Not because of what we've done.....

Galatians 2:15-21 "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' [16] know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified.
[17] "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! [18] If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a law-breaker. [19] For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. [20] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Paul sees his argument with Peter as coming down to this – what did Jesus die for? He puts it this way. Imagine that we could put things right between us and God by working at things ourselves, and imagine that following the Law, with all its customs and rituals, absolutely perfectly, for the whole of our lives was possible. If we could do things ourselves, then Jesus didn’t need to come to die for us. If we could do this then his coming at all was pointless. And in fact, there was an extreme Jewish sect that believed they could bring forth the coming of the Messiah if the whole Jewish nation lived perfectly for a whole day….

But Paul believes, as does Peter – Paul is telling him to stick up for what he believes – that you can’t do this. The Law is good because it shows us how we should live with each other, the way God intends. But since we cannot perfectly keep it, what it actually does is show us that we miss the mark – some of us get closer than others, but we all miss it! (Romans 3:23). We are saved, we have our relationship with God restored, by believing in what Jesus has done for us. We are not justified by observing the Law – it’s impossible to keep – but we are justified by faith! Imagine we borrow a car from a friend, and we crash it, so that it’s damaged. We say sorry, our friend forgives us, but the car is still a mess. Jesus came to fix the damage.

So does this mean that we can carry on in our lives without changing anything? No – Jesus isn’t just our saviour, he is our Lord as well. As Paul says, we now live for God (19). We don’t live for ourselves anymore, we start to think, feel and act as Jesus would, because now he lives in us (20). And this is a life of Agape love, selfless, serving the needs of others….. This is the radical change that we so often see in someone who has really encountered Jesus. And Paul knows this, because it happened to him on the road to Damascus. Once the car is fixed, we don't try and intentionally break it again...

So Paul’s argument with Peter is this – don’t lead others back to the old ways. The new way is better, because we live new lives with the power of love coming from within, rather than under an obligation put upon us.

Incidentally, I wonder how Peter felt at being told off in public. Paul doesn’t tell us, possibly because he thinks it unimportant – he’s not recalling this encounter to prove how big he scored over another Apostle. The young Peter, the man of action in the Gospels would probably have taken a swing at Paul. But the older, wiser Peter, I hope, had the grace and humility to fess up and start over.

How do we react in conflict? Do we seek to win, or do we seek to bring harmony? Is it always right to seek the peace? How do we react afterwards? When we ‘win’ and when we ‘lose’?