Justification by faith apart from works of the law.

Galatians — Justification by Faith Apart from Works of the Law

Introduction: Why Galatians matters

Few documents have shaped Christian identity as forcefully—and as controversially—as Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Here Paul argues with white-hot urgency that God justifies Jew and Gentile alike by faith in (or the faithfulness of) Jesus Christ, not by “works of the law” (ἔργα νόμου, erga nomou), and that to require Torah boundary markers of Gentiles is to “nullify the grace of God” (Gal 2:21). Galatians is not a cool treatise but a pastoral intervention into a community on the brink of re-defining the gospel. Its stakes are ecclesial (Who belongs at the one table?) and soteriological (On what basis are we right with God?). To understand Paul’s cry of freedom in Galatians, we must read closely the story he tells (chs. 1–2), the Scripture he re-reads (chs. 3–4), and the life he expects (chs. 5–6).

This lesson unfolds in six movements:

1. Setting and crisis; 2) Key terms (“works of the law,” “justify,” “pistis Christou”); 3) Narrative frame (autobiography, Jerusalem, Antioch); 4) Exegesis of Galatians 3–4 (Abraham, promise and law, curse and blessing, adoption); 5) Theological synthesis; 6) Pastoral implications. Along the way we will engage major voices in Pauline studies (Sanders, Dunn, Wright, Hays, Martyn, Barclay, Moo, de Boer, Keener) to help you map the terrain.

1) Setting and crisis: What happened in Galatia?

1.1 Who are the “Galatians”?

“Galatia” can refer to ethnic Galatia (north-central Anatolia) or Roman provincial Galatia, which in Paul’s day included cities in South Galatia (Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe; Acts 13–14). Many scholars read Galatians against this South Galatian mission (Dunn, 1998; Keener, 2019), though the exact addressees are not decisive for interpretation.

1.2 The presenting problem

After Paul preached Christ crucified and formed Gentile house churches, outside teachers (“influencers,” often called “agitators”) arrived insisting that Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law to belong fully to God’s people (Gal 1:7; 5:2–3; 6:12–13). The result was a creeping re-Judaizing of Gentile believers and a fracturing of table fellowship. For Paul, this was not a minor policy debate; it was an “other gospel” (Gal 1:6–9).

1.3 Why Paul reacts so strongly

Paul sees three consequences if the agitators succeed:

• Christ’s death becomes needless (“if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain,” Gal 2:21).

• The Spirit’s experience is sidelined (3:2–5).

• The multiethnic family promised to Abraham unravels (3:8, 14, 28–29).

Galatians is therefore church-saving: it protects justification by faith, Spirit-empowered holiness, and one-table fellowship across ethnic lines (Wright, 2013; Barclay, 2015).

2) Key terms and debates

2.1 “Justify” (δικαιόω, dikaioō)

To justify is to declare righteous—a relational-forensic term drawing on Israel’s law-court imagery (Deut 25:1; Rom 4). Justification in Paul is God’s eschatological verdict announced now for those “in Christ.” It is gift, not achievement (Barclay, 2015).

2.2 “Works of the law” (ἔργα νόμου)

Traditionally taken as any human effort to keep the Mosaic law, “works of the law” are read by “new perspective” scholars more specifically as identity-defining practices (circumcision, food laws, sabbath) that separated Jews and Gentiles (Dunn, 1998; Sanders, 1977). On this reading, Paul opposes not law-keeping per se but making Torah boundary markers conditions of covenant membership. Many today adopt a both-and: the phrase certainly includes boundary markers and, by extension, the law-doing that would ground righteousness in human observance (Moo, 2013).

2.3 The pistis Christou question

Is πίστις Χριστοῦ “faith in Christ” (objective genitive) or “the faithfulness of Christ” (subjective genitive)? Hays (2002) influentially argues for “faithfulness of Jesus Christ,” highlighting Christ’s obedient fidelity that effects salvation. Others (Moo, 2013) retain “faith in Christ.” Many now read the phrase multivalently: we are justified by/through Christ’s faithful obedience as we entrust ourselves to him (Hays, 2002; Wright, 2013). Gal 2:16 and 3:22–26 bear both dimensions: Christ’s faithfulness grounds salvation; the human response of faith is the mode of participation.

