Live in Step with the Gospel: Part 2 (Galatians 2:11-16)

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 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. (Galatians 2:11-16)

Our passage today details an account of Paul having to publicly confront Peter, who, out of fear of man, had divided himself from the Gentiles after being unified with them. Last week, we saw one way this passage encourages us to live in step with the gospel: by uniting under it. Today we’ll explore two more ways to live in step with the gospel.

2. Be Motivated by the Gospel

Our passage first shows us that we must unite under the gospel, and secondly, it shows us that we must be motivated by the gospel. Peter acted the way he did because he grew to fear the circumcision party (12). He was motivated by fear.

However, when Paul confronted Peter, he did not try to shift Peter's motivation to shame, embarrassment, or anger. He did not merely point out that Peter was breaking the rules—though he was—but instead pointed out that Peter had forgotten the gospel. [1] He reminded Peter what the gospel had done to him: "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not a Jew, how can you force Gentiles to live like Jews?" (14). Then he said, "We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed..." (16). WE—he reminded Peter of what he had been, what he had believed, and how the gospel had set him free from the law.

In doing this, Paul used a far better form of motivation than manipulation, anger, or shame. When we are reminded of who we are in Christ, the riches we have in Christ, and our destiny in Christ, we are elevated to a better motivation.

A beloved woman in our church had to be hospitalized for a time, far away from home. So many people sent flowers, the hospital staff often had to rearrange the room to fit all the flowers and cards that flooded in. And she said she noticed that as more arrived, the quality of medical care she received seemed to increase. It was as if the nursing staff said, "She is really important to a lot of people. We need to take care of her."

Similarly, when we realize how much we are loved and are reminded afresh of the gospel of Christ, we are tapping into the best motivation for right living. By realizing our position before God because we are justified by faith, and the position of all others who have believed in Jesus, the way we treat others improves. If Peter had only remembered the value God had placed on those Gentile believers in Antioch, he would have found the motivation to resist his fear of the legalists.

We must remember the gospel daily because it correctly frames our motivations.

3. Know Justification Comes by the Gospel

The third way to live in accordance with the gospel is to know that justification comes through the gospel. Paul said, "We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ" (16).

This is the first time the word "justification" is used in Galatians. It’s a term from the legal world and is the opposite of condemnation. To be condemned, you are guilty in a court of law. To be justified, you are found not guilty in that same court of law.

In the Bible, justification describes a once-and-for-all experience when you trust in Christ's work instead of your own. God deposits Christ's righteousness into your account, which means he begins to see you just as he sees his Son, without error, sin, and guilt. You have been justified.

Envision two open documents on a computer screen. One is the record of your life. You do not want anyone to read that document. The other is the record of Jesus' life—God the Son. If you trust in Christ, it’s as if God “selected all” in Jesus' document, copied it, went to your document, deleted everything, and pasted Jesus' record into yours. Now, when he opens your document, he sees the righteousness of his only begotten Son.

I heard an old-time preacher illustrate justification with a story about a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat so he could take it to Europe for vacation. While touring throughout Europe, the car abruptly stopped working. He contacted Rolls-Royce back in England, and they flew a mechanic right over who fixed it on the spot. The man continued his vacation but began wondering how much that bill would be—a flight! A mechanic! Parts! When he returned home, he wrote to Rolls-Royce to ask, and they replied with a note: "Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce." The record was clean. It was as if nothing had ever happened. [2]

In God's eyes, we are entirely justified and clean, as if nothing had ever happened, when we trust in Jesus' work and not our own. There is no record in God's files that anything ever went wrong.

Paul is emphatic that we receive this justification not by our own works but by faith. Three times in one verse, Paul highlighted that this justification comes through faith. First, he said justification comes through faith in Jesus Christ (16). Second, he said, "we also have believed in Christ Jesus" (16). And third, he said again that we are "justified by faith in Christ" (16).

When God made his promises to Abraham that he would bless him, make a great nation out of him, and bless the world through him, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3). And what Paul is saying is that you can only really be justified that way—faith in Christ's work.

The only other way to be justified is by the works of the law, which Paul also mentions three times in our passage (16). This means that if you execute the law without fail, without error, without sin, for the entirety of your life, you can be justified that way. But it is a non-starter. Paul said: by works of the law no one will be justified (16). It just cannot happen.

Living in line with the gospel means never forgetting this glorious truth. We stand before God, not because of anything we have done, but because of what Christ has done.

[1] Keller, Timothy. 2013. Galatians For You. New Malden, England: Good Book Company.

[2] Wiersbe, Warren W. 2002. Key Words of the Christian Life: Understanding and Applying Their Meanings. Ada, OK: Baker Books.