Galatians 2:17-18 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Paul has just made clear that both Jews and Gentiles are justified by faith in Christ apart from the works of the Law. Does this not open wide the flood gates for those who are seeking to be justified by faith to sin? Does not his way of justification lead to antinomianism and people who act in accordance to whatever they desire? And since this way of life has been inaugurated by Christ, is He not the author and founder of both the transgressions and the sinfulness?
Paul’s answer to these objections is a forthright “no!” First, those who are justified by faith in Christ are dead to the world and are no longer enslaved to the desires of the sinful nature. Being saved through faith, believers are now God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). The believer has new affections as he/she has been reborn of God, regenerated by the Holy Spirit unto life. For now, this will have to answer my questions since I will cover this more in depth in the next couple of days.
Second, those who are justified in Christ will not, in fact cannot, live an antinomian lifestyle. This is absolutely contradictory to the covenant in which they live. In Christ the new covenant between God and His people is realized (Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25). God’s promise in this covenant is that He “will put My law within them and on their heart I will write them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33). Believers in Christ have God’s holy standards written upon their hearts that they may not transgress them any longer. The Holy Spirit teams with their consciences so that they will know what is right and pleasing to God. Thus “‘they will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiahs 31:34). This is a far greater covenant than the last, as this form of the Law (written upon the heart) is greater than the Law being written upon tablets and scrolls.
Because they have been forgiven by God (Jeremiah 31:34), those in Christ are “a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). These new things are a new heart that is both blameless before God and is upright—or repentant. Believers have liberty in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17). This liberty given by the Spirit does not, however, lead to sinfulness. Rather, this liberty is from the sinful restraints of disobedience to God and the condemnation incurred under the Law. They now see Christ “with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Beholding Christ gives them liberty and also conforms them to the image of Christ, as they are “transformed into the same image [of Christ] from glory to glory,” by the work of the Holy Spirit (3:18). Thus, Romans 8:29 is fulfilled in believers, not destructed, as they “become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;” and this is the way that God planned it, and it is good.
Finally, if people claim Christ and continue in sinfulness, and if/when believers do transgress the law, Christ is not responsible. Those who claim Christ but do not live in conformity to the Law only prove that the Law is not written upon their hearts. They claim sin has been destroyed in them but then they rebuild what they claim is gone; it is their own fault, it is not Christ’s way of justification that is to be blamed. They have proven themselves not to be partakers in Christ and have shown themselves not to be regenerate, not to have the Holy Spirit, and not to be members of the New Covenant Community.
Christians who transgress will be forgiven (1 John 1:9), for they have an advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). However, they have rebuilt that which has truly been destroyed within them. That which they have rebuilt upon the foundation of Christ that is sinful will be burned-up on the Day of Judgment (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). They will suffer loss but will be saved. Christ will not be blamed for their transgressions, as they were not abiding in Him (not in a John 15 sense) and so transgressed against His holy Law. Christ is the author of faith, not of sin (Hebrews 12:2). So I warn you, brothers and sisters in Christ, do not sin, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Walk in holiness so that you may not suffer loss. If you sin, Christ is not to blame, you are. Do not attempt to blame Christ for your evil actions. Because sin has been destroyed in your life, live out what you are: you are one who has been called out by God and sealed for holiness. As for you who merely claim Christ but see no fruit of a repentant lifestyle and the work of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), do not keep deceiving yourself. God will not be mocked. You will be judged in accordance with your deeds (Galatians 6:7-10). Turn from your wicked ways to Christ and believe upon Him as Lord and Savior; for many will be cast from before the gates of heaven into everlasting pain and darkness because they were workers of iniquity (Matthew 7:21-23).
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