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. (Galatians 2:17–21)

After Paul confronted Peter for withdrawing from the Gentiles in Antioch and not living in line with the gospel, Paul beautifully taught about the life the gospel is meant to produce. Once you are justified by faith in Christ, what should life look like? This passage gives us three ideas. It describes the beauty of a life in line with the gospel—gospel life.

Free and for God

The first element of gospel life—life in line with the gospel—is that it is free and for God. It has been released from relating to God through a legal code, but that freedom is used to now live completely for God. In short, the person enjoying gospel life is a person who is enjoying God. Paul said:

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. (Galatians 2:17-19)

I Died to the Law

Paul has just told us we are justified in Christ through simple faith in Jesus and not our works (17, Gal. 2:15-16). Some said this freely given justification would lead people to sin all the more. After all, if we are completely forgiven due to the work of Christ alone and not our response or obedience, why would we obey in the future?

In other words, if someone who has been justified by Christ sins, is it because justification by faith in Christ promotes sin? Paul's answer is clear: certainly not! (17). Jesus is not a promoter or servant of sin in any way—he was slaughtered to rescue us from sin, not as a way to recommend a life of more sin! Paul knew that if he rebuilt the old life of sin, he would only be proving himself to be a transgressor (18). He would be the one with the problem, not Jesus (or Jesus' gospel).

To Paul, the accusation that justification by faith alone creates a permissive attitude is a fundamental misunderstanding of what happens when someone trusts in Christ. People who make this claim think of justification in technical terms as if nothing actually occurred. But Paul wants us to know that justification produces a real, tangible, and actual death to the law so that we can live to God (19). In other words, the justified person has been fundamentally changed, so to "return to the old way of life after such a change is inconceivable." [1]

My Life Is to God

If you believe in Jesus, you have died to the law, Paul says, so that you might live to God (19). Notice that death is what set you free, and resurrection is what gave you new life. Imagine that you robbed a bank and were caught. During the trial, as the case is mounting against you, imagine you suddenly died. The trial would end, and the demands of the law would have no power over you. That is what happens to your relationship with the legal-code way of relating to God when you believe in Jesus—you die to it. It’s over because you died.

The analogy Paul used to describe this new life comes from marriage. In Romans 7, he said our connection to the law is like a woman married to a man. As long as her husband lives, she is bound in marriage. But if the husband dies, Paul said, she is free to remarry. Then Paul said that we died with Jesus; therefore, we are free from the law. We can belong to another, namely Jesus. Now we can live "by the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code" (Romans 7:1-6).

This new way of the Spirit is what Paul is getting at when he says we have died to the law so that we might live for God. Before Christ, Paul lived for himself, trying to get a reward from God. Now, he was dead to that life. His position before God was unalterable and could not improve in any way, no matter what he did. He had been set free to obey God out of love, to live for the one who died for him and loved him.

And if we've believed in Jesus, we are also now alive to God, free to live in response to God and for God (Romans 6:11). We are now free simply to enjoy God. Legalists who will try to drag us back into a law-code contract with God abound, but the gospel has set us free to live in love in response to him.

We’ll see more benefits of the gospel-aligned life in next week’s post.

[1] Barker, Kenneth L., and John R. Kohlenberger III. 2019. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary the Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Old & New Testaments. USA: Zondervan Academic.