We Are Justified Only by Pure Faith
< Galatians 2:11-21 >
“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood
him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain
men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they
came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were
of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite
with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth
of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, ‘If you, being a
Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do
you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature,
and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in
Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the
law no flesh shall be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore
a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things
which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the
law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which 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 set aside
the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then
Christ died in vain.’”
Before I begin my sermon on this passage, let us together
read Galatians 5:2-3: “Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you
become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify
again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to
keep the whole law.” I asked you here to read Galatians 5:2-3
so that we can first examine the background and the reason why the
Apostle Paul wrote Galatians, and then I can proceed with my sermon
on chapter 2.
What was the problem that the churches of Galatia
faced? Unlike the Corinthian church, the problem for the churches
of Galatia was over the issue of circumcision. In the Galatian churches,
there were many who were circumcised, and many who also insisted
on physical circumcision. In other words, in the churches of Galatia
there were those who insisted on circumcision, arguing that anyone
who comes into their churches must be circumcised. This obviously
raised a great deal of the Apostle Paul’s concern.
The people of Israel believed that to be circumcised
was a sign of being Abraham’s descendants, that is, God’s people.
But the problem was that in these churches of Galatia, there were
both Jews and Gentiles mixed together. So, when some insisted on
circumcision, many were in fact circumcised. Seeing what was happening
in the Galatian churches, the Apostle Paul deemed that this would
become a great problem if it were left alone as it was. This is
why he had to admonish the Galatian believers with this epistle.
As we just read, Paul said, “If you become circumcised, Christ
will profit you nothing.” By this passage, Paul was saying,
“If you become circumcised, what profit would Christ bring to you?
Did you become God’s people by being circumcised? If so, then what
has Jesus Christ done for you?”
Actually, circumcision brings no benefit. Quite on
the contrary, it would render one cut off from the grace of God.
Paul was saying, “Those who insist on the circumcision of the flesh
and those who seek to be physically circumcised have the duty to
follow the entire Law of God. This then means that you must keep
the whole Law, but can you really do this?” So the Apostle Paul,
in other words, was writing a letter of nourishment to the circumcisionists
in the churches of Galatia. The Pauline Epistles addressed spiritual
problems that each church had, and as far as the churches in Galatia
were concerned, Paul came to write this epistle to Galatians because
of those who claimed that they could become God’s people by being
circumcised in the flesh.
When we examine today’s Scripture passage with this
understanding of the background, we can grasp more clearly what
the passage is trying to tell us.
Let us read Galatians 2:11-13 again: “Now when
Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because
he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he
would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and
separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And
the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that
even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.”
Paul said here that when Peter had come to Antioch,
he withstood him to his face, because Peter was to be blamed. Why
did Paul reproach Peter? It was because Peter had been hypocritical.
What hypocrisy, then, did Peter commit? This happened when Peter
was eating with the Gentiles. Certain men from James came to Peter,
and these men were circumcisionists. The circumcisionists were those
who, while believing in Jesus, insisted that the believers had to
be circumcised. So when the circumcisionists came, fearing them,
Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles and ran away in haste. This
was why Paul, seeing this, reproached Peter. When we examine today’s
Scripture passage, we can find that Peter was so fearful of the
circumcisionists that when they came while he was eating and having
fellowship with the Gentiles, he even ran away from them in hurry.
The circumcisionists, whom even Peter feared, continued
to argue that even the saints must be circumcised to become God’s
people. And claiming that the uncircumcised were not qualified to
be God’s people, they urged them to be physically circumcised just
as Abraham was. What was the basis of such an argument? It was the
notion that only the circumcised were approved as God’s people.
It was because Peter was mindful of these circumcisionists that
he withdrew himself.
This shows that the circumcisionists had that much
influence in the Church. It so happened, then, that many believers
in the churches of Galatia came to be circumcised. The Apostle Paul
was incensed. He was exasperated because the circumcisionists were
so influential that there seemed to be no way to stop them. Even
Peter had run away here. The circumcisionists insisted that while
people had to believe in Jesus, all males also had to be circumcised
without fail, and they gave no recognition to the uncircumcised,
even if they were saints. They exalted only the circumcised.
Let’s turn to Galatians 2:14-16 here: “But when
I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the
gospel, I said to Peter before them all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live
in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel
Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners
of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and
not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh
shall be justified.’”
