Dead Men

Galatians 2 

Recently, we’ve been going through a series on Law and Grace. We started out when Carl gave an overview of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. One of the things that grabbed my attention the most was learning that there were some laws that were easier to obey because they involved outward obedience. The Israelites were better at obeying these laws. Some of these laws included things like making the Tabernacle and the objects that belonged in the Tabernacle, and also setting up for worship sacrifices. It was these things that the Israelites did very well, at least most of the time. But again these were outward actions. This is comparable to what we do today: going to church, setting up chairs and tables for a meeting, making meals, etc.

But the more difficult laws involved those that required obedience from the heart. Some of these laws included things like the Passover found in Exodus, or the command to “love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” found in Deuteronomy. They had to obey God in the Passover without having a reason for every command. For example, God didn’t explain why they needed to place the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. Why couldn’t God know that they had sacrificed the lamb and let that be enough? Why did it have to be a lamb? Why couldn’t they break any of its bones? 


They didn’t have answers for all these questions. They had to trust God even through the questions. Laws like these were harder to obey because they involved trust that came from the heart. And this is where we come to Galatians 2. The bad news is that we can’t obey all of God’s laws perfectly. Matter of fact, the Bible says that we deserve the death penalty if we sin (or break God’s laws). The good news is that God made a way for us to appear before Him as if we had obeyed all of His laws even though we didn’t. God made a way to loosen the Law’s deadly grip on our lives. The only way this could happen was if we died so that death and the law had no more power over us.

Because Paul understood that he was a dead man he knew that he was free from the fear of man. It helped him to be confident in his dogmatic embrace of truth in a polytheistic and pluralistic Gentile society. This understanding also helped Paul know that he was no longer to do his own thing. He belonged to someone else; therefore, he had a new mission. Because Peter had lost track of the fact that his old self had died and the new self was living, he gave into the fear of man. And because Paul understood that he was a dead man, he lived a free life because, “The new life is a Person within a person living out His life in that person.” I’ll explain what I mean by this a little bit later.

So, this morning I want to share four aspects of the gospel that are brought up in Galatians 2. There’s the Confirmation of the gospel, the Commission of the gospel, the Contradiction to the gospel and the Crucifixion that comes from the gospel. Here’s another way of saying it. In Galatians 2 Paul is explaining that it is good news that we are dead to sin and alive to God. First, this message of good news was confirmed by God himself. Secondly, this message also came with a mission. Thirdly, we are to be careful that our lives don’t contradict the message. And lastly, it is through the gospel that we become dead to sin, death and the Law, and we begin a new life in Christ.

 In verses 1-5 we see the Confirmation of the gospel when Paul says, “Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.  I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders; for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.  Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.  This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.  We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.”

Last week in Galatians chapter 1 we learned that there was a false gospel going around. In chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 Paul says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel —  which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” The false teachers otherwise known as “Pharisees” or “Judaizers” were saying that a person could be justified by works because in Galatians 2:16 it says, “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 and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” This is Paul’s response to the opposing and detrimental view of the gospel. The true gospel is that we are only “justified by faith in Jesus Christ.”

Since Paul was not concerned with being politically correct he said in chapter 1 that those false teachers were to be “accursed”. He was not giving much time to understanding their views. He knew the truth and those snakes, or “vipers” as Jesus called them, were not teaching it. The Pharisees were leading people astray. So these false teachers suggested that Paul was going to these church leaders in order to have his doctrine corrected. This was the furthest thing from the truth. He didn’t need any confirmation from these false teachers that his message was true. That’s why in Galatians 1:11-12 Paul says, “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”

In verses 6-10 we see the Commission of the gospel when Paul says, “As for those who seemed to be important —whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance —those men added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”

This passage shows us that we need to do more with the gospel than just believe it. We are to preach it. If we only believe the gospel and never share it then we’ve only fulfilled part of our calling from the gospel. And Paul’s particular call was to share it with the Gentiles just as Peter’s call was to the Jews. This is evidence that the gospel has far reaching effects that go beyond our moment of salvation. The gospel actually gives us purpose today.

