods are kind of hard to hear sometimes. That's good. And they were strangers to the promises of the covenants.

And there's another verse over Ephesians. Let's read that one in chapter 4, 17 through 20. I'll get someone else to read that. They eagerly seek you not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. Is that it? No, it's, I say therefore to you affirm, this is 4, 417, Ephesians 417. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm late. I'll let somebody else.

So this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that ye walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way. Great. Thank you. So Sona, Foy, and Sarah, oops, too fast.

Gentiles also walk in futility of mind, being darkened in understanding, So basically you see a picture that they're not part of God's covenant people. And at that time God was speaking to the nation of Israel. So that's kind of the whole of it. That's where the Jewish mindset came from. That's how they grew up. So they saw the Gentiles as being something...

Nobody. Nobody, right. Well, Paul's gonna, you know, we'll see it very shortly. Okay, so let's, actually we'll just go ahead and, this one here says, talking about the privileged place of Israel, I have placed you, Jews, as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. So the Jews were gonna be God's instrument to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. So they had a very privileged place. But what's interesting is, go back to Galatians here, It doesn't take Paul long before he doesn't... Galatians chapter 2 again, where we started. And let's look at the next verse. We have verses 15 and 16. Look at verse 17. I'll read that. This is Galatians 2. Galatians 2. Actually, I'm an Ephesian, that's why I'm having a problem. But if while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners in Christ, is Christ then a minister of sin?

May it never be. Basically he says, you know, basically that we, once again the we being the Jew, Paul and others, we have been found sinners too. So it doesn't take him very long to kind of put that in context, what he said. And it seems like he just, you know, it was a transitional thing. And some have said that's before, you know, that's Paul not speaking as a believer.

But it is kind of a hard one. We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles. I see some puzzled looks here and there. I'm not sure I can un-puzzle it much more than what I've said. But in the context of what he does, it doesn't take very long.

We get into verse 16. He's going to make very clear that a person cannot be justified by following the law. He cannot be justified before God. It's faith that justifies a person. So he doesn't make it very clear what the situation is. But it can be kind of troubling because it's not sinners from among the Gentiles. And he says later on, we're sinners as well. So anyway, all right. OK, so let's go on. Verse 16. So the rest of our time here. So starting verse 16. In verse 16, you start looking through it. It seems like, boy, he repeats himself several times. So hopefully we can sort through that. The first phrase is, nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. So he's going to start out and point out that, knowing that man is not justified. So he can't be justified before God. And let's look at some definitions here. It's kind of important to look at this word knowing. And this is this word oida, O-I-D-A.

And it's to know factually on the basis of facts. And that's kind of in contrast to the other word for know that's used quite a bit is gnosko. to know by experience. And let's just look at a verse that, we're going to see that he's saying, we have been privileged to know the facts about Jesus Christ. And he's going to say later on that we have believed those facts.

So knowing is critical. So that's the word, oida, is used there. But the other word, which is to know by experience, it's kind of good to make a contrast. And this is one in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, a pretty well known verse, verse 21, and I'll read that.

He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And that knew there, or know, Christ did not know sin. He did not experience sin. He did not experience sin. So that's kind of a contrast with, in this case, this is talking about knowing the facts of the situation, not experiencing the facts, but knowing the facts. So the next definition that's helpful is justification.

And it comes from the word, the core word is dike, D-I-K-E. And this is a word that, when it's in the passive voice, is rendered justified. But the core word is righteous. So it's deemed to be right, shown to be righteous. So when you see the word justified, righteousness is at its core. And basically, it's the idea that we are declared righteous based upon the acts of what Christ did on the cross. If it's belief, justified can be used to use normally. It can be justified to. different things, but in terms of knowing Christ, it's based upon what Christ has done on the cross. God, based upon your faith in him or your belief in him, he has declared you righteous. So now, there's a phrase that's really kind of interesting here when we go through this section. It's a works, and most translations have have the definite article there, the law. But actually, the the isn't present.

It's just works, plural, of law. And this is the idea that whose works whose object is fulfilling the law. And it's a particular kind of construction. And I'm not really all that I'm not sure I can explain it well, so I won't try to explain it. I'll just say it's a unique construction which involves what those words modify, works of the law. So it's works whose object is fulfilling the law.

And that's the law of Moses, I believe. So we're going to see that as we go through here. We're going to see that a person is not justified or declared righteous before God. by the works of the law, or by works whose object is fulfilling the law. Roger? Yes.