The Apostle Paul here reproached Peter for his hypocrisy,
saying, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles
and not as the Jews, how can you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”
And Paul said that a man could not be justified by the works of
the Law. In saying these things, Paul sought to correct the fallacy
of circumcisionists with his faith in Jesus Christ. As the circumcisionists
was becoming influential, Paul wanted to challenge them and correct
their mistakes, and here such an opportunity presented itself. The
Apostle Paul began by rebuking Peter at first, but soon he expanded
his speech to criticize the fallacies and mistakes of circumcisionists.
He declared first, “A man is not justified by the
works of the law.” Here, Paul made “the works of the Law” an
object of his criticism because he wanted to underscore the point
that one does not become righteous by being circumcised. The Law
itself is very wide and extensive in its contents. In the churches
of Galatia, there were Jews, and among these Jews there were circumcisionists
who argued that the saints could become God’s people if they were
physically circumcised. This is why Paul was telling them here,
“It is not by the works of the Law that people become sinless and
are turned into God’s own people, but it is only by believing in
Jesus Christ that they are justified.” Were this not the case, there
is no flesh that can be called as sinless by God. In other words,
Paul was rebuking the circumcisionists, making it clear that it
is by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we
are justified.
In the days of the Early Church, there were always
those who advocated circumcision even in God’s Church. They continued
to claim that believers could become God’s people only when they
were circumcised. Here, what we need to consider is what the implication
of this incidence is. Then, in this age and time, where can we then
apply this circumcision case? We can apply it to the faith of those
who believe that their sins are blotted out when they offer their
prayers of repentance. Today’s advocates of prayers of repentance
claim that when a man commits a sin after believing in Jesus, this
sin can be blotted out just by offering prayers of repentance.
Then, are our sins really blotted out through prayers
of repentance? Paul said here that a man is not justified with the
works of the Law, then, can one’s sins really be blotted out if
he offers prayers of repentance? No, he may feel comfortable for
a short while after praying, but his sins can never be blotted out
cleanly and forever by such prayers of repentance. This is why Paul
said, “A man is not justified by the works of the Law.” We
must realize that this is achieved only by believing in Jesus Christ
through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. So, Paul said,
“Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified
by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law” (Galatians 2:16).
I keep raising this issue repeatedly here because
so many Christians throughout the whole world believe that their
sins are blotted out when they offer their prayers of repentance.
Such insistence does not conform to the Word of God, and yet despite
this, prayers of repentance have become pervasive throughout the
churches on this earth. None other than this is the same faith of
the legalistic circumcisionists, and they are today’s adherents
of prayers of repentance. These people are hypocrites, and to try
to wash away their sins through their prayers of repentance is clearly
wrong before God. However, many Christians throughout the whole
world, and even some believers in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, are still unaware of this.
To claim that a man is justified through his prayers
of repentance or through incremental sanctification is the same
fallacy of the circumcisionists in today’s Scripture passage who
were holding onto physical circumcision to become God’s people.
Therefore, it is a complete nonsense to assert that one should first
believe in Jesus’ blood of the Cross, and then the sins committed
afterwards would be blotted out just by offering prayers of repentance.
The Bible clearly states, “A man is not justified by the works
of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). In
other words, we are justified only because we believe that Jesus
Christ has blotted out our sins through the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, and it is not by offering prayers of repentance
or being circumcised in the flesh that we become sinless. That is
never the case. This is what the Apostle Paul is saying here.
Of a billion or so Christians in this world, how many
do you think actually know that their sins are not blotted out through
their prayers of repentance? It is not prayers of repentance that
the righteous must give, but it is their true confession and true
repentance that must be made. Today’s prayers of repentance are
recognized as a ritual to go through to believe in the Lord and
follow Him. Just as Catholics believe that they can somehow be washed
from their sins through the sacrament of confession, many Protestants
mistakenly believe that their sins are washed away through their
prayers of repentance. Because virtually all Christians in the whole
wide world are like this, they have no idea just how wrong this
belief is. Some of them may have some knowledge, but they are unable
to pinpoint it clearly in a biblically sound basis and terms.
It is not by offering prayers of repentance that one
becomes sinless, but it is by believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit that his sins are blotted out as white as snow. Yet
who among today’s Christians can say that trusting in prayers of
repentance is a mistaken belief? It is wrong to try to wash away
sin through prayers of repentance, but who can dare to point this
out? Since prayers of repentance have now been officially sanctioned
in today’s Christianity as a process of washing away one’s sins,
to point out its fallacy is to trigger a reformation of faith that
is even more significant than what Luther began when he spoke against
the Papacy and ushered in the Reformation. People believe that to
wash away the sins they have committed after believing in the blood
of the Cross, there is no other way but to give prayers of repentance,
but Paul is telling us here just how erroneous this is. Every Christians
in the world must understand what the Apostle Paul said to Galatian
churches: “If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you
nothing” (Galatians 5:2).
Christians throughout the world are trying to receive
the remission of their sins through prayers of repentance. Just
how wrong is this? Regardless of whether you believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, if you profess to believe in Jesus
as your Savior, then you must realize that the belief that you can
be remitted from your sins through your prayers of repentance is
to be cut off from Christ—in fact, you are already removed
from Christ.
Among the Jews, males were approved as God’s people
if they were circumcised. As soon as Jewish males were physically
circumcised, they were immediately recognized as God’s people. What
about the uncircumcised Jews then? They were not treated as Jews.
For the Jewish people, circumcision was the sign of God’s people.
Indeed, God had promised in the Old Testament, “I will be your God
and the God of your descendants, but you and your descendants must
be circumcised.” So it is said in the Old Testament that circumcision
is the sign of God’s people.
In the age of the New Testament, then, what did the
Apostle Paul say in Romans 2? He said, “Circumcision is that
of the heart” (Romans 2:29). He said that it was not in the
flesh that one should be circumcised, but in the heart. By believing
that Jesus Christ has blotted out our sins through His baptism and
bloodshed, we must be spiritually circumcised in our hearts by our
faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In other words,
we must receive our true salvation by believing with the heart that
Jesus took upon all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist,
died on the Cross, and has thereby saved us from all the sins of
the world.
It is because Jesus Christ came to this earth and
has saved us from the sins of the world through the gospel of the
water and the Spirit that we are saved by believing in this Truth;
it is not through our own prayers of repentance that our sins are
washed away. Because He has saved us perfectly through His righteous
acts, we have come to be saved through our faith in this perfect
gospel, become God’s people, without sin and one with Christ, and
are justified. There is no other way to become His people other
than this. No saint can blot out any of his sins through prayers
of repentance, and they can never become God’s people by being circumcised
in the flesh. To believe otherwise is a complete nonsense.
Your spiritual circumcision comes from your faith
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, not from any other works
of your own. When you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, and
when you believe that Jesus has saved you by being baptized, dying
on the Cross, and rising from the dead again, then you can receive
the remission of your sins once for all. There is no other way to
receive the remission of our sins but only by believing that Jesus
Christ has blotted out our sins. God has never given us any other
such means.
No matter how some Christians might have been filled
with inspiration, no matter how they might have seen visions, and
no matter how they might have heard the voice of the Lord in their
dreams or even while awake, these are all useless. Regardless of
how diligently anyone might offer prayers of repentance to Jesus,
how faithfully he might attend morning prayer meetings, and how
lawfully he might be circumcised, these things have nothing to do
with his salvation. Faithfully keeping the Sabbath or any other
festivities of the Old Testament is also completely irrelevant to
one’s salvation.
It is completely and only through faith in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit that our salvation comes by. Only by
believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior who came through the water
and the Spirit, can we be truly saved. Our true salvation is received
only through our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
containing no effort of our own at all, not even 0.1%. The supposition
that we are washed from our sins because we have offered prayers
of repentance, or that we become God’s people because we were circumcised—any
such supposition that contains our own works even by 0.1% ruins
the Lord’s salvation. If our own works are needed even by 0.1% to
attain our salvation, this can only mean that Jesus Christ failed
to save us perfectly through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Yet Jesus Christ has indeed saved us perfectly from all our sins.
Therefore, if only we believe in Him and what He has
done for us, we can be saved from all our sins. There is nothing
for us to do. There is nothing else and no other way but to believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with our hearts. Yet in
spite of this, if any still seeks to be circumcised in the flesh
or to give prayers of repentance, he is asking to fall away from
the grace of God. He is someone who is determined to fall away from
the grace of God, from the salvation that God has given us.