3) Galatians 1–2: Paul’s story as theological frame

3.1 Divine revelation, not human derivation (1:11–24)

Paul insists his gospel came by revelation of Jesus Christ, not from Jerusalem’s authorization (1:12). Yet his independent call is not anti-Jerusalem; rather, it underscores that the crucified-and-raised Messiah reconfigured Torah and Temple from above (Martyn, 1997).

3.2 Consultation without capitulation (2:1–10)

Paul presents the Titus test case: a Gentile coworker who was not compelled to be circumcised. The Jerusalem “pillars” recognized Paul’s Gentile commission and asked only for remembrance of the poor—a unity move enacted in Paul’s collection (2:9–10). The gospel at this point was agreed: Gentile inclusion without circumcision.

3.3 The Antioch incident (2:11–14)

When Cephas (Peter) withdrew from table fellowship with Gentiles under pressure from men “from James,” Paul opposed him to his face. Why? Because table division contradicted the gospel. To require Jewish purity markers for common table life implied Gentiles were second-class unless they adopted Torah. Paul names this hypocrisy—a failure to walk “straight” with the gospel.

3.4 Thesis statement of the letter (2:15–21)

Paul’s climactic claim: “A person is justified not by works of the law but through pistis Christou… we too have believed in Christ Jesus” (2:16). The old identity “in the flesh” has been co-crucified with Christ; the new life is Christ living in me by faith (2:19–20). To add law as a co-basis for righteousness would nullify grace (2:21). This paragraph is the hermeneutical key to chapters 3–4.

4) Galatians 3–4: Scripture re-read around Messiah and Spirit

Paul now turns to Scripture and experience to demonstrate that justification and belonging come by promise and Spirit, not by law-works.

4.1 The experience argument (3:1–5)

“Who bewitched you?” Paul asks. The public portrayal of Christ crucified among them and their reception of the Spirit did not come by law-doing but by hearing with faith. The Galatians already experienced the Spirit’s miracles and gifts; to step back to law as the mechanism of belonging would reverse their own history (de Boer, 2011).

4.2 Abraham: justification and blessing for the nations (3:6–9)

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 (“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”). Abraham—uncircumcised when declared righteous—becomes the prototype: those of faith are Abraham’s sons, and Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, announcing the gospel beforehand: “In you shall all nations be blessed” (Gen 12:3; Gal 3:8–9). The Abrahamic promise is multiethnic from the start (Wright, 2013).

4.3 The curse of the law and Christ’s redemption (3:10–14)

Citing Deut 27:26, Paul argues that those who rely on law-works are under a curse because the law demands comprehensive obedience. Since “the righteous by faith shall live” (Hab 2:4), Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse “for us” (Deut 21:23), so that the blessing of Abraham might come to Gentiles and we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (3:13–14). Note the payoff: justification and Spirit arrive together as the Abrahamic blessing distributed to the nations (Barclay, 2015; Hays, 2002).

4.4 Promise vs. law: chronology and purpose (3:15–22)

Paul uses a legal analogy: once a covenant is ratified, later arrangements cannot annul it. The law, coming 430 years after the promise to Abraham, cannot supercede that promise (3:17). The promise was spoken to Abraham and his “seed” (σπέρμα)—which Paul interprets christologically as Christ (3:16). Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, mediated, and temporary, until the Seed (Messiah) should come (3:19). The law imprisons all under sin so that the promise might be given by faith to those who believe (3:22). The law’s purpose is diagnostic and custodial, not salvific (Moo, 2013; de Boer, 2011).

4.5 The paidagōgos: from custody to mature sonship (3:23–29)

Before faith came, we were held captive under the law, guarded until faith would be revealed. The law was our paidagōgos (guardian/tutor) until Christ, so that we might be justified by faith; now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (3:23–25). Baptized into Christ, we have put on Christ; therefore:

• No Jew/Greek, slave/free, male/female as exclusionary categories (not erasing difference but abolishing hierarchy as membership criteria).

• All are one in Christ Jesus.

• Heirs according to the promise (3:27–29).
  Paul’s ecclesiology flows directly from justification: the badge of belonging is union with Christ signified by baptism and evidenced by the Spirit, not Torah badges (Dunn, 1998; Wright, 2013).

