Did Christ die for Nothing?

Galatians 2:15-21

Did Christ die for nothing, or has His life and death changed the history of the world?  For many years what we call time was divided by B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (after His death).  Paul confronted Peter for sending a false message; by acting one way with Gentiles and then withdrawing from them when “certain men” came from Jerusalem teaching Gentile believers that they must hold to the Old Testament dietary laws and be circumcised in order to be a Christian. 

Paul is not putting down the Gentiles calling them sinners, but confronting Jews who have always looked at Gentiles as sub-human and not the chosen.  Here are Paul’s words; “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 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 2:15-16)   Jesus tells us that He is the completion of the law, but no man but Christ was able to keep the law given to Moses, they all came short, so what is one to do if keeping all the commandments of God is not possible?  The New Testament tells us over and over to be justified before God; it will not come from any action by you but through faith in Christ.

Paul addressed a problem that is common in the church now and then, and it is called being a lawbreaker, or as my friend Carroll B. would say, it is acting as if Jesus does not tell the truth.  We find Paul’s own account of walking by feeling and not by faith in Romans 7, and in Galatians 2:17-21, “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! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 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. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

It matters not who is the lawbreaker, it was Peter and yes, Paul testifies that he often does what he does not want to do, and he makes this statement and asks this question:  “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”  Our flesh does not stop being flesh when we enter into Christ, and what does flesh like to be, number one, running the show, and looking better to others than both you and God know to be true?  If your foolish enough to believe that anything, any action on your part other than grace and faith in Christ will put you in right standing with God, your ladder is on the wrong wall.  Please listen to these words: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice