Click here to watch my video reflection on our text for today, or keep reading for my written reflections: 

Today’s reading is from Galatians 2: 15-21: 

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. 17 But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and 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. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Today is what a lot of Galatians has been heading for. We are getting into the heart of the Gospel. What is our faith all about?  What is the Gospel about?  

In verses 17-20 that the law has set us free from the law. What in the world?  What does that even mean. Here is what he is talking about. The law is given to show us that we can’t keep it.  The law is like a physical, it diagnosis our problem. It shows us what is wrong. But instead of it being high cholesterol or something like this, we find that our problem is sin. 

We are sinful, and we can’t save ourselves.  The law shows us that. We try so hard to keep the law and we can’t do it. So the purpose of the law is to show us that we can’t keep the law.  

Well, if we can’t keep the law, then how can we be saved?  We see here. We have died to the law, and we have been crucified with Christ. And it is now Christ who lives within us and through us.  Christ has saved us, and He has but the law to death.  

We are not saved by the law. We are not saved by our actions. We are not saved by anything that we do. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.  

This is them summed up in verse 21.  If we can be saved by keeping the law, then Jesus died for nothing. We don’t anything to our salvation. The only thing that we do is accept it.  It is not earned by anything we do.  It is a free gift.  

That is the Good News. That is the Gospel. Salvation is not Me + Jesus = salvation. It is Jesus = salvation.  If there is anything you have to do, then you are saying that Jesus didn’t do enough. And that is not true. Jesus did enough.  Jesus did it all. That’s the Gospel.  That’s the good news.  

Tomorrow we’ll look at Galatians 3: 1-14.  

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