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One of the earliest challenges to the integrity of the gospel message came from certain "false brethren" (ψευδαδέλφοι) from Jerusalem who went about teaching that Gentile followers of Yeshua must "follow the law" of Moses in order to be saved (Acts 11:1-3, Acts 15:1; Gal. 2:4). Apparently Paul had to deal with this challenge repeatedly during his years of ministry, but when the apostle Peter himself appeared to agree with this doctrine by disassociating with Gentile believers in Atioch, Paul publicly rebuked him for turning away from the essential truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:11-14). Paul's correction of Peter provided him with the opportunity to clarify the meaning of the gospel, however, and to settle the burning question of whether believers in Yeshua were in fact required to keep the law of Moses. Paul's answer to this question constitutes the substance of the Book of Galatians.
By way of context, note that Paul was deeply troubled by Peter's pretense to be a follower of the law of Moses when some of these false brethren visited Antioch: "For before the time these certain men came from James, Peter was eating with the Gentiles; but once they had arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision" (Gal. 2:12). Peter's anxiety to be "approved" by the legalists gravely concerned Paul, especially because Peter was a leader of the early church, and many people (including his companion Barnabas) were misled by his bad example and likewise pretended to keep the law of Moses (Gal. 2:13). In response to this charade, Paul confronted Peter in front of them all and said, "If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Gal. 2:14). Paul then reminded Peter that even though he was Jewish and not born a Gentile, no one is justified by doing "works of the law" (ἐξ ἔργων νόμου) but solely by trusting in Yeshua for life, for "by the works of the law no one will be justified" (Gal. 2:15-16; Psalm 143:2).
Paul then rhetorically asked Peter that if believers seek to be justified by Yeshua alone - and not by works of the law - would that imply that Yeshua leads them to transgress the law (Gal. 2:17)? God forbid, since Yeshua did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it, and it is through faith we establish the truth and meaning of the law (Matt. 5:17; Rom. 3:31). After all, only those who understand that the law is to be obeyed, and who futher understand that disobedience results in the curse of God, are those who "establish" the law, certainly not those pretenders who claim that certain ritual acts or ethnic identity will suffice for justification (Lev. 26:14-46; Deut. 15-68). Likewise, only those who understand that "the life is in the blood" and that the law therefore requires substitutionary sacrificial blood for atonement are those that "establish" the law, and certainly not those who pretend that ritual prayers and good deeds will suffice (Lev. 17:11). So no, following Yeshua does not lead to sin, but to the contrary, because of the deliverance from the curse of the law secured by the Messiah, the real sin is to discount the meaning of the cross by returning to the legal relationship with God as ratified in the Sinai covenant (Gal. 2:18; Exod. 19:8, 24:3,7; Deut. 27:26).
In effect Paul presented an exclusive dilemma: either the law (understood in terms of the Sinai covenant) is binding and it is forbidden to give it up, or else the new covenant is binding and it is forbidden to return to the older covenant. In this connection note that the issue is not about "Torah" per se, since Torah (תּוֹרָה) simply means "teaching" or "direction" and its significance is contextualized by the covenant of which it is a part. In other words, there is a "Torah" based on the covenant made Sinai, and there is a "Torah" based on the new covenant made at Zion. Regarding the Torah of the new covenant, however, the prophets had foretold that it would be supplanted by a new and better covenant: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant (בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה) with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with the fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (i.e., the Sinai covenant) -- my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my Torah within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:31-33). This new covenant was based on the promise of God and his righteousness (Psalm 40:6-8; Heb. 10:5-9). "For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second... And in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete (ἀφανισμός). Indeed Yeshua has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises" (Heb. 8:6-13). The former covenant foreshadowed the substance of things to come, primarily the advent of Messiah as the great Lamb of God who would secure for us an eternal and everlasting atonement (Heb. 10:1-10; John 1:29, Rev. 5:12, etc.). The Torah of Moses was not given in vain, of course, as Yeshua himself said that it bore witness of his mission to redeem Israel (Luke 24:27; 24:44; John 5:46, 8:56, etc.). Nevertheless, regarding the covenant at Sinai, "He does away with the first to establish the second" (Heb. 10:9-10).
Paul then began to unfold the essential meaning of the gospel to the believers at Galatia. First he explained that the law served only to convict him of his sin: "For I through the law died to the law (᾽εγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον), so that I might live to God" (Gal. 2:19). The phrase, "I through the law" refers to the law's testimony of truth, and the phrase I "died to the law" refers to the law's verdict before the bar of divine justice (James 2:10). The problem is not with the law itself, since it is holy and good, but with the human will and its inherent inability to keep the law of God (Jer. 17:9; Eccl. 9:3; Mark 7:21; Rom. 3:23). In another place Paul said, "I am not suggesting that the law of God is sinful, of course, though the law showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, "You must not covet." But the power of sin, aroused by the commandment, came to life, working within me sinful desire... When the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. I discovered that the law's commandments, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. Sin took advantage of those commandments and deceived me; it used the commandments to kill me... So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good; the trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin" (Rom. 7:7-14).