I think maybe to simplify that, works of the law would be the end justifies the means, because the works are the end product, whereas if you look at what Paul is saying, it's a means to faith See, it's not the end in itself, the works of the law. That's what the Jews saw. That it was the works of the law that would make them righteous. It was just, it was to show them God and for them to better know God through the law. So it was a means to an end, which actually came by faith. But see, they stumbled over that. They missed the faith part and they focused only on the works of the law part.

So it's not the end. No, I agree. It's not the end. But it's not bad either. Well, God's law is holy and righteous and just. It's not a problem with the law. It's a problem with using that. That wasn't God's intent. God's intent with the law was to receive blessing. If you go back to the Old Testament, if you obey this, you'll be blessed. If you don't obey that, you'll be cursed. It was to fellowship with Him. That was the goal.

So it was not salvation. The law was not a means to salvation. And that's what he's going to make really clear here. It's not a means to salvation. Right, but the Jews thought that it was. It was an end in itself. It wasn't. They made it into... you know, a way to be saved, if you will. There's a couple of verses that have that phrase, works of the law.

So let's look at Romans 3.28. And this kind of flips it around. Can someone read 3.28 in Romans? For he is not a Jew which is wrong outwardly, neither is outward in the flesh.

Romans 3.28? Oh, I'm sorry.

Romans 3.28. If somebody does it, I'm on the wrong page.

We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Right. So here's the positive side. It flips around and says, Basically, how is a man justified? We're going to see that very shortly here. How is a man justified? He's justified by faith, apart from the works of the law. Same kind of idea.

A lot of Bibles will have a little note that the the is not there. It's works, plural, of law. So the works of the law cannot justify, cannot make you right before God. And then in Galatians, back to Galatians, So you're saying the article's not there, Roger? The definite article's not there.

Really? Yeah. All three places it's not there. Yeah, if you have your, you know, agreement. It's also singular. Right, right. And actually, that was pointed out. As I studied this, that's interesting. The law is, maybe there's one time, it's very infrequent. Law is always singular in scripture. Don't ask me to prove that at the moment, but just in looking through the occurrences, you know, singular. Anyway, I don't know, I'm not sure I can make a whole lot out of that at the moment. Okay, Galatians, back to Galatians. Galatians 3. Let's look at, start at verse 10. And it's, let me go ahead and read that. It says, Galatians 3 verse 10.

For as many are the works of the law are under the curse for it is written curses everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to reform them. Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident for the righteous shall live by faith. So, again, in several places here, once again, it's works, no definite article, works of law, are under the curse, or it is written, cursed is everyone.

Because man, basically man could not keep, you know, that's part of the tutoring that God wanted people to see. Man cannot keep the law. That's to show us we can't do it. And Israel was a perfect example of that, right? God gives them the law and right out of the starting block. It doesn't take them long. They're breaking the law right at the very beginning. They just got it and they're breaking it.

Roger? Yes. That verse you just read, I think it's interesting. The book which is singular, then it does have the article of the law. Yeah, down that one there. The one where it says... the verse that we were just reading in 3... where is it here? It's Galatians 3.10. 3.10, yeah. It says book of the law. Right. But back up in the... It's literally that in the Greek. Exactly. That one I was pretty sure was right. The one that's not there is the one earlier. Right, the previous verse. Right. So it's pretty consistent. The phrase here works Basically, it's works of law with no definite article. And it's basically, the object of the works was to fulfill the law. That's what it's kind of conveying.

But you can't be justified by that. You can't keep the laws of eating habits. The Jews had what they should eat. You look in the Pentateuch, you see that they had dietary things. By keeping those will not justify you before God. Or any law, right? Or any law. It's even broader than that. So works, since works is plural, I kind of envision, I'll just, you know, the Jews come to mind and say, well, the more I can do, the better, right? I just get a higher, I build up my stack of works, right? And it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And pretty soon God's going to have to accept me, right?

No. He can't. We just saw that. But see, if man could, there'd be no need for grace. There'd be no need for Christ either, right? And God would not be part of it. I mean, if you could do it on your own, and if the means was the works of the law, and you were really, really, really good at it, and you really focused on that your entire life, and you were capable of doing that, then God would be no part of it. You would not need grace. You would be God unto yourself.

Exactly. And that's kind of what it says here. Basically it says, you're cursed if you can't do them all. If you're going to start out in this venture, I'm going to do all the works of the law. You have to do them all. And you found out pretty shortly that you can't do that.

Let's just say only 2,500,000 of them are past the age of accountability. Okay, you're going to start there. Just being generous. It doesn't matter how many decimal places you take it. For every second of the day, each day you live, you're going to find something wrong. Absolutely, absolutely. I was just arriving to work here this morning. I had my share.

