Galatians 2:15-21
“Getting A Gospel Vocabulary”
SI: Remember last week looked at Paul’s account of the
time he had
to rebuke Peter
publicly.
A group of Jews had come from
Professing Christians. Believed Jesus the Savior, had to have faith
in him.
But also taught that Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep Jewish customs
in order to be
saved.
Peter was fearful of this
group. Wanted their
approval.
So even though he knew that circumcision was
not required of Gentiles—
he pulled away from
the Gentile Christians and would no longer eat with them.
It wasn’t that Peter denied
the Gospel in his teaching.
His behavior and attitude
in contradiction with the Gospel.
He was not walking in line with the Gospel
in his conduct.
So Paul confronted Peter and
our reading is a summary of what he said to him.
INTRO: My brother in law started working for an investment
company this year.
He was excited about this new
opportunity and I wanted to talk to him about it.
So I asked him what this investment company
does.
He said:
We’re a long-biased, value-oriented hedge
fund.
We utilize leverage and engage in short
selling.
The conversation ended there
because I don’t know investment vocabulary.
So I
couldn’t talk to him about it.
But every one of those terms mean something
to him
and they are
invaluable to him in understanding and performing at work.
Every field of knowledge has
its own vocabulary:
football,
carpentry, medicine, quilting.
What specialized vocabulary
does is that it compresses complicated ideas
or processes into a
single word or phrase—so you can talk about it—
and get somewhere
with it in your thinking.
When you have problems you
can talk to other experts in the field—
and this vocabulary
helps you talk about it.
There is a Gospel vocabulary.
At this point in Paul’s
letter he starts to use some of it.
He starts to get technical.
He introduces some words and phrases that
are full of meaning.
He continues to use this
Gospel vocabulary through the letter—
it’s technical
theological language.
As a Christian you need to
get a hold of this vocabulary.
These should be words that you know and use
so you can talk about the Gospel
and grow and move
ahead in your knowledge of it and its application to life.
Sometimes Christians resist
this.
Why should we be bothered by theological
terminology?
The Gospel is simple. Even a child can understand it.
Jesus Christ died on the
cross for my sins. There it is. That’s the Gospel.
Why
complicate something simple and beautiful with words like justification?
We could just say: Because these words are in the Bible—
that’s reason
enough for you to be committed to understand and use them.
But there is a more practical
answer:
The Gospel is constantly in danger of
slipping out of your mind.
Knowing this Gospel
vocabulary, using it,
is a way to keep
the Gospel in there,
or get it back in
there when it’s slipped out.
That’s exactly what you see
in this incident.
Peter, a man who knew Christ and knew the
Gospel let it slip away—
so that Paul had to
confront and say—You’re not walking in line with Gospel.
What did Paul use to bring it
back to Peter’s mind and heart?
He talked about the Gospel using Gospel
vocabulary.
Martin Luther wrote this:
(The Gospel) is slippery; not
of itself, for of itself it is most sure and certain, but in respect of
us. I myself have good experience in
this matter. I know in what hours of darkness
I sometimes wrestle. I know how often I
suddenly lose the beams of the Gospel and grace, as being shadowed from me with
thick and dark clouds.”
It’s slippery—it’s not
slippery—it’s that my hands are slippery.
Compares it to beams of
light that he loses in clouds.
That’s what happened to
Peter. This is how Paul brought him
back.
Talked about the Gospel
with Gospel vocabulary.
He did the same thing with the Galatians in
this letter.
This is the way you have to
talk to yourself and other Christians
if you are going to
make progress in Christian life.
If you were working in a
hedge fund—
have to use
investment vocabulary to make any progress
One final observation:
When a person loves a particular field of
knowledge—he loves to learn and use
the vocabulary. It’s not a chore to him—it’s a pleasure.
It should be the same for
us.
This is God’s language to us about something
wonderful, we should treasure it.
So let’s have our vocabulary
lesson: Four terms.
Righteousness, Works of the Law,
Justification,
1.