Now the power of the gospel is that "God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3). What the law was powerless to do (τὸ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου) God did by means of Yeshua: "For the one who knew no sin on our behalf he made sin for us (ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν) that we would become the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor. 5:21). Paul later later would ask, "Why then the law?" and answered that it was "added to reveal transgressions until the promised Messiah would come (Gal. 3:19). The purpose of the law, in other words, was first of all to reveal and to denounce our sinful condition, serving as a "school master" to teach us of our need for Messiah (Gal. 3:24). The law taught Paul that he needed to be rescued from himself, that is, from the desires of the lower nature (yetzer ha'ra) inherited from Adam, and therefore that he needed a radically new nature so that he could "live to God." Recall that when the Ten Commandments were first uttered at Sinai, the people drew back in dread because the truth of their inner condition was exposed (Deut. 5:5-6). Paradoxically, the first great lesson of the law is that we are lawbreakers who are in lethal need for deliverance (1 Tim. 1:8-10). For this the miracle of regeneration is needed, as Yeshua clearly taught us (John 3:3-7). The law is good, Paul affirmed, if it is used "lawfully" (1 Tim. 1:8), that is, to reveal our need for mercy and to anticipate the coming Redeemer and his sacrifice as foreshadowed by the sacrificial rites enshrined in older covenant (Tabernacle). Nevertheless, Messiah our Savior is the "end of the law for righteousness" (τέλος γὰρ νόμου χριστὸς εἰς δικαιοσύνην) to all who believe (Rom. 10:4).
"For I through the law died to the law so that I might live to God" (Gal. 2:19). That is the essential spiritual point, after all - to be forgiven so I might genuinely live unto God - but the means to that end was procured through the cross of Messiah, as Paul then said: "With Messiah I have been crucified (χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι); it is no longer I who live, but Messiah 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" (Gal. 2:20). Being "crucified with Messiah" means being identified with Yeshua as your personal sin bearer - so identifying with him that the exchange of his life is accounted as "for you" - the semichah of the spirit - whereby the fellowship of his sufferings becomes sufficient for the forgiveness of your sins, and the power of his resurrection becomes sufficient for your eternal life. "It is no longer I who live but Messiah lives in me," that is, the "I" that was under the curse of the law has died in my connection with Messiah and now a new life with God has come into being... The ego or "I" is known in relationship, and since God's relationship with us in Yeshua is different than his relationship to us under the terms of the Sinai covenant, the "I" (or self) has been transformed by God's grace. This is the spirit of "adoption" (πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας, lit. "the spirit of sonship") mentioned elsewhere in Paul's writings, whereby we cry out "Abba, Father" to the LORD (see Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5). The death of Messiah for our sins opens a radically new connection with God, a new identity, a new mode of being. We can come boldly before the throne of grace, into the "holy of holies" made without hands (Heb. 4:16; Heb. 9:11). We live by faith in Yeshua, the one who "loved me and gave himself for me," holding to the promise and joy of eternal life...
Paul sternly warned that any compromise on this point is not an option for followers of Yeshua. He said: "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Messiah died for no purpose" (Gal. 2:21). Yeshua is "the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom. 10:4). If we could keep the law to be made right with God, the cross would be unnecessary and Yeshua would have died in vain. The scandal of the gospel message is that we cannot save ourselves, that our best efforts are powerless to give us life, and therefore we need salvation from ourselves. The righteousness of God (not man) is what saves us, and such is received as a gift, not the result of merits or self-vindication. Indeed any attempt to add to the redemption of God by means of human effort not only disparages the significance of the cross but constitutes a form of spiritual adultery: "Do you not know, brothers -- for I am speaking to those who know the law -- that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Messiah (ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ χριστοῦ), so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God" (Rom. 7:1-4). Saying you have "died to the law" means that you cannot save yourself, and therefore deliverance must come from a source other than the human will, that is, by means of righteousness that comes from God "apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, namely the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua the Messiah for all who believe" (Rom. 3:21-22). This righteousness of God (δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ) comes by trusting in God's promise, for the realm of divine promise is certain since it is God Himself who is the agency that secures its reality (Isa. 59:16; Psalm 98:1; 2 Cor. 5:21). Paul anticipates the objection that someone might think that the law is contrary to the promises of God by answering, "Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law" (Gal. 3:21). In other words, there was no other way to redeem fallen humanity apart from the cross. "Let this cup pass from me, if it be possible," Yeshua prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane, yet it was not possible for incurable sinners to be made right with God apart from his sacrificial death offered up in exchange for them. As C.S. Lewis said, "It cost God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion" (Mere Christianity).