As such, everyone throughout the world must know the
gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, and everyone must stop
trying to attain his salvation through his own efforts. Among those
of you who are now in this Church, and all the Christians throughout
the world as well, those who might have believed that their sins
were blotted out because they gave prayers of repentance must realize
that they have committed a great sin against God. They must now
lay down their carnal faith and instead believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. And they must realize clearly just how
fallacious such beliefs are.
Offering prayers of repentance may seem like a highly
virtuous and good thing to do, but nothing is more wicked than that.
It is not prayers of repentance that should be given, but we should
repent first. For us to repent is to actually turn around from our
evil deeds. We must first repent before God, and if we really want
to confess our sins, then we should say prayers of confession. We
should confess before God and pray to Him like this, “I’ve committed
these sins. Yet You have already saved me from these sins also.
I am sure You have already blotted out even these sins through the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. Please, hold me not to be tempted
by such inequities again.” This is the right prayer of confession
when we recognize our sins. We can never be blotted out from our
personal sins by offering prayers of repentance.
If you had been going in a certain direction, and
you realize that this was wrong, then you must turn around and try
to find the correct way. As such people have to turn around from
the wrong ways of their faith and find the right way to believe
in Him properly. Prayers of repentance, where people say only with
their words, “I’ve done wrong. Please forgive me, then I’ll never
do such things again. I believe,” are fallacious.
Yet in Christianity today, there are those who still
claim that they can wash away their sins through their prayers of
repentance, and these people are turning themselves into great enemies
of God. It is completely fallacious to believe that one can wash
away his sins through his prayers of repentance. Just because a
man, having committed sin, says, “Lord, I’m sorry. Please forgive
me,” it does not mean that his sins are blotted out. This remains
the case no matter how he might rely on the Lord’s blood on the
Cross. That is because he is ignoring the merits of the Lord contained
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Trying to wash away one’s
sins through his own prayers of repentance is to trample on the
love of God. And it is to remove the righteousness of God and front
one’s own righteousness, and therefore extremely flawed.
The reason why Christianity throughout the world is
in so much trouble is because of the doctrine of repentance. So
even if one knows and believes in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, if he is swept away by such a current, his faith is over.
Now then, what is the difference between someone who
believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and someone who
believes that his sins are washed away through his own prayers of
repentance? We have to know this clearly. Only when we know this
difference can we realize what is so wrong with prayers of repentance
and end this practice. And only then can we preach the gospel of
the water and the Spirit to those who are diligently but uselessly
offering their prayers of repentance. If we want to say to them
that they are wrong to rely on prayers of repentance, we must first
have a clear understanding of the issues at hand; without such a
clear understanding, we can’t tell them to receive the remission
of sins by believing in the true gospel. If we don’t realize ourselves
what’s wrong with prayers of repentance, then we obviously can’t
tell others about that.
Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese strategist, said in his
Art of War, “Know yourself and your opponents, and you will
never lose.” Likewise, only when we first point out and explain
in detail what is wrong with their faith and then preach the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, would they agree with us. What we must
realize first is that if someone believes that he can wash away
his sins through his prayers of repentance, ultimately we cannot
preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to him. Most Christians
throughout the whole world are trying to receive the remission of
their sins by offering prayers of repentance. This is why we must
first have a clear understanding of the fallacies of this doctrine
of prayers of repentance. So this point cannot be overemphasized.
It is no exaggeration to say that those who claim
that they are washed from their sins by giving prayers of repentance
do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by
Jesus Christ. Therefore, to anyone who has this kind of faith, we
must clearly preach this gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such
people whose faith is placed in their own prayers of repentance
for their salvation are utterly mistaken, and so they must throw
out such a lawless belief first. Then, they must believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, for only by believing in this
true gospel can they be saved. To preach this Truth to others, you
must first confirm in your hearts that you have been saved from
all your sins by believing in the Jesus Christ who came to this
earth through the water and the Spirit. If you yourselves are not
clear about this, then you cannot preach the gospel to those Christians
who believe that they are remitted from their sins through their
own prayers of repentance.
“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ,
we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister
of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I
destroyed, I make myself a transgressor” (Galatians 2:17-18).
If, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves
are also found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Paul
said this is certainly not the case. What the Apostle Paul is saying
here is that the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
can never become sinners again, if they believe in Jesus properly
realizing that the circumcision of the flesh has no effect. In other
words, if only one casts aside the faith of his own works and believes
in Jesus Christ as His Savior who came by the water and the Spirit,
then he is a righteous man, and can never be a sinner.