4.6 From slavery to sonship: Abba by the Spirit (4:1–7)

Paul pictures Israel (and by extension humanity) as a minor child under guardians until the “fullness of time” when God sent his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption. God then sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and thus an heir (4:4–7). Justification thus ushers us into adoptive intimacy—the Spirit’s filial cry becomes the experiential seal of the verdict (Barclay, 2015).

4.7 Allegory of Hagar and Sarah: two covenants, two ways (4:21–31)

Paul’s controversial allegory contrasts Hagar (Sinai; slavery; present Jerusalem) with Sarah (promise; freedom; “Jerusalem above”). The point is not anti-Judaism but anti-enslavement: to embrace Torah-as-boundary is to return to slavery; the children of promise are free, born by the Spirit. Therefore, “stand firm and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (5:1). The freedom onto which we hold is not autonomy but Spirit-freedom for love (5:6, 13). The allegory cautions Gentiles against adopting Jewish badges as conditions; and it cautions Jews against re-erecting walls Messiah tore down (de Boer, 2011; Martyn, 1997).

5) Theological synthesis: What does Galatians teach about justification?

5.1 Justification is God’s eschatological verdict now—grounded in Christ, received by faith

Justification is God’s act declaring sinners in the right because of Christ’s faithful death and resurrection (Hays, 2002; Barclay, 2015). The ground is Christ; the means of participation is faith (trust/loyalty). It is not the reward of law-performance.

5.2 Justification creates a new social reality

Because justification is apart from works of the law, the church is multiethnic by design. Table fellowship across Jew/Gentile (and other hierarchies) is not optional charity but the truth of the gospel (2:14; 3:28). Ecclesiology is ethicized soteriology: the verdict creates a people.

5.3 The law’s good but limited role

The law is holy and good (cf. Rom 7) yet non-saving: it names sin, confines under sin, and tutors toward Christ. In Christ, believers are no longer under the law’s guardianship; they fulfill the law’s moral aim by the Spirit (5:14, 22–23). Galatians integrates justification and sanctification: the Spirit who seals the verdict also empowers the life.

5.4 Grace as incongruous gift

Barclay (2015) emphasizes grace’s incongruity: God’s gift arrives without regard to worth—seen vividly in Paul the former persecutor (Gal 1:13–16). To add boundary markers as prerequisites re-introduces worth and empties the gift of its incongruity.

5.5 The pistis dynamic: Christ’s fidelity and our faith

The subjective genitive reading (Christ’s faithfulness) highlights Messiah’s obedience as the saving agent; the objective genitive emphasizes our believing response. Galatians sustains both: Christ’s obedient death (3:13; 2:20) and our Spirit-enabled trust (3:2–5, 26). Salvation is participatory: we are co-crucified and live by faith in the Son of God (2:19–20; Hays, 2002; Wright, 2013).

6) Pastoral and missional implications

6.1 Guard the table: justification has a social form

Churches must embody the verdict by dismantling barriers tied to ethnicity, status, and gender. Anything that functionally says, “Be like us first, then you belong” reenacts Antioch’s hypocrisy. Galatians calls leaders to courageous confrontation when practices at odds with the gospel arise (2:11–14).

6.2 Proclaim grace without back-door legalism

We must resist front-door legalism (earning by law-works) and back-door legalism (subtle worthiness tests—cultural, political, stylistic, class-coded). The gospel forms communities where the weakest are welcomed and the different sit at the same table.

6.3 Form people in Spirit-freedom

Justification is not permission but possibility: “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (5:6). The Spirit produces the fruit the law aimed at but could not create: love, joy, peace… (5:22–23). Pastoral strategy therefore emphasizes Spirit-led practices (prayer, Scripture, mutual burden-bearing, generosity, restoration; 5:25–6:10) rather than rule-accumulation.

6.4 Teach Scripture the way Paul does: promise-centered, Christ-focused

Paul’s rereading of Abraham instructs us to preach Old Testament not as a flat codebook but as a promise trajectory fulfilled in Christ and expanded to the nations by the Spirit. Students should learn to handle Genesis, Deuteronomy, Habakkuk, Isaiah in this teleological (end-focused) way.

6.5 Keep grace and holiness together

Galatians refuses false choices: either grace or holiness. Justification (chs. 2–4) and cruciform, Spirit-empowered ethics (chs. 5–6) are of a piece. The verdict creates the virtue; freedom is for love.