This is the "simple" message of the gospel that must be remembered over and over again, since the perpetual temptation is to think we must "add" something to the finished work of Yeshua to effect a right standing before the LORD. We must be careful not to confuse cause and effect in the realm of the spiritual. After the original transgression of Adam and Eve, death became the root problem of the human condition, with indwelling sin as its fruit (i.e., the "works of the flesh"). It is this inherited "spiritual death" that causes sin. To focus on outward behavior without first of all dealing with the underlying problem of death is therefore a spiritual misstep. It is to clean the outside of the cup or to wash the outside of a tomb in a vain attempt to disguise the truth about our unclean and dead condition. The good news is not that God wants to make bad people good, but rather wants to make dead people alive... The cure for spiritual death is to be reborn and to partake of the resurrected life of Yeshua.
It should be clear that the gospel is not a sort of "moral reformation" or "self-improvement" program designed to make us acceptable to God. Yeshua did not die on the cross so that we would become entangled in the old ways of being; much less should He be regarded as the "second coming of Moses." No! Yeshua is Lord and Master over all, and we find new life in His acts of deliverance done on our behalf and for our benefit. The temptation is always to go back to the law of sin and death (i.e., the principle of self-justification), but as Martin Luther once said: "The sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we must take matters into our own hands."
Particularly when you hear an immature and unripe saint trumpet that he knows very well that we must be saved by the grace of God, without our own works, and then pretend that this is a snap for him, well, then have no doubt that he has no idea of what he is talking about and probably will never find out. For that is not an art that can be completely learned or of which anyone could boast that he is a master. And all those who do understand and practice it do not boast that they can do everything. On the contrary, they sense it like a wonderful taste or odor they greatly desire and pursue; and they are amazed that they cannot grasp it or comprehend it as they would like. They hunger, thirst, and yearn for it more and more; and they never tire of hearing about or dealing with it, just as St. Paul himself confessed that he had not yet attained (Phil. 3:12). And in Matt, 5:6 Christ calls those blessed who hunger and thirst after righteousness." (Luther's Works, Vol. 14).
The righteousness of God (δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ) is attained by trusting in God's promises, as it is written "And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD, and he [the LORD] accounted it to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:4-8; Gal. 3:6; Hab. 2:4). God's promises call for faith, whereas God's commandments call for action. Salvation is based on God's promise rather than our action, since only God can secure our righteousness. "Through the law" we therefore "die to the law," meaning that we understand how desperate our situation is. Abraham was justified because he believed the promise, and not because of something he could do to commend himself before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due; and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin" (Rom. 4:3-8). Abraham "did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness" (Rom. 4:19-22). Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous one shall live by faith" (Gal. 3:11).
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Ironically, those who attempt to establish their own righteousness by attempting to adhere to the law are regarded as slaves, the "children of Hagar," whereas those who trust in the promise of God are regarded as free, the "children of Sarah," inhabitants of Jerusalem that is above (see Gal. 4:21-5:1). The "works of the law," here understood to mean actions performed with the intent of commending the self before heaven, do not effect real righteousness, since Yeshua is the "end of the law" – the goal, purpose, and inner meaning – of eternal righteousness. Therefore Yeshua is Adonai Tzidkenu (יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ) – the LORD our Righteousness!
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Note: The obedience of faith (ὑπακοὴν πίστεως), which Yeshua called the work of God (John 6:28-29), is the Torah "written upon the heart" so that we fulfill the heart of the law by means of the heart of God given to us... I am not advocating "anti-nomialism," or moral anarchy, of course: those who are truly people of faith walk in the law of God's love, which is the fulfillment or goal of the law (Rom. 13:10). People who think that we are set "free" from the law do not fully understand either what the law means nor what freedom means. The "work" of faith is real work, though it is the "work" of believing or trusting the promise of God, surrendering the heart to God's love, "accepting that you are accepted despite your unacceptability," and so on. The "work of faith" (מַעֲשֶׂה הָאֱמוּנָה) is the practice of receiving the blessing that you are a child of God by means of our Savior Yeshua's avodah for us... Yes, it's a balance to understand how the law and faith are related, though the power to obey the Shema (i.e., to love God in the truth) comes by receiving the promise of God's heart, not by adherence to a lawcode... The Torah is eternally true; the covenant is truly new.
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