In verses 11-14 we see the Contradiction to the gospel when Paul says, “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”

In Galatians 1 through 2:5 the contradiction to the gospel comes from the false teachers and their false gospel. But in Galatians 2:11-14 we see that the contradiction to the gospel comes from within the church, Peter’s own life. In the Phillips translation it says, “But when I saw that this behavior was a contradiction of the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter so that everyone could hear, “‘If you, who are a Jew, do not live like a Jew but like a Gentile, why on earth do you try to make Gentiles live like Jews?’” Peter’s actions were contradictory to the gospel of Grace. From his experience in Acts 10 we know that Peter had learned that God shows no partiality and that He was accepting the Gentiles into His family. This was God’s unmerited extension of grace to the Gentiles. Peter understood this but started living as if the Gentiles were still “unclean” and needing purifying before he could eat with them. And we learn that it was the fear of man that drove him to do this because Paul said he did this, “because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” The circumcision group was the false teachers.

This passage is really convicting for me. As I read this passage it reminded me of the times that I behaved differently in front of certain people because I feared them instead of God. In Proverbs 29:25 it says, “The fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” And Paul says, in Philippians 1:27-28, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel  without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.”

In verses 15-21 we see the Crucifixion that comes with the gospel when Paul says, “‘We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ 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 and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. ‘If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.  For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 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. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!’”

By saying “Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’” Paul was stating that the Jews had special privileges because they had received the law from God. And they were not like the rest of the world. They were made holy by God. In verse sixteen we see that Paul is lumping the Jews in with the Gentiles when he says “we, too”. This is in reference to not being justified “by observing the law” but only by “faith in Christ”. Jews and Gentiles are in the same boat.

In explaining verses 17 and 18 Kenneth Wuest says, “The Judaizers argued that in view of the fact that violation of the law is sin, therefore, abandonment of the law in an effort to be justified in Christ is also sin. Thus Christ is the promoter of sin.” (Word Studies in the New Testament Greek: Galatians. Page 78.)

As we come to Galatians 2:19-21 we see Paul explaining the theology of what I call the “dead man”. He said that “I died to the law” and “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live”. How could someone be alive and yet be dead at the same time? If we have been justified by faith, then as Paul said, we are dead men and dead women. That may be hard to believe so let me try to explain what I mean.

There are many things that are true about us whether we feel like they’re true or not. Shortly after Miriam and I got married we found out that someone had stolen money out of our bank account. We had no idea someone had done this. We didn’t feel like someone had stolen something from us. We didn’t even see anybody steal money from us. Somehow, they stole our bank account information online. Miriam found out about it when she was looking at our online account. She noticed I had made two purchases from Hallmark totaling over $300. She thought it was very sweet that I had bought her something but it seemed like an awful large amount of money. She asked if I had purchased something from Hallmark and I told her no. I felt sick at my stomach when I realized that someone had reached into our account so secretly and taken our money!  When we got to the bank the manager told us that another purchase had been blocked as well. But thank God it didn’t go through. Someone had tried to purchase over $2,000 worth of merchandise online from Walgreens. The bank thought it was an out-of-place transaction so they blocked it. What can you possibly buy from Walgreens that costs over $2,000? And these transactions were as real as anything else that happened that day. The day these transactions took place felt like any other day. We woke up in the same bed, ate the same kind of breakfast we had the day before, got into the same ol’ car and drove to that same ol’ job down those same ol’ roads. But something was different that day even though we didn’t feel different or see anything different. We could have talked to the manager at the bank and said, “It can’t be true that someone stole money out of our account. We didn’t feel any different today. And we didn’t see anything different.” He would have just look at us as if we were crazy and say, “It doesn’t matter how you felt or what you saw. The facts are the facts. Money has been stolen out of your account.”

