Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: We promised that parts of Paul’s epistles were hard to follow, but do not be dismayed. We will just read through them slowly enough to understand exactly what he is saying. It really isn’t rocket science; the only difficulty is that it was written in an ancient language. First off, we must always keep in mind the most important and basic truth of Paul’s theology, stated in the preceding verse (Gal. 2:16): Human beings are not justified before God by keeping the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot earn salvation by our good deeds; and specifically, we cannot earn salvation by complying with the Law of Moses. Now, Paul argues a logical corollary. If we believe in salvation through Christ, we cannot also believe in salvation through the Law. Thus, we can see what he means in v. 18, “If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker [or transgressor].” What he has torn down is reliance on the Law of Moses. Paul has learned that the purpose of the Law was not salvation, but to show him that he was a sinner and needed Christ. (See Romans 7:7: “I would not have known sin if it had not been for the law. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet'.”) Now, if he goes back and “rebuilds” reliance on the Law of Moses, he is preferring his old sinfulness to the salvation he has found in the gospel. In Christ we are forgiven; Christ’s forgiveness cleanses us of sin. So if we then go back to Judaic legalism, an attempt to find salvation by works, we are choosing sin over salvation! Paul and Silenus in Rome I hope this helps to explain verse 17. If someone is preaching the gospel — the good news of salvation in Christ — but is also trying to rely upon the Law of Moses, they seem to be saying that salvation in Christ comes by compliance with the Law. It would be like saying that Christ is the “minister of sin,” i.e. a priest of the Law of Moses. There are an important caveat we must remember. The Law itself is good and righteous. In fact, it is the basis of Western morality. Paul will state this explicitly in later writings. E.g., “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:12) We try to follow the Law, especially the Ten Commandments, because we love to obey God. But we know that we will not be saved by following the Law. We see two other takeaways in these verses, that have more practical application to the modern Christian: What Christians will I eat with at, say, a church dinner? Are we going to eat with our friends, or the people who look like us, or the people we are most comfortable with? Or does it serve Christ better if we sit and eat with someone we have little in common with? Someone different from us in worldly terms, perhaps someone less popular, someone much older or younger, more or less educated, etc.? We all sin sometimes. The representatives of Christ, however, cannot sin flagrantly or openly, lest they appear to “make Christ a minister of sin.” Hypocrisy of the clergy is a horrendous obstacle to spreading the Gospel, today as always. We tend to judge the clergy more leniently, because we see them as authority figures. But they really should be judged more strictly; because to preach Christ while living a worldly or sinful life cannot be tolerated. Greed, sexual immorality, drunkenness, etc., disqualifies a man from serving as a church leader. (See 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 1 Timothy 3)