There's probably a couple of people in here who probably don't remember him, but our link letter sent a guy out once. Yeah, he sent a guy out once and he said that he was going to have somebody follow him and he wanted to make sure that he complied with every law. Okay. And so they followed him for I guess a whole week, you know, stop signs, driving, everything that he did. Right. And then when he came back, They showed him the laws that he broke.

And one of them, I recall, was a pack of cigarettes. And he actually broke the little tab that goes over the top. Okay. And supposedly there was a law at that time that said that when you open the pack of the cigarette, you couldn't take that flap off. There was a law. Okay. So there was a law. Exactly. And so he, when he opened the pack of cigarettes, he broke the law. Exactly. And there was like four or five things like that.

And the guy said, I didn't even know they were there. I know, and that's the ones we don't even know about. I mean, God is so gracious. He takes care of the ones we don't even remember. You know, we do things, and we never, I thought I was just fine today. Well, look at all the things we did. Well, if you go back to the Pentateuch, I think it really talks mainly about being forgiven for things done in ignorance. Right, exactly. And 1 John 1 9, my favorite verse there, actually takes care of all sins. I mean, the ones you didn't remember.

I love that verse. I'm going to tell our kids about that. Wow, this verse, if we agree with God, That takes care of ones we've forgotten about. Isn't that wonderful? I can remember the ones I should be saying, Lord, I shouldn't have acted that way. But the ones I didn't think about, which I think is really good, too. Don't cut those tags off the mattress. And one last thing before we go off this. Back to knowing again, because we're going to see here that basically Paul is saying that We know that we're not justified by the works of the law, but that knowing is in the perfect tense.

Well, that's all like a little red, little things going off, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, you know? And what that means is that they're all saying, we knew it in the past, we continue to know it, and we're going to know it up into the present and on into the future. So that's something that they know and hold on to. And that's the same with us. We know that we're not justified by the works of the law. We knew it in the past. We continue to know it up in the present on into the future. So that's a wonderful. thing to hang our hats on. Okay, so let's look at the positive side of this. Okay, this is the second part of that.

What through faith in Christ Jesus, or if you expand it, and a man is justified through faith in Christ Jesus. And diah is through or by means of. And faith is this word, means belief or trust or confidence. And then we have the competing phrase. We have the works of the law, whose object is fulfilling the law. Here we have faith in Christ Jesus, whose object is Jesus Christ.

And this is something that's always so important. We constantly have to remind ourselves. I think it's true. Bonnie, the statement about faith and faith alone, is that something that we, if you remember that when we were in England about that, does that ring a bell with you at all? Okay. She always helps me out. I say something that might not.

We have faith and faith alone. What does that mean, faith and faith alone? Faith and faith, what does that mean? There's no object there. Well, biblical faith is never that way. It has to have an object. And what's neat is, packed into that phrase, faith in Christ Jesus, literally means faith whose object is Jesus Christ. So that's what's so wonderful. Our faith has an object.

And that's in contrast with the works of the law. And there's some verses that have that phraseology. And just once again, this is being declared righteous. And there's just many verses that talk about us being declared righteous. But we don't have to go into that. Let's just look at a few here.

Philippians 3.9.

Philippians 3.9. Did someone read that if they found it before I did? Let's go back to 8 and 9, Philippians.

Yes, Daulets, and I count all things but loss for the excellency and the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having God, my faith.

Right. Thanks, Bud. That's great. So we're kind of in the middle there of verse 9. It says, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Okay. All right. So this first part is, this is what Paul's saying. In contrast to what he said up in verse 15, he says, nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.

And now this is kind of a, if you have any Bible, I put a little double hash mark after that comma there. He's going to kind of, it seems like he's going to repeat himself again, but he's going to talk about now that They knew the facts, now they're going to believe them. So he's going to go into, even we have believed. So it seems like repetitious, but actually he's going to say, knowing this, but now we believe.

So that's what the last half of this verse is about. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus. So once again, we, Paul and others, have believed in Christ Jesus and believe, maybe you've heard this before, but belief in faith. has the same core word. And it's this word pistus, or pistuo in this case, to believe, to be persuaded, hence to place confidence, to trust.

So basically, it seems somewhat repetitive. He's going to say, we have believed. And notice it's in the idea that it's something that has occurred already. We have believed. We have believed. And there's going to be a purpose for that. I'll show you that in a second. So we have believed.

And if you look at some of those verses, we don't have to turn to them right now, but the one in John 6 talks about, we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. And there's another one that talks about, it's now in Acts 22, 19, talks about basically, again, Paul talking about believing believing in Christ Jesus.