Paul the Apostle continued to say, “For if I build
again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.”
He meant the Law, especially the physical circumcision, by “those
things which I destroyed.” Therefore, here in this passage, the
phrase, “if I build again those things which I destroyed,” refers
to the attempt to become God’s people by being circumcised in the
flesh. Since this is trying to receive the remission of sins by
keeping and practicing the Law, Paul says that it would turn anyone
who does so into a transgressor who sins against God. Paul makes
the same assertion again in Galatians 3 and in Romans 4. When did
Abraham become a righteous man? Since Abraham already believed in
the Word of God, his faith was accounted for righteousness long
before he was circumcised. This tells us that Abraham was already
approved by God for his faith in God’s Word back then and had become
a righteous man. It is only when one believes in the Word of God
that he becomes righteous.
What, then, comes first? Is it being circumcised in
the flesh, or is it having faith in the Word of blessings that God
promised Abraham? Abraham believed in God’s Word of promise that
He would make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky. This
is how Abraham’s faith was approved. Long before Abraham was circumcised
in the flesh, God gave His Word of blessings to Abraham and he believed
in this promise. It was because Abraham believed in God’s Word of
promise before being circumcised that God accounted him for righteousness
owing to his faith, and then promising him that He would become
the God of his descendants, He told Abraham to be circumcised in
the flesh as a sign of this promise. God said that the physical
circumcision is the sign of the spiritual circumcision that he received
through his faith in God’s Word.
Therefore, now this means that God is still saying
to our hearts that you and I can become His children just by believing
in the gospel Word, thanks to Jesus Christ who came through the
water and the Spirit. It is by our faith in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit that we receive the remission of our sins and become
righteous all at once. “If I build again those things which I
destroyed, I make myself a transgressor” (Galatians 2:18). If,
having already been saved by believing in Jesus Christ who came
through the water and the Spirit in our hearts, we have to be circumcised
once again, what would this entails? It would nullify the merits
of Jesus Christ, which satisfied all the just requirements of the
Law.
We can never become sinless by being physically circumcised.
Just as Abraham’s faith was approved when he believed in God’s Word,
it is not by being circumcised in the flesh or offering prayers
of repentance that our sins are blotted out. Rather, we are washed
from our sins once for all and become righteous by believing with
our hearts in Jesus Christ who came through the gospel of the water
and the Spirit as our Savior. Do you believe this? None other than
this is to be justified by faith. We can become righteous only by
faith. It is by faith that we are approved by God, and it is by
faith that we are saved and justified. When we have been justified
only by believing with our hearts in the God-given gospel of the
water and the Spirit, in what He has done for us, how could we revert
back to religious practices that belong to works, not to faith?
This is why we say that our justification comes by faith. Justification
by faith means that we attain the righteousness of God by believing
in His Word.
The Apostle Paul made it clear that one is not saved
by being physically circumcised. Receiving physical circumcision
cannot save us; rather, it is by receiving spiritual circumcision
that we can attain our salvation—that is, by believing in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Spiritual circumcision means
receiving the remission of sin into the heart by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. By this spiritual circumcision,
we can cut off all our sins from our hearts, as Abraham cut off
his foreskin with a flint knife. This is what the Apostle Paul was
talking about.
Let’s turn to Galatians 2:19. “For I through the
law died to the law that I might live to God.” The Apostle Paul
declared that he died to the Law. He didn’t say that he was trying
to practice the Law. Why? If one stands before the Law, only his
sins are revealed, because the Law is absolutely holy, just, and
good (Romans 7:12). So, the Bibles says, “Therefore by the deeds
of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). In other words, through
the Law only Paul’s sins were revealed, and he realized that he
was to be destroyed.
This is why the Apostle Paul, far from defending the
Law, said that through the Law he died to the Law. He said that
he was put to death, so that he would live to God. This meant that
the Apostle Paul acknowledged the Word of God. He acknowledged the
majestic Word of God, the Word of Truth. The Law cannot be kept
no matter how hard one might try. This is because the requirements
of the Law are so absolutely demanding, if one were to be accounted
as righteous by keeping the Law, he must not only be circumcised,
but also keep all the festivities and obey all the 613 statutes
that specify what he must and must not do in his life.
