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Pathways Through Paul, Vol 2
Daily Devotional
January 15
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Today's Pathway:
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In verse 17 we saw Paul dealing with one of the accusations that the Judaizers were making against the doctrine that salvation was solely by grace through faith and that adherence to the Mosaic Law had no part in it. The opponents of grace were saying that the belief that works were not necessary for salvation would encourage believers to sin, and that ultimately this would make Jesus guilty of being the "minister of sin". Paul denies this with an emphatic, "God forbid". He then turns the tables on the Judaizers by saying that the real transgression would be if he were to rebuild the things which he had already destroyed. What does he mean by this? Paul had already established that salvation was by grace without the benefit of works. He had destroyed the idea that salvation could be obtained through keeping the Mosaic Law. However, if he now added works to grace, he would be sinning. Much of this can be applied to Peter's situation back in verses 11-16. Peter taught salvation by grace. He understood that there was no longer enmity between Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:15-16), and that therefore there waa no reason for born again Jews and Gentiles to not eat together. He had theologically knocked down the wall that separated Jews and Gentiles (Acts 10:19-11:18). However, when he separated from the Gentiles in order to appease the Jewish visitors from James' church in Jerusalem he rebuilt the very wall that he had torn down. This was very hypocritical, and made him a transgressor. Either he had transgressed by teaching that salvation was by grace alone, or he transgressed by putting himself back under the Law, but either way he was in sin. Kenneth Wuest explains it this way,
"Peter, by withdrawing from fellowship with the Gentiles, was obeying the letter of a law he knew had been set aside by God, and was ignoring its significance, namely that of a temporary measure for the time of the Old Testament dispensation, to be abrogated at the Cross. Peter became a transgressor in that he, declaring by his conduct that the law was null and void, now declares valid again that which he destroyed, thus admitting his guilt in that destruction."
Verse 19 is interesting. Paul states that "through the law am dead to the law". While there are several different interpretations of what he is trying to say, I think that the idea is simply this: because Paul truly understood the Law, he ultimately became dead to the Law. As we have seen previously, all the Law could do was reveal sin and condemn men for their transgressions. Since the Law could not save anyone, there must be another means of salvation. Paul understood that Jesus had paid the price for the sins of the world because He fulfilled the Law's demands, and then offered Himself as a sacrifice for the rest of mankind who could not measure up to its demands. Galatians 3:13 states,
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us".
Once Paul accepted Christ's gift of salvation by grace he became dead to the Law. It is worth noting that the Bible does not say that the Law became dead. The Law still exists, and it still condemns all that fail to keep its precepts perfectly throughout the entirety of their lives to spiritual death. But Paul became dead to the Law. The Law no longer had any impact upon him because he was dead to it. Let me illustrate it this way. If a man is convicted of a crime and sentenced by the law to twenty years in prison, but he dies of natural causes five years into his sentence, does he still have to stay in the prison cell for the next fifteen years? Of course not, because he is dead, and what the law of the land says no longer impacts him. In the same way Paul became dead to the Mosaic Law through Christ. Because of that, he is now able to "live unto God". We will discuss that further tomorrow.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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