So what's the purpose? We saw it before, he makes a statement. We know that we can't be justified by the works of the law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus. Now it says, even we have believed, it's already occurred, and we see a that or a so that, that's a purpose. The purpose is going to follow that. The purpose for believing in Jesus Christ is going to follow. And we already know what it's going to say. It's so that we may be justified by faith in Christ Jesus and not by works of the law. So belief is the doorway to justification, to be declared righteous before God, not the works of the law.

He says we knew it first. They knew the truth first. And the second part, we believed it. OK. All right, so again, so we, so that we, Paul and others, may be justified by faith in Christ Jesus. So that's a purpose, with a purpose that we may be justified. And there's a parallel verse to this. Let's look at Galatians, it's a little farther than Galatians, if you're in Galatians. If you're in Galatians, we'll cover this down the road a bit. Galatians chapter 3. Can someone read verse 23 and 24? Galatians chapter 3, 23 and 24.

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ. so that we may be justified by faith. Right. So basically, the law is a tutor, as we pointed out before, that we may be justified by faith. So that's what Paul's saying. We believed it with a purpose set to be justified by faith, and not by the works of the law, although they're expanding it. OK. All right. So then lastly, after he's pointed out that believing leads to justification, he's going to make one more last pass on this, just in case you didn't get it.

Since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. It could be because. Because by the works of the flesh, And that actually probably is better, the human body would probably be better than human nature, humankind. Humankind cannot be justified by the works of the law.

So this could be, you could do it, make a little more literal translation, all flesh will not be justified, and all is this word pas, P-A-S in the Greek, and it means everything's included, nothing's excluded. So, there's only one way to be justified, to be righteous before God, is by faith in Jesus Christ. And as J. Vernon McGee put it so plainly, all means all. That's all. All is. And all does mean all.

I like the way, with this definition, You can't. There's nonexclusive. Sort of like there's no exclusion clause. Well, that's everybody except, you know, if there's a bill passes, everybody except, you know, all those exceptions. What bothers me? Whatever. So anyway, you're also doesn't doesn't reliability and dependability come into that.

God has said this is what is my way to being declared righteous before me and there's no other option, that's it. And we can depend upon that. It's not like we'll find out down the road, oh wait a minute, there is an exclusion clause in the little fine print down there. Oh by the way, we're not going to find that.

And Romans 3.20 says, Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. It's just basically a parallel verse to that last little phrase there.

So actually, I'm going to finish early here today, which is OK. So actually, as I've been saying, I've been having a great time. As I study through this, I get to sit with Hal, I feel. And so. Well, you're positionally in the head. Yeah, I know. I'm already there. That's actually better. That's actually better. That's actually better. So anyway, so let's look at a chart that he did back in 95. And just really wonderful stuff. Okay, so 215, he calls it the Jewish mindset.

And Howell kind of labels it prior to faith in Christ. And you know, it certainly is, that last part does kind of bother you a bit. So he basically, we believers, he kind of has it This is like a sentence diagram for those verses. We believers who are Jewish by birth and therefore we are not sinners like the Gentiles. And you could say, OK, that's who they were before they were believers. They were excluded from God. OK, then 16, the A part. And this is the knowledge part.

We believers who are Jewish know factually, so these are the facts, this is oida, the factual knowing, not just, not experience, we know factually this. One, a man, any man, is justified, judicially declared righteous by God, not by his works whose object is a law system. So you can kind of see, if you kind of remember what we did, the definitions kind of come out as we look through here. You know, it's works of the law, works whose object is a law system. Number two, but a man, any man, not excluded, is justified by his faith whose object is Jesus Christ.

So that's why I was telling you the tension here in this verse is between works of the law, is that how you're going to obtain your righteousness? Are you going to go down that path, which is futile? Or are you going to go down the path of faith in Jesus Christ, whose object is Jesus Christ? So that's the knowing part.

And the believing part, their belief, we, who are Jewish, believe it's already occurred in Jesus Christ. For the purpose of that, we might be justified by our faith, whose object is Jesus Christ. and then the negative of that, and we might not be justified by our works, whose object is the law system. So verse 16 is kind of the foundational verse in terms of justification by faith and not by the works of the law.

It seemed like even back then, at the time Moses was showing them even just the first ten commandments, that he said, you can't do this. It's not possible. And besides, it all comes down to where is your focus? It can't be on the law because you can't do it. It's got to be on the giver of the law. And it's not me, Moses. It's the Lord. Right, right. When you start focusing on all those laws, all your time, you're going to try to count them up, you're going to miss some, and you just can't do it. It's futile. Roger, there's a good translation that Jung did on these two verses. Why don't you read it?