Therefore, Paul could not avoid but admit that he
was simply incapable of keeping the Law, and confessed that whereas
the Law of God was so perfect and just, he was too filthy, unclean,
and inevitably bound to be destroyed. This is why he came to confess
that far from keeping the Law, he died to the Law. When he realized
the real entity of the Law, He did not try to practice the Law any
more, rather, he confessed that he was to die because of the perfect
requirements of the Law of God, and he believed so accordingly.
This was for him to live toward God by faith. Put differently, Paul
realized that he could never be saved from his sins except by God,
and he could not but believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit so that God may save him. He said that he died to the Law,
so that he might meet his Savior and receive the salvation given
by Him. And through Jesus Christ, he came to receive new life by
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Such beliefs of Paul were
the very beliefs that made it possible for him to attain justification,
the right faith.
My fellow believers, if you don’t understand Galatians
correctly, you can’t even come near the Truth. You may think, “So
there were circumcisionists in the old days. I suppose they were
all bothering Paul with the issue of circumcision. Even Peter was
playing hypocrisy, and he was reproached before others by Paul,
a man junior to him in faith. I guess that’s all there is to it.
It’s no big deal.”
However, you must realize that this passage written
in the Bible is to teach us some lessons today, and you must understand
this Epistle clearly. Were it not for the Book of Galatians, we
would not be able to explain, to those who believe that the remission
of their sins is received through their own prayers of repentance,
just how wrong their faith is in full detail. It is also a mistake
to insist blindly, “You are just wrong!” This is only an ‘all or
nothing’ perspective, which says, “I am right, and therefore, you
are wrong. No reason to give here; that’s just how it is.” But this
is all completely unreasonable, as unreasonable as what Hitler claimed
when he argued that the German race was superior to all the rest.
The right thing to do is to explain, with reason, why, how, and
what is wrong with the circumcisionists. Here in today’s Scripture
passage, Paul is pointing out plainly just how wrong and hypocritical
it was to insist on circumcision. Through these passages of Galatians,
today’s Christians can now realize how wrong it is to rely on prayers
of repentance and root out their mistaken beliefs.
Let’s read Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
This shows the gist of Paul’s faith. He believed in
Jesus Christ completely: He didn’t show off his own works, but he
believed in Christ’s works with all his heart; and he believed that
Jesus Christ came to this earth, took upon his sins through His
baptism, was crucified and died for him, rose from the dead again,
and thereby brought him to life again. Put differently, Paul believed
how Jesus Christ became his perfect Savior in detail.
This is how he came to declare, “I have been crucified
with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). This was the confession of his
faith that wholly believed in Jesus as his Savior. It was the confession
of faith wholeheartedly believing that Jesus took upon the sins
of the world by being baptized by John the Baptist, died on the
Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby delivered him from
all his sins perfectly. It speaks of one’s pure faith. The Apostle
Paul said that it was through this faith that he had died with Christ
and was brought to life again with Christ. Such was the faith of
the Apostle Paul.
My fellow believers, did the Apostle Paul say that
your sins are washed away or you can be sanctified through your
own prayers of repentance? At that time, when the circumcisionists
were insisting that Christians had to be circumcised, the Apostle
Paul declared, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love”
(Galatians 5:6). Our salvation, in other words, is reached only
by faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit for 100%. So
when it comes to our salvation from sin, no work of our own whatsoever
must be counted in. There must be not even a penny’s worth of our
own works, not even a wit of our own righteousness.
Imagine here that one of our sisters has been losing
her hair, and while she was making some soup for us, some of her
hair went into the soup. Wouldn’t this be a problem when we are
about to eat the soup? If we see a bunch of hair floating in the
soup, would any of us be able to eat it? Of course not. Like this,
our faith must also be pure. We need the kind of faith that believes
purely in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, neither adding
nor subtracting anything at all. If we believe in the God-given
gospel of the water and the Spirit as it is, we are all saved exactly
according to our faith. It is indispensable to have this faith in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit that believes exactly as
it is.
The Apostle Paul’s faith led him to say, “I have
been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Did Paul say here that he actually
did something? No, not a word was said on how he believed only in
the blood of the Cross and offered prayers of repentance, how he
was circumcised, how he faithfully kept all the festivities, or
how he practiced the Law diligently. There was, in other words,
absolutely no work of his own to be counted in. All that he had
to do was just believe in God and confess, “I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
The Apostle Paul got saved just by believing in Jesus
and what He had done for him. How pure is his faith? He simply believed.
