Galatians 2:21 Do not Nullify the Grace of God, For Righteousness Comes Only Through Jesus Christ

Galatians 2:21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.

Is it not insulting when you help someone and they offer to pay you for your services? Does it not feel like a price has been put upon your kindness, mercy, or favor? It is like paying someone for sex; there is no love in the act; it is shallow and ignoble. It is the same way if we seek to earn our salvation and to merit God’s favor and our own justification. God gives freely of His grace. He is always the benefactor, we are always the beneficiary. This is the case in every aspect of life; and it is especially clear when it comes to salvation. It is an affront to God when we seek to earn His favor rather than receive His gift freely. This is the grounds upon which Paul makes his case against the legalists who have deceived his beloved Galatians.

God had sent Christ to die so that man could stand justified before Him. Righteousness does not come on the basis of the Law, for all are sinners in need of grace. Righteousness is rather imputed to all who believe in Christ, as Paul elucidates here. If righteousness came through obedience to the Law Christ would not have needed to die, for man could be justified before God upon His own merits. So to claim that Christ’s merits, death, and resurrection are not enough, or that they have no part to play in justification (such as governmental atonement teaches)[1] is abhorrent to God, for in the gospel of Jesus Christ “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18, also see Galatians 3:13). If righteousness can be attained by the Law, God’s predestined plan in sending Christ was stupid. God would be a fool and should be mocked for His lack of foresight and ill-conceived plan. He went way overboard. Christ did not have to die.

This is not the case, however. Man is given Christ’s righteousness upon faith in Christ, for it cannot be attained through the Law. God’s plan was, is, and always will be perfect. Paul is clear in this. If he, or you, or anyone else should seek to add to Christ or to be justified by the Law, then he/she is nullifying God’s grace in his/her life. Take this to heart, Christian. Do not seek to earn God’s favor. I know that we all fail at this, but there is forgiveness in Christ for our belittling of grace. Yet if you continue in this sin unrepentantly, then you will nullify God’s grace in your life. You will give God a vote of ‘no confidence’ and He will not grant you grace. You will prove that your faith was in vain. Those who preach something other than this gospel, righteousness imputed by Christ, not earned by keeping the Law, preach another gospel, as Paul makes clear in Galatians 1:6-9. They are accursed.

Brothers and sisters, do not glaze over this verse or take it lightly. There are many today who claim that they will be justified by good deeds. Such thinking often creeps into our own hearts and seeks to strangle our trust in grace alone. I urge you to repent of this God-denigrating sin. Live out your faith, but know and put your hope in God’s answer to your need for justification: the righteousness of Christ.

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[1] Charles Finney’s views of the atonement: http://www.gospeltruth.net/1856OE/560730_the_atonement.htm

A definition of governmental atonement: http://www.tulipedia.org/Governmental_Theory_of_the_Atonement