We by nature Jews, and not sinners of the nations, having known also that a man is not declared righteous by works of law, not through the faith of Jesus Christ. Also, we in Christ Jesus did believe that we might be declared righteous by the faith of Christ and not by works of law. Wherefore, declared righteous by works of law shall no flesh be. literally translates. And that's the Greek terminology there, which I'm not strong enough on, but I thought I could really add anything to it. He's brought it out. Actually, Hal's brought it out beautifully. He's brought it out beautifully.

That's why I said there's a tension between, if you come with one thing, works of law, works whose object is a law system, versus faith in Christ Jesus. Faith whose object is Jesus Christ. It's our faith. in Christ, or that looks at Christ, and it's our works that's looking at rules. Right, exactly.

So it's totally different. They're at odds with one another. So actually what's going to happen here, next week we're going to go down and Paul's going to kind of expand some more, talk about more about justification and some additional issues that kind of crop up. Roger?

Yes. I've been thinking as we've gone along on that word sinners up there at the top, where he says we're not sinners. And we always say whenever I hear this talk, we kind of go over that. Why is he saying that were not sinners, because they were sinners. They were, right. And yet, if we liken it to ourselves, we don't refer to ourselves as sinners. We refer to ourselves as saints. Exactly. Even though we do have the capacity to still sin. And I kind of put it up here that they knew the truth, like we know the truth. Exactly.

And so, in that sense, they were not sinners. the way those who don't know the truth, not in the same manner as Gentiles, or those who don't have truth. There's a difference there. Right, well the difference would be like we have the truth, so we can... And they had truth too, even though maybe they were focusing on the law to try to be justified. They knew what truth was, and they could look forward to the Messiah and place their faith there.

And along with that, maybe that's why Paul uses the word, we and not all, because as McGee said, if you said all Jewish people, it may not... Oh yeah, well definitely... Because then you look at the book of Malachi, and you can see, and they were cut out of the tree, so Paul's not saying all Jewish people, he's saying we. Well, we, and the we, you could just put, for a shorthand, as Hal did, we believers, I mean, Jewish believers.

He's saying we Jewish believers. Without exception. I think he, well, to be fair to Tex, I think, I think he meant the, I think of the we as being the body of Christ at that time in Antioch. I mean, I, you know, he already knew, we, you know, believers. So you could say the apostles were the first messianic Jews, right?

But along with this, Roger, I was just reading Hebrews chapter 4 again and of course that's the one talking about the high priest and the entering the rest and entering the rest. And I think if you look at the one where it talks about, for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And then it goes down to 14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest, talking about Christ, But you can also read through here and it says in verse six, therefore, since it remains for some to enter it and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience. This is a chapter of conscience and of obedience to the word, to the living word. And you kind of have to add that, you know, it's not saying the law. of God, the High Priest Jesus Christ, but it is talking about a degree of obedience and entering that rest. So we can't just cut out, you know, since Jesus fulfilled the law, we can't just cut it out and say that, you know, it's not important because it's holy and good, like you said. So it leads us to something. That's what I said earlier. It's a means to an end. And The end is the justification of the righteousness which is what Romans talks about. That's through faith and it's not through works of law.

Well actually this is the first time that I did a little search in Galatians on the computer. This is the first mention of the law in Galatians. So we're going to get, this topic is going to come up quite a few more times. We're going to have an opportunity to go through this and understand what Paul is trying to say here.

It's obvious from this that the works of the law cannot justify you before God. So that's one checkmark. So as you're building the list here, what does Paul want to say about the laws? This is a very strong point is that the law cannot justify what the court got. I think you're righteous. So that's, you know, that's point one. Tom?

Something else that kind of intrudes through this whole bit, and that is, if you're going to focus on the law, you're going to focus on avoiding negative consequences and paying no attention to any growth or buildup. It's just, oh, keep from getting zapped with the law. Keep from getting zapped. Keep from getting zapped. no appreciation or reduced appreciation of who God is in the positive sense. Right, right.

Just like, you know, the point is, if you look at our two contrasting belief, belief in Jesus Christ, or faith in Christ Jesus, versus works the law, what's the focus? One is on a set of rules and one is on a person. Totally different, totally different lifestyle, totally different perspective. And we're to focus on the person of Christ as revealed in God's word. And that's what the bottom line is. OK, let's close. We thank you, Father. We thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for your word. Thank you for our time. Yes, in Christ's name, amen.