He didn’t say, “But I still did this, and I did that.” He just believed
with his heart that Jesus Christ came to this earth as our Savior,
was baptized by John the Baptist to save everyone in this world,
carried these sins to the Cross and was crucified, and after shedding
His blood and dying, rose from the dead again, thereby becoming
our Savior. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer
I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Do you
also believe like this? In the Apostle Paul’s faith, there was no
work of his own whatsoever, and he was saved perfectly only by his
faith. He was saved by believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit exactly as it is. There is no other way to be saved but
only by believing.
Paul continued to confess, saying, “The life which
I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Paul was saved just by believing in Jesus, and his
salvation had nothing to do with his work. He did not assert his
good deeds before God, nor did he front his faithful prayers, but
he only brought his faith alone before God. This is the same faith
that Abel had when he offered up his sacrifice with the firstborn
of his flock and of their fat. He believed in Jesus Christ, ‘the
firstborn of his flock,’ with his pure heart. God was pleased to
accept his sacrifice of pure faith, while He did not respect Cain
and his offering. Why did God hate to receive Cain’s offering? It
was because he offered an offering of the fruit of the ground, the
works of his flesh, to the Lord God (Genesis 4:1-5).
The Apostle Paul also believed in Jesus as his perfect
Savior, and he believed that while he had no choice but to die and
perish before Christ, He loved him so much that He saved Paul by
being baptized, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead again.
Like a child, the Apostle Paul thus accepted this Truth as it was
and believed in it, and this is how he was saved. You and I must
also have this kind of faith. Every Christian in the world must
also have this faith.
When we give something eatable to babies, don’t they
open their mouths? They open their mouths like chicks. Even when
we pull a piece of candy out of our mouths and say, “Ah,” then they
reflexively open their mouths. You don’t even have to show anything
to them; when you just say to them time to eat, they just open their
mouths. That’s because this phrase means that we are about to feed
them. To say, “Ah” may sound like a vocal lesson, but to babies,
it just means that someone is about to give them something to eat.
We need to have this child-like faith. When God says,
“I have saved you. I sent My Son to this earth, and by making Him
be baptized, die on the Cross, and rise from the dead again, I had
Him bear all the condemnation of sin and wash away your sins completely.
And My Son suffered your death in your place, and to bring you back
to new life, My Son was resurrected. So My Son has now saved you.
Believe in this,” we just have to say, “Yes,” and believe accordingly.
As Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer
I who live, but Christ lives in me,” we are saved purely by believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, not through the Law,
nor through our own acts. It was by pure faith that Paul was saved.
Many people may have many different interpretations
of today’s Scripture passage, but this passage makes it clear that
through the works of the Law, prayers of repentance, circumcision,
or any such things, no man can be saved from his sins. Paul was
not saved by believing in Jesus and then adding something else on
top of this, but he was saved purely by believing and accepting
into his heart that Jesus Christ saved him through the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, adding nothing to this. This is what Paul
is saying in today’s Scripture passage. After the Apostle Paul was
saved, did he live by faith in the Son of God or not? Of course
he did. This is why he preached the gospel of the water and the
Spirit.
Let’s turn to Galatians 2:21 here: “I do not set
aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law,
then Christ died in vain.”
Paul said here that he does not set aside the grace
of God. This was the faith he now had. He made it clear that his
salvation was reached only by faith in God’s grace. This is why
he said that if righteousness came through the works of the Law,
then Christ had died in vain. If our own works are even slightly
added to our becoming sinless, then this can only mean that Jesus
died in vain. If such acts as good deeds, offering prayers of repentance,
or living virtuously are slightly added even just a little, Christ
then died in vain. In other words, all the things that Jesus had
done for us while He was on this earth, such as being baptized and
dying on the Cross, are rendered completely useless—if, that
is, our own works are added to His salvation ever so slightly. We
must not set aside the grace of God. We must accept it in thankfulness.
We must receive it in thankfulness, give glory in thankfulness,
and become united with the Lord in thankfulness. Since we “have
been crucified with Christ,” our hearts have joined with Christ.
You and I must be justified by faith, and we must
become sinless by faith. By believing that Jesus Christ has saved
us, we must become sinless people. Those who believe that God has
blotted out their sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit
are sinless people. It is this kind of people that we must all become.
