Galatians 2:15-21 | Gospel and approval

Galatians confronts the human search for approval and sets the gospel’s assurance against every merit-based religion. An opening anecdote about a young singer’s longing for acceptance illustrates how people chase shifting approval from parents, peers, bosses, and culture. Paul’s central claim appears sharply: God accepts people not because of human effort but because of what Christ accomplished. The letter exposes the futility of trying to secure divine acceptance through obedience to the law or any system of self-improvement, then reorients identity around faith.

Paul frames justification as a forensic act: God legally declares the guilty righteous through Christ’s atoning work, not through accumulated obedience. The argument contrasts Jewish pride in covenant privilege with Gentile outsider status to show that no human fulfills the law’s demands. Historic distortions—from medieval penance systems to modern self-optimization—only remake the gospel into another performance program; such remaking renders Christ’s death useless. The Reformation recovered the radical logic that justification occurs at one moment by faith, while sanctification unfolds afterward.

Faith effects a decisive union with Christ. Faith does not merely assent to facts; it joins a person to Christ’s death and resurrection so that the old relation to the law loses its power and a new life emerges. That union issues in a cruciform discipleship that refuses self-promotion and embraces costly love, repentance, and humility. Practical discipleship flows from identity: dying to performance frees the Christian to serve others and endure failure without recourse to self-merit.

Finally, Paul closes by insisting on the sufficiency of grace. Any teaching that adds law-keeping to acceptance contradicts the gospel and wastes Christ’s sacrifice. The proper response calls people to return to grace: confess dependence, receive Christ’s righteousness by faith, and press into the next chapter of growth empowered by the Spirit. The passage closes with prayerful application, urging bold gospel conversations and a life shaped by the cross rather than by human achievement.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Acceptance rests on Christ’s work God's approval comes solely through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, not through human striving. This means identity no longer pivots on fluctuating praise from others or on personal achievements. Pursuing approval apart from Christ produces anxiety and a fragile faith that collapses under failure. Instead, embrace the certainty that God declares the faithful righteous because of what Christ accomplished. [38:25]
• 2. Justification is a forensic declaration Justification functions like a courtroom verdict: God pronounces the guilty righteous because Christ absorbed the penalty. That legal image preserves both the reality of human guilt and the full necessity of divine atonement. The verdict arrives at the moment of genuine faith, not as gradual improvement, so assurance rests in God’s crediting of Christ’s righteousness. This clarity deflates any system that treats works as currency for acceptance. [41:29]
• 3. Union with Christ transforms identity Faith unites a person to Christ’s death and resurrection, breaking the law’s dominion and birthing a new way of life. That union makes dying to self and living for Christ the defining pattern of discipleship rather than performance metrics. Relationships, choices, and repentance flow from belonging to Christ, enabling costly love without bargaining for approval. The cruciform life reflects identity before it produces behavior. [59:51]
• 4. Grace nullifies merit-based religion Any gospel that requires added obedience for acceptance turns God’s grace impotent and renders Christ’s death pointless. Systems of merit—ancient or modern—reintroduce bondage by demanding ongoing proof of worth. True gospel living rests in unmerited, undeserved grace that compels gratitude and service, not anxiety over earning status. Hold fast to grace as the foundation for perseverance and restoration. [63:06]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [24:18] - Missions & Event Announcements
• [29:03] - Opening Prayer and Scripture
• [31:34] - American Idol Illustration
• [35:09] - Longing for Human Approval
• [39:20] - Problem: Futility of Performance
• [48:04] - Reformation and Justification
• [50:52] - Great Exchange: Faith Over Effort
• [60:09] - Great Union: Crucified with Christ
• [63:06] - Great Sufficiency: Grace Alone / Response

Bible reading: Galatians 2:15-21 (ESV)
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ 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. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Observation questions

1. According to verses 15-16, what is the specific contrast Paul makes between two groups of people, and what is the repeated conclusion he draws about how a person is justified?
2. In verse 18, what does Paul say he would prove himself to be if he were to "rebuild what I tore down"?
3. What are the two profound states Paul describes in verses 19-20 (dying and living) and what is the means by which he lives his new life?
4. What is the sobering conclusion Paul reaches in verse 21 about the consequence of seeking righteousness through the law?

Interpretation questions

1. The sermon described justification as a "forensic act" like a courtroom verdict [41:29]. How does this legal imagery help explain what Paul means when he says a person is "justified" and not by "works of the law"?
2. Paul asks a rhetorical question in verse 17: "Is Christ then a servant of sin?" Why would his opponents potentially accuse him and his gospel of promoting sin, and how does his answer in verse 18 defend against that charge?
3. What does it mean practically that "through the law I died to the law" (v. 19)? If the law is God's good standard, how can a believer be both dead to it and yet live to God?
4. The concept of being "crucified with Christ" (v. 20) was described as a "great union" [01:00:09]. How does this union with Christ in his death fundamentally change a person's identity and source of life?

Application questions

1. In what specific area of your life (work, family, church, friendships) are you most tempted to rebuild a structure of performance and human merit to feel accepted, rather than resting in the finished work of Christ? [52:37]
2. The "cross-shaped life" means dying to self-promotion and embracing costly love, repentance, and humility [01:01:30]. Who is one person you find it difficult to love this week, and what would it look like to practically "die to self" in your interactions with them?
3. How does the truth that you were "born enough" in Christ [34:22] and declared righteous in a moment free you from the anxiety of constantly wondering if you've "done enough" to be acceptable to God or others?
4. The research indicated that many self-identified Christians think doing good things is enough for heaven [57:32]. How would you gently explain to a friend the difference between trying to be accepted *by* good works versus doing good works *because* you are already accepted in Christ?
5. Paul's warning is that adding law-keeping to grace makes Christ's death pointless [01:04:25]. Where have you seen this "customized gospel" creep into modern preaching or your own thinking, and how can you actively "hold fast to grace" as your sole foundation this week?
6. The grace of God is described as unmerited, unending, and unmeasured [01:06:52]. When you experience failure or backslide into sin, what practical steps can you take to run *to* this grace instead of away from God in shame?