Righteousness
vs. 21 “for if righteousness could be gained
through the law, Christ died for nothing.”
Most people would probably
say righteousness means goodness. But it
doesn’t.
Righteousness means to be judged and found
acceptable.
Everybody wants
righteousness.
Why is it that some women
don’t like to look in the mirror?
Because they look at their appearance or
shape and judge themselves
to be unacceptable. They want righteousness.
Why is it that some men are
driven in their work—even to the point of ruining
their marriages and
estranging themselves from their children?
Because their work is what
gives them righteousness—
judge their
acceptability by the work they do.
Our desire for righteousness
motivates much of what we do and how we feel.
Some people seem to have more
intense feelings of unrighteousness.
Sometimes you can put your finger on
possible reasons—like family upbringing.
A child not loved and affirmed will grow up
longing intensely for righteousness.
But as all you good parents
know—
you can shower your
child with love and affirmation and he or she
will still be
driven to fit in through grades, sports, looks, popularity.
Your parental judgment and
approval does not satisfy the desire for righteousness.
The Bible tells us why right
at the very beginning.
Before Adam and Eve sinned
they were naked and unashamed.
God created them with original
righteousness.
They were absolutely right with God.
He judged them and found them
acceptable.
And they knew that righteousness so
completely that they were able to be
naked and unashamed
before God, each other, and all the world.
Their nakedness was a sign of
their righteousness.
But you know the rest of the
story.
Immediately after eating the
forbidden fruit they knew they were naked.
Hid and made fig leaf aprons as a way to
make themselves acceptable.
That has been the story of
the human race ever since.
People find ways to hide
flaws, make themselves acceptable—
So that they will get the
favorable judgment of God.
Most people don’t realize
that it is the favorable judgment of God that they want.
So they substitute the favorable judgments
of other people—
parents, friends,
husbands—society’s standard of beauty or success.
The Gospel is the way to get
righteousness.
Through the Gospel a person can be judged
and found acceptable by God.
Through the Gospel the righteousness that
Adam lost is restored.
We will get to this in a few
minutes when we cover our third vocabulary word.
But let’s think for just a
minute about the context of Paul’s words.
He’s summarizing for the Galatians what he
said to Peter when confronted him.
Peter’s problem was that he
wanted the favorable judgment of circumcision group.
He was looking for righteousness through the
eyes of other people.
He was not walking in line with the Gospel—
Not living in the reality of the
righteousness he had in Christ.
Righteousness is a Gospel
vocabulary word that you need to know
frontwards
and backwards.
You need to understand how it
is relevant to every single person—
your friends, your
spouse, your children.
And you need to recognize how
important it is to you.
Be able to ask yourself questions about it.
Self, what am I looking to
for my righteousness?
What favorable judgment do I crave?
That brings us to the second
Gospel vocabulary term
2. Works of the
law
Vs. 16 ESV A more literal
translation than NIV important because technical term.
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.
NIV translates this “by
observing the law” but “the works of the law” is better.
What are the works of the
law?
This is a tremendously important Gospel
vocabulary term—
especially for
Bible Belt Southerners—not as important for heathens up North.
The Works of the Law refers
to all attempts to get righteousness
through religion
and morality.
Remember what righteousness
is: To be judged and found acceptable by
God.
The Works of the Law means all attempts to
secure and acceptable judgment
from God through
religion and morality.
Sometimes Paul shortens the
phrase “the works of the law” and just says “the law.”
That confuses some people. Does this mean the moral law of God is bad?
Paul has to say over and over law is good. Romans.
End of Galatians the importance of law in
life of Christian. Way of life.
But the law is worthless as a
system of attaining righteousness.
It is a way of avoiding Jesus Christ and
attempting to be your own savior.
That’s why I made the weak joke
about this being for Bible Belt Southerners.
Because it applies particularly to people
who know about the God of the Bible,
know He has moral
standards and know they are sinners, and sorry for sins.