7) Close reading: key passages for mastery

• Gal 2:15–21 — Justification thesis; co-crucifixion; grace nullified if law justifies.

• Gal 3:1–5 — Experience of the Spirit as evidence for faith-righteousness.

• Gal 3:6–9 — Abrahamic prototype; nations blessed by faith.

• Gal 3:10–14 — Curse and Christ’s redemptive death; blessing = Spirit.

• Gal 3:15–22 — Promise’s priority; law’s temporary and diagnostic purpose.

• Gal 3:23–29 — Paidagōgos; baptismal union; one new family in Christ.

• Gal 4:4–7 — Adoption and Abba; soteriology as filial intimacy.

• Gal 5:1–6 — Freedom’s imperative; circumcision as negation of grace if required.
  (While chs. 5–6 belong to Week 4, Bullet 2, they presuppose Bullet 1’s doctrine; flag them for the next lesson.)

8) Common misunderstandings to avoid

1. “Works of the law = any good works.”
   Paul critiques law-works as boundary and basis, not Spirit-empowered obedience. Christian ethics is not optional; it is re-located in the Spirit (Dunn, 1998; Moo, 2013).

2. “Justification is only private.”
   In Galatians, justification creates a table; it is socially visible (2:11–14; 3:28).

3. “Law is bad.”
   For Paul the law is holy, but limited. It points to Christ and is fulfilled in love by the Spirit (5:14).

4. “Grace cancels effort.”
   Grace reorders effort: from earning to participating (2:20; 5:25; Barclay, 2015).

9) Suggested assignments (Week 4, Bullet 1)

1. Exegetical Paper (2,000–2,500 words): Galatians 2:15–21
   Provide a close reading of the Greek text. Address pistis Christou, the logic of 2:19–20, and the rhetorical force of 2:21. Engage Hays (2002), Moo (2013), and Martyn (1997).

2. Biblical Theology Essay (1,800–2,200 words): Abraham, Promise, and the Nations (Gal 3:6–9, 15–18)
   Trace the Abrahamic theme from Genesis to Galatians. Explain how promise chronologically and theologically precedes law. Interact with Wright (2013) and Barclay (2015).

3. Position Paper (1,500–1,800 words): What are “Works of the Law”?
   Compare Sanders (1977) and Dunn (1998) with Moo (2013). Offer a nuanced definition that explains both boundary markers and law-doing as basis.

4. Pastoral Case Study (1,200–1,600 words): The Antioch Incident Today
   Describe a contemporary situation where cultural markers function as belonging prerequisites (language, dress, politics, class). Using Gal 2:11–14 and 3:28, design a pastoral response that defends one-table fellowship.

5. Greek Word Study (900–1,200 words): dikaiosynē/dikaioō in Galatians
   Catalogue occurrences, categorize forensic/relational nuances, and show how verdict language interacts with participatory language (2:20; 3:27–29).

6. Seminar Debate:
   Resolved: “Galatians teaches the subjective genitive: justification by the faithfulness of Christ.” Teams must engage Hays (2002), Wright (2013), Moo (2013), and at least one commentary (Martyn or de Boer).

7. Rhetorical Analysis (short, 800–1,000 words): Galatians’ Use of Rebuke
   Show how Paul’s omission of a thanksgiving, use of anathema (1:8–9), and direct rebuke function pastorally to rescue a church without destroying it.

References

Barclay, J. M. G. (2015). Paul and the gift. Eerdmans.
de Boer, M. C. (2011). Galatians: A commentary (NTL). Westminster John Knox.
Dunn, J. D. G. (1998). The theology of Paul the Apostle. Eerdmans.
Hays, R. B. (2002). The faith of Jesus Christ: The narrative substructure of Galatians 3:1–4:11 (2nd ed.). Eerdmans.
Keener, C. S. (2019). Galatians: A commentary. Baker Academic.
Martyn, J. L. (1997). Galatians: A new translation with introduction and commentary (AB 33A). Doubleday.
Moo, D. J. (2013). Galatians (BECNT). Baker Academic.
Sanders, E. P. (1977). Paul and Palestinian Judaism. Fortress Press.
Wright, N. T. (2013). Paul and the faithfulness of God. Fortress Press.