“If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ
died in vain” (Galatians 2:21). If we can be washed from our
sins through our prayers of repentance, then Jesus Christ came to
this earth in vain, He was baptized in vain, and He died on the
Cross all in vain. Isn’t this the case?
We need to realize here how these churches of Galatia
all perished away. After the Apostle Paul’s death, the churches
of Galatia disappeared without a trace. This shows us just how dangerous
it is to assert our own works, and to add our works of the Law to
our salvation. It is absolutely indispensable for us to realize
clearly just how wicked it is to front our own works.
You may think, “But do all works are really bad? Isn’t
there anything good among our deeds? I am sure there is something
good even in our works.” However, to think like this is also extremely
dangerous. “Since our fathers of faith were circumcised, what’s
wrong for us to be also circumcised? What’s wrong for us to believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and also be circumcised?
Let the good traditions be carried forth”—do some of you think
like this? But this is utterly wrong. It is nothing more than hypocrisy
itself, teaching others to practice hypocrisy also; it is because
of this that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is perverted;
and it is because of this that countless people perish away. What
we had considered to be good before we were born again, what we
had considered to be virtuous deeds and decent hearts, they are
all wicked in fact. This is why Paul said that about what things
had been gain to him, he counted them as loss and even as rubbish
for Christ (Philippians 3:7-8).
Didn’t some of you used to hold a seminar called “inner
healing”? It’s a very wicked seminar. This is what sets aside the
grace of Jesus Christ and rejects it. It’s a bandage solution that
tricks us to think, “I’m hurt, but when I think about Jesus Christ,
didn’t He suffer far greater injuries for me? My parents hurt me,
but weren’t they hurt also?” To be comforted by Jesus Christ for
one’s injury and to say that this person also forgives his father
is to forgive someone on his own. The subject of forgiveness is
oneself. It is oneself that heals his own injury using Jesus Christ,
and it is he who forgives others. A while ago I heard a tape of
such a seminar, and while it may seem good and decent, it is actually
very wicked.
We the Christians throughout the whole world must
realize just how fallacious it is to rely on our own works. Whereas
anyone can be saved if only he truthfully and purely believes in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, if his own works, good or
bad, are added even slightly, then he cannot be saved. This is why
you must cast them aside. If you just accept into your hearts, like
a child, what Jesus Christ has done for you, then you will be saved
and become God’s children. And if you spread this as it is, others
will also be saved. So, it is written, “Every word of God is
pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (Proverbs
30:5). His Word is so pure. I give thanks upon thanks to God.
When we read the Book of Galatians, we can realize
clearly that our own good or bad works must never be connected in
anyway to our salvation. We can grasp just how wrong it is to associate
these things to the salvation that God has given to us; we can find
out that Peter’s hypocrisy was misleading others; and we can understand
where Paul’s heart laid when he rebuked Peter for this. Moreover,
our hearts are convicted that when we preach the gospel, we must
preach it purely. Regardless of whether or not others believe, all
that we have to do is just preach the gospel of the water and the
Spirit with pure faith in it. If we bring something else into the
picture, those hearing us are just confused more, making it even
more difficult for them to be saved.
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My fellow believers, we must preach the Word of God
purely as it is. Now as before, 10 years ago or 20 years ago, the
Truth still lies in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This
is why everyday we speak about the gospel of the water and the Spirit
and preach it. Because it is the Truth, it cannot be overdone no
matter how repeatedly it is preached. Ten years down the road, should
I preach something else just because people are tired of hearing
the same gospel? The very moment that I preach something else, we
will disappear like the churches of Galatia.
We must believe in the gospel Word of the water and
the Spirit purely. You must believe in God’s love purely, and you
must believe in the salvation that God has given you as it is. If
you do, then you are God’s people. Of course, our shortcomings are
always there. But we are still God’s people by faith. When you become
God’s people by faith, His Word will remove the impurities of your
hearts and nurture you to grow in faith.
Those who, even after receiving the remission of sins,
still follow the Lord with their own thoughts and acts are exactly
the same as those who advocated circumcision. Such people think
that they are doing their best, but it will only bring horrendous
results. They are utterly mistaken. As such, we have to believe
in God purely, unite with Him purely, follow Him purely, and preach
the gospel Truth purely. Knowing this and believing it, let us then
preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and let us live by
faith.
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