But: They see their sins as simply the failure to
live up to some of the standards
by which they are saving themselves.
So they go to God for
forgiveness but only as a way to cover the gaps
in their project
of self-salvation.
Men’s Bible Study, Larry
Taunton—told about woman brought up in church,
taught that godly
women wear dresses and worldly women wear pants.
For years, when I put on a
dress it made me feel accepted by God.
My dress was my righteousness.
I’m sure that if you had
asked her during those years—are you a sinner?
O yes, I’m a sinner. Do you ask for forgiveness? Of course I do.
But what was her
repentance?
It was just a way to cover
the gaps in her project of self-salvation.
Of course she knew she was a sinner, God
would forgive those sins.
But the area that mattered the most—modesty
and dress—she was perfect.
Do you see what she was
doing?
She
was avoiding Jesus by being modest in the way she dressed.
Isn’t that a startling thought.
It’s easy to see how sin is a way to avoid
God.
You see the drunk in the gutter and can see
that he has decided to avoid God
through
alcohol.
But it’s harder to see how
morality is a way to avoid God.
A man could chose sobriety as a way to avoid
God.
His not drinking, his record of never
getting drunk is one plank
in his project of
self-salvation.
O yes, he says—I’m a sinner,
I’ve asked God to forgive me.
But God is just covering the gaps.
By works of the law no one
will be justified.
Ask yourself these questions:
Why are you moral and religious?
Why do you stay sober?
Why do you stay faithful to your marriage?
Why do you raise children right?
Why do you go to church?
Why do you pray and ask forgiveness for
sins?
A person who is operating
under the works of the law will say:
Because this is what will
make me acceptable to God.
Do you see that for what it
is?
It’s not living for God,
it’s living for yourself—to get something from God.
Until you are actually
righteous in God’s sight, and know it—
you will always
live that way toward him—
doing things to
earn his favor.
That brings us to our third
Gospel vocabulary word.
3. Justification
first mentioned in vs. 16 going to be mentioned often in
the letter.
“we 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.”
Now we come to something
wonderful.
What is justification?
If you justify something you
don’t try to change the facts—
you try to change
the view of the facts.
If you told
your son to be home at
You would say: Son, what do you have to say for yourself—an
hour late?
He wouldn’t try to change the fact, wouldn’t
say: I’m not late. Not 1:00.
He would try to change your
view of the facts.
I started home at
car was in flames,
woman was screaming, my baby, my baby.
Was able to
get the baby out right before the car exploded.
Police got there they wanted me to stay to
give a statement.
Son, you have been justified.
You declare him righteous.
Justification doesn’t change what
happened—he was one hour late.
But it changes your view of what happened.
When the Bible speaks of justification
it means that
God declares you righteous in his sight.
Your record doesn’t change—
you have sinned and are still a sinner,
but God’s view of
you does change.
He sees you as right, beautiful, and good.
You probably see a big problem
with my illustration.
It’s one thing for the dad to change his
view of son getting home one hour late
if he actually
saved a baby’s life from a burning car.
But it’s another thing
entirely for God to change His views of our sins.
They are absolutely wrong and totally
deserving of his punishment.
There is nothing we can say
or do to justify our sins or make up for them now.
God can’t just change His mind about them.
He is just and must punish sin.
Here we get to the mystery of
justification.
Justification happens through
a transfer in which we switch places with Jesus.
Luther:
“by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and
the
righteousness of
Christ is not Christ’s but ours. He has
emptied himself of his righteousness
that he might
clothe us with it, and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might
deliver
us from them.”
He got our sins and we get
his righteousness.
We really broke curfew because we were
rebellious and hated God’s rules.
Jesus is the one who lived the heroic life,
gave himself for others.
But in the Gospel the guilt
of our curfew breaking was laid on him.
His heroic life is credited to us—and that
is how God looks at us now.
Although we were born sinners
and have sinned our whole lives—
God looks at our lives and sees the life of
Jesus Christ.
