This is a passage that begins in verse 14 of chapter 2:-
“When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) in front of them all,…..”
This is not just an ordinary communication; in it, Paul actually brought forth important principles that clarify what the truth of the gospel entails. Hence, it is important for us today to take note of these principles and nuggets of truth in Paul’s defense of the gospel.
In verses 14-15, Paul affirmed that it is illogical for Jews by birth to reject the keeping of their own law as the way to salvation to now insist, and burden the Gentiles with the keeping of the very same law.
Verse 16 is important in view of Paul using the word “justified”, whIch means “to declare righteous”. Negatively, Paul says that a man is not justified by observing the law but positively, justification is by faith in Christ Jesus. Here it is clear that Paul has rebuffed the false teachings of the Judaizers which Peter has invariably supported by his behaviour of withdrawing from the Gentile believers.
To elaborate, justification is God’s declaration that sinners who believe in Christ are fully pardoned, acquitted of all guilt and are in a right legal standing before Him. Paul was telling the believers of the danger of accepting a gospel of justification that includes work (seen by observing and keeping the law) as well as grace – this is not the true gospel.
In verse 17, Paul responded to the accusation of the Judaizers that people could believe in Christ but then live as they wanted and by their sinful action make Christ a promoter of sin. Paul declared an emphatic “NO” – grace leads to freedom from sin’s slavery to obey God, not license to disobey Him.
Verse 18 highlighted that if a person rebuilds what he destroyed (i.e. returns to the law after believing in Christ), then he is in fact a law-breaker. No one except Christ can keep the law perfectly – so to put one’s relationship with God on a legalistic basis is to make oneself a law-breaker.
In verse 19, Paul declared, “For through the law, I died to the law so that I might live for God” – what does this mean?
The law demanded death for sin; Christ died because He took our death penalty upon Himself. By believing in Christ, His death pays for the death that the law required of us. Because I am united with Christ by faith, the law killed not only Him but all who are joined to Him by faith, Therefore, the believer has died to the law, Since we have died, the law must acquit us of further punishment. So through fulfilling the law, by dying in Christ, we are now free from the law. The Judaizers, with their reintroduction of law-keeping as an essential of salvation, were painfully rebuilding the very structure of human effort and merit which cannot institute salvation, and were in fact bringing back ‘bondage’ by the demands of the law which cannot be met and satisfied. Because we died, we are no longer under the jurisdiction of the law – the demands of the law no longer apply and are severed.
We now come to this important verse 20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me”.
Paul was describing something that has been done for him and to him; what has happened to him through being united to Christ in His death. Paul has been crucified with Christ – Christ’s crucifixion counts for Paul and for all those united with Christ in being ‘born-again’. In a mystical and spiritual union with Christ, the believer actually participated somehow in Christ’s death and resurrection. The believer died with Christ, that is, his “old man” died with Christ. The believer now is the “new man” with Christ living in him (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24). The believer is “in Christ” – he is so united to Christ that all the experiences of Christ become the Christian’s experiences. His death for sin was the believer’s death; His resurrection was (in one sense) the believer’s resurrection; HIs ascension was the believer’s ascension.
The believer is no longer the person he was in Adam, he is now a new person in Christ; in Christ, he has died to the dominion of sin and been raised to new life with Christ as the new Master; he has been delivered from the bondage of sin and has been transferred into the kingdom of God. Union with Christ in His death and resurrection is ours the moment we trust in Him. However, understanding what has happened to us takes longer.
What Paul was effectively saying is that we have been set free; we have received a new identity in Christ; we have been crucified with Him who died for us; we have been raised into the new life we live by faith in Him who dwells in us!