Galatians 2:17-20 – Dying to the Law
In v19 Paul says: ‘through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God’. Dying to the law doesn’t mean that he can live a life of sin. It means that he can live to God. And how is living to God defined? By God’s law!
So what does it mean to die to the law? It means to die to it as a way of getting right with God. It means that as Christians we’re free from the law’s hold on us. We’re free from the law’s accusing sentence on us. The law demands perfect obedience. But none of us have obeyed it perfectly. And that’s a problem. Living with the law as our master means that we can expect nothing but death and destruction – because there’s no mercy in the law. But as Christians we’re dead to the merciless demands of the law. And we’re also dead to the curse of the law. The law also holds out a curse for disobedience. We have failed to keep the law so we should be cursed. But instead, that curse has fallen on Jesus. So we’re dead to the curse of the law.
As long as we’re alive to the law as a way of getting to Heaven, it will stop us coming to God. We’ll either see its demands as impossible, and give up on ever coming to God. Or we’ll convince ourselves that we’re able to keep the law, and we won’t come to Jesus, because we’ll think we don’t need him.
It’s actually salvation by grace that leads to holy living. There’s a sense in v20 here that Paul has written his own obituary. If you were to say to Paul: ‘Paul, if you’re saved by grace and not works, why don’t you just go out and live a life of sin?’ He’d say: ‘That’s not who I am any more. The old me, that wanted to live a life of sin, is dead.’ Paul lived with a profound sense that Jesus had died personally for him. He talks in v20 about ‘the Son of God who loved me! and gave himself for me!
And so when you’re tempted to sin today, say to yourself: ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me’. Because you’ve been crucified with Christ, you’re no longer under the law’s condemnation. The penalty for your sins has been paid. But then remember that the old you is dead. Yes at times you’ll still be tempted to live the way that old man or woman lived. But you don’t have to. They’re dead. You’ve been crucified with Christ.
Questions
- What does Paul mean that he’s died to the law?
- What does it mean to be crucified with Christ?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that your old self is dead.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.