This comes about through
faith in Christ. Repenting
not just of sins, works of law.
Giving up all your attempts to make self
righteous—totally trusting
the righteous life
of Jesus Christ.
There are so many
implications from this it takes our entire life as Christians to
work it out. But let’s just ponder one briefly
Justification means that you
have a unique identity.
Simultaneously justified
in God’s eyes and a sinner.
Righteous
sinner. Honored and loved failure.
Means you can be both bold
and humble in dealings with people.
If thought righteous by works of law—bold
but proud. Harsh,
judgmental.
If only conscious of your
failures—humble and fearful.
Never speak.
When
somebody wrongs you.
Don’t go on the attack and get revenge.
Don’t withdraw and lick your wounds.
Able to
overcome evil with good.
Forgive from heart humbly—because you are a
sinner too.
Confront with truth—because righteous man.
Has always been one big
criticism of justification from within the church.
If it is true, then what incentive do
believers have to live good lives?
Circumcision party: This means that Christ promotes sin.
Leads to
our last vocabulary term.
4.
Vs. 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.”
What does Paul mean by Christ
living in me, living by faith in the Son of God,
being crucified
with Christ?
Theologians have gathered up
all of these statements in the New Testament
lumped them
together under one term—Union with Christ.
What is it?
so that his power
is made real in your life.
A person who is united to
Christ lives according to all the new realities
we have been
talking about.
He has died to the works of
the law—no longer trying to earn God’s approval.
He is justified—working out
all implications of being a sinner declared righteous.
or that you step
back and let Christ do it all.
As Paul says, “The life I live in the body I
live by faith . . .”
Many things look the same
after a person is united to Jesus Christ.
You have the same body. Dress in same clothes. Same taste in food, music.
But there is this huge
difference:
The life and mouth that was once in
rebellion against Christ is now
full of
thanksgiving and praise because of the influence of His Spirit within.
That is the answer to the
objection against justification—
that it ruins all
incentive for godly living.
Since you are united to
Christ you must live by faith in him.
You start to live according to these new
realities.
All this is confirmed and
powerfully emphasized in the last words of the sentence:
“I live by faith in the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me.”
This is truly the glory of the
Gospel.
This is even deeper than justification.
The Son of God loved me and gave himself for
me.
Can you say that?
He did not love mankind in a
general mass and you somehow distinguished
yourself from that
mass by doing something good to get his attention.
A mother’s love for her
children is not affection for all children in general—
it is love for her
own sons and daughters.
A husband’s love for his wife
is not love for all women in general—
it is love for a
particular woman.
He loved you as an
individual—as a particular person.
Paul said—He loved me—even though Paul was
once his enemy—
hated the name of
Christ, hated the church and tried to destroy it.
This is the glory of the
Gospel—What Paul wanted Peter to be reminded of—
Christ’s death for us is not part of our
salvation—
part of what is
required for our peace with God—we supply the rest.
His death is our salvation, it is our peace with God.
He laid down life for you—not because of
anything in you, because of his love.
The Son of God loved me and gave himself for
me.
Martin Luther asked:
Who is this
me? It is I, Martin Luther, a wretched
sinner.
Put your own name in
there.
Who is this
me? It is I, Andrew Siegenthaler, a
wretched sinner.
Going to
say it again: This time I want you to
say your name.
Who is this
me? It is I, ____________ __________
That is something for you to
ponder.
Mull over tonight as you lie in your bed.
Tomorrow as you get up and start the week.
God loved me. Christ gave himself for me.
He really had me in mind when carried out
salvation.
What does that tell you about
your obligations to him in the way you live?
Huge obligations—but all
of gratitude.
CONC: Hedge fund managers should talk like hedge fund
managers.
Football coaches should talk like football
coaches.
Christians should talk like
Christians—with a Gospel vocabulary.
Righteousness
Works of the law
Justification
Those tremendous truths
should become a part of you.
You should come back to them—
so that this precious Gospel is always fresh
and on your mind.