And I think we need to realize that there are things that are true about us spiritually even if we don’t feel any differently or if we haven’t seen anything that looks different. I may not look like I’ve been crucified but I have. Two thousand years ago I was crucified. And I know what you’re probably thinking. “Wow, he doesn’t look two thousand years old! It must be a result of all those anti-oxidants that he’s been taking.” But my crucifixion is actually a result of my faith in Christ. When I trusted in God’s only son for my salvation I appear before God as if I’ve been crucified on that cross two thousand years ago. Jesus took my place. One of my favorite verses that helped me understand this substitution comes from 2 Corinthians 5:21 which says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Hopefully, another story can explain what I’m talking about. After Miriam and I got married we went to a dog pound. There was this one black and white dog that was ecstatic to see us. He tried with all his might to explain to us that he should come home with us. The fact that he jumped in the air and was wagging his whole body was enough proof. He had one blue eye and one brown eye. His name was “Blue”. This was the name given to him by his previous owners. We liked him so much that we purchased him, adopted him into own family and gave him a brand new identity. He would no longer be called “Blue”. Henceforth, he would be known as “Cletus”. “Cletus” is a short version of “Cletus Cerilius of the Bridgeman Household”. He has Roman ancestry. Anyway, this is similar to what happened to us when we became Christians. Jesus purchased us, not with silver and gold like Peter says in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” He purchased out of slavery and adopted us so we could be a part of his family. We also have a brand new name or identity. We no longer belong to this world. We belong to God. After we gave our dog a new name he became accustomed to hearing it. He no longer responds to “Blue”. He only responds to “Cletus”. And as much as Satan, our flesh and this world wants to remind us of our old self we have to remember that it’s dead. You are no longer the old “you”. You are the new “you.” And that’s true even if you feel like it or not.

I put my trust in Christ when I was in college. I had to turn away or “repent” from my old way of thinking. I used to think of myself as a good person and that I could earn God’s forgiveness. But I finally agreed with the things God said about me. I agreed that I was a sinner and I needed a savior. Once I became a Christian I became a different person. The Bible says that, “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.”

Kenneth Wuest goes on to say that, “When Paul says that he has died to a thing he means that he has ceased to have any relation to it, so that it has no further claim upon or control over him. It is law as conceived of as a body of legalistic statutes, that he has died to...He found that what the law did was to reveal sin, to provoke sin, in a certain sense, to create sin, for where there was no law, sin was not reckoned. He found that it provided no remedy for sin, but rather condemned him hopelessly, for no one can fulfill its requirements...The new life is a Person within a person living out His life in that person.”

Let me share what I think Galatians 2:20 doesn’t mean when it says, “I have been crucified with Christ.” J. Vernon McGee, pastor, author and bible teacher shared a story when he was a pastor in Los Angeles. He says, “a young man came to me after a service and asked, ‘Dr. McGee, are you living the crucified life?’ I think I rather startled the boy when I replied, ‘No, I am not.’ Then I asked him, ‘Are you?’ He hesitated for a moment and then said, ‘Well, I am trying to.’ Then I told him, ‘That is not the question you asked me. You wanted to know if I am living the crucified life. I told you no. Now you tell me yes or no about your life. Are you living the crucified life?’ Once again he replied, ‘I am trying to.’ I said to him, ‘You are either living it, or you are not living it.’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘why can’t I?’ So I pointed out to him that there is something interesting to note about crucifixion. You can commit suicide in many different ways. You can hang yourself, shoot yourself, take poison, jump off a high building, or jump in front of a truck. There are many ways to end your life, but you cannot crucify yourself. When you nail one hand to the cross, who is going to nail your other hand to the cross? You cannot do it yourself. You must understand what Paul is talking about when he says, ‘I am crucified with Christ.’ Paul was crucified with Christ when Christ died. Christ died a substitutionary death. He died for Paul. He died for you. He died for me.” (Thru the Bible: Vol. 5. Page 162-163. Thomas Nelson Publishers. 1983)

So, whether we feel like it or not the old “I” died with Christ on the Cross and the new “I” is Christ living His life in us. If a murderer is put to death by lethal injection can he be punished any longer? No, he’s already received his punishment. Can a Christian be punished for his or her sin any longer? No, Jesus already died for them on the cross.

And if we can earn God’s forgiveness then Jesus died needlessly. After all, why would Jesus need to die to pay the death penalty for our sin if we can bribe God with good works? In Galatians 2:21 it says, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Because Paul understood that he was a dead man he knew that he was free from the fear of man. It helped him to be confident in his dogmatic embrace of truth in a polytheistic and pluralistic Gentile society. This understanding also helped Paul know that he was no longer to do his own thing. He belonged to someone else; therefore, he had a new mission. Because Peter had lost track of the fact that his old self had died and the new self was living, he gave into the fear of man. And because Paul understood that he was a dead man, he lived a free life because, “The new life is a Person within a person living out His life in that person.”