Based on Reforming Joy: Paul, the Reformers, and the Church Today by Tim Chester.
Faith Alone in Christ Alone
How did you first become a Christian (if you are one)? Remind yourself of the story and ask yourself this: Did I become a Christian after I had sorted my life out, or by putting my faith in Christ? This is Paul’s challenge to the Galatians in 3:2–3:
I would like to learn just one thing from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
We all have different conversion stories. Some are dramatic, some gradual. Many of us struggle to name a date. But common to them all is faith in Christ. Salvation is not something we achieved. All we did was reach out to receive it as a gift from God.
Our problem is that we all too easily forget this. We forget that we received the Holy Spirit through faith and not as a reward for our works. We forget that left to ourselves, we were powerless to change and so we go back to our old ways. We start trying to live the Christian life our way.
We try to be acceptable Christians by keeping a law. We think what makes us righteous is attending church regularly, joining a Bible study, being able to quote Bible verses, leading a moral life, or responding emotionally during worship. We think our prayers or our tears make us acceptable Christians. Then we may look down on people who do not measure up to our standards or we become anxious when we do not measure up. We live like slaves instead of sons.
The Galatians are returning to legalism and losing their joy. So this is an invitation to rediscover joy. If your life lacks joy, then this is for you. It does not mean being happy all the time–sometimes life is painful. But even in those moments we will find comfort in God. If you cannot find that comfort or if you have lost your liveliness, then listen up. Below is a diagnostic for a lack of spiritual enthusiasm.
1. We lose our joy when we use religious duty to impress others.
It is not clear if Peter agreed with those who said that Gentiles should be circumcised. But either way, he went along with them ‘because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group’ (Gal. 2:12). He wanted to be with the in-crowd. And this was also what was happening in Galatia. The Gentile Christians were being forced to return to religion to fit in.
What do we do, not because it is the right thing to do or because we want to please God, but because we fear the disapproval of other people?
- If you attend men’s group or other church activity because you feel the need to pray or because you love talking with God, then you will have a great time. But if you attend because you fear disapproval, then it can feel like a burden, and there will be no joy in the activity.
- If you show hospitality because you love people, then you will have a great time–even if you are left with a messy house. But if you show hospitality because you feel you must, or to impress other people, then it will likely feel like a burden, and there will be no joy.
- If you share the gospel because you are passionate about Jesus, then you will do so with contagious enthusiasm. But if you share the gospel because you want to impress people with your stories, then it will feel like a burden, and there will be no joy.
This is why some people have a low capacity for service. It is because service has become a burden, and none of us can carry a burden for long. Sooner or later we need to stop and recover. Jesus says, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light’ (Matthew 11:30). If the burden of serving Christ feels heavy, then something is wrong. The chances are you are trying to prove yourself or impress others.
2. We lose our joy when we use religious duty to control sin.
‘Yes, we all agree we are justified by faith. But we do need religious duties to grow as Christians.’ This is the objection Paul anticipates in Galatians 2:17. This is how he puts it: ‘But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?’ First-century Jews divided the world into righteous Jews and Gentile sinners. If Christians were not among the righteous Jews as defined by circumcision, then they must be among the sinners. And if not now, then surely this is where they would end up without the law to keep them on track. This was a powerful argument. When Christians struggle with sin, they are also tempted to revert to a law. Or when we see other people sinning, we are tempted to impose a law on them.
But Paul will have none of it. ‘Certainly not!’ he says (2:17). This is because the law can only expose sin. It cannot stop it or cure it. We should not rebuild what we tore down (2:18). In other words, we should not reintroduce religious duty as a way of life, having rejected it as a way of conversion. If you reimpose the law, then all you will do is turn people into law-breakers. The law was supposed to point us to Christ. Having found Christ, you undermine his purpose if you then walk away from him and back to it. This in an unexpected twist, which actually makes you the ultimate law-breaker, because you act contrary to the law’s true purpose (2:18). For you are walking away from Christ rather than towards him. Luther says,
Although the law discloses and increases sin, it is not against the promises of God but for them. The reason for this is that it humbles us and prepares us to seek for grace . . . When the law forces us to acknowledge and confess our sins in this way it has fulfilled its function and is no longer needed, because the moment for grace has come.1
It was only when I gave up trying to earn God’s approval that I could receive God’s approval by faith (2:19). When I was trying to earn approval, my motives were confused. I was trying to please God, but what I really cared about was my salvation. Only when I received salvation as a gift could I truly make pleasing God my focus.
So What Happens Next?
If it is not by the law, then how do we live and grow as Christians? We need to realize that becoming a Christian is not just a change of opinion or a lifestyle choice. It is a death and resurrection. You die to your old life and you live a new life. At this point you might be saying, ‘Hang on a moment, I think I would have noticed if I had died!’ But Paul says we died and rose in Christ when Christ was crucified and resurrected: ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.’ (2:20). Before Christ we had no innate desire or ability to please God. But now we have been remade. Now what is innate is Christ! ‘Christ lives in me.’ Calvin says, ‘Engrafted into the death of Christ, we derive a secret energy from it, as the shoot does from the root.’2
What does this look like in practice? Verse 20 continues: ‘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.’ What now motivates us is ‘faith in the Son of God’. This is our drive, our passion, our enthusiasm. It is not just faith in some abstract truth or theological dogma; it is much more personal. It is faith in the One ‘who loved me and gave himself for me’. His love leads to our love. His sacrifice leads to our sacrifice.
Paul says, ‘It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.’ (3:1). He is saying, ‘We proclaimed Christ so clearly, it was as if you could see him for yourselves.’ That’s how we help one another–not by imposing a set of rules, but by portraying Christ crucified. Our claim is: ‘The Son of God loved you and gave himself for you.’ And that produces lives characterized by drive, passion and enthusiasm. Even in the midst of service and sacrifice, it creates lives of joy.
Notes:
- Luther, ‘Second Lectures on Galatians’, p. 119.
- John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries: The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, trans. T. H. L. Parker (St Andrew’s Press, 1965), p. 42.
