No Justification Through the Works of the Law

After the vision at the house of Simon the tanner and seeing the Holy Spirit descend on the Gentile household of Cornelius (Acts 10), the Apostle Peter began to eat with Gentile believers, a radical action for a devoted Jew that demonstrated the unity of the Body in Christ.

Years later, when emissaries from James came to Antioch while he was there, he uncharacteristically began to “withdraw” from the Gentile believers because those emissaries—who belonged to “the party of the circumcision”—did not accept fellowshipping with Gentile believers (Galatians 2:12). It is doubtful that these emissaries had James’ endorsement for such beliefs. Nevertheless, the Apostle Peter was swayed by them. This “hypocrisy” influenced “the rest of the Jews” and even Barnabas joined in (Galatians 2:13).

Two Apostles Collide
God shows no partiality (Galatians 2:6), so the Apostle Paul does not spare from correcting even godly leaders, like Peter, when they fall into sin. The Apostle Peter, with James and John, had endorsed the message and ministry of the Apostle Paul; it was disappointing and even shocking for him to see the preeminent apostle risk dividing the body of Christ by caving to pressure from men. If God had accepted the Gentiles, no one, not even Peter, had the right to treat them as second-class Christians. The Apostle Paul's immediate reaction was to publicly challenge this “pillar” (Galatians 2:9) of the church in Jerusalem, “in the presence of all” (Galatians 2:14), demonstrating the criticality of "justification by faith alone" (Galatians 2:16) to “the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:5). The Apostle Peter and his cohort were splitting the body of Christ and denying by their actions the sufficiency of the work of Christ for both Jews and Gentiles. Peter’s response is not recorded because “he stood condemned” (Galatians 2:11).

Heresy Finds Its Way to Galatia
What Paul and Peter disputed about in Antioch had become a heretical crisis in Galatia. In Galatians 2:16, the Apostle Paul makes a strong affirmation by using the word "knowing”, arguing that he had put his claim—that “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified” (also alluding to Psalm 143:2)— to the test and validated it by his own experience. Although the Law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), if righteousness comes by keeping the Law, then Christ's work on the cross was futile, the biggest mistake, bar none.

God Indicts Our Wickedness and Our Goodness Alike
However, Paul realized that even the Jews, who had every spiritual advantage and to whom "the oracles of God" were entrusted (Romans 3:2), had to be saved by putting their faith in Christ Jesus. In the Law, Paul found God’s judgment against one's wickedness, but to come to faith in Christ, Paul finds that God indicts even one's goodness “since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” Righteousness, or more aptly self-righteousness, obtained by observing the law is fundamentally incompatible with the freely offered gift of salvation through Christ Jesus. More than that, Law and grace are contrary and are an affront to the other.

Law-Righteousness Displaces Christ
Circumcision was an essential aspect of the Judaizers’ attack on the Gospel; they had insisted that Gentile believers must be circumcised. The Apostle Paul, however, insisted that one must let go of circumcision to take hold of Christ instead; so he asks the question of whether he and the other apostles became sinners when they let go of circumcision (Galatians 2:17). The Judaizers did not overtly reject the righteousness that comes from Christ, but they had been claiming that observing the Law is necessary to maintain or enhance that righteousness. Paul defends himself here and elsewhere against the charge that he is an antinomian—namely that he preaches that the believer is under no obligation to follow any moral code and thus is giving the believer a license to sin (Romans 3:31; 6:1, 15; 13:14). This would make Christ “a minister of sin” (Galatians 2:17) and the Apostle Paul emphatically rejects that preposterous notion. The Judaizers, on the other hand, by reinstituting circumcision under grace, are not enhancing the Gospel nor helping believers not to sin, rather they are by necessity attempting to displace Christ. By rebuilding what the Apostle Paul “once destroyed”, namely the righteousness that comes from the works of the Law, he would become a transgressor because the Law brings a curse and demands absolute obedience, which he knew is untenable. Instead, Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the Law, provides a way for us to come out from under that curse. When Paul was “crucified with Christ”, he came out from under that curse because he had “died to the Law.” More than that, Paul could not “live for God” until he “died to the Law” (Galatians 2:19).

Law-Righteousness Nullifies Grace
The net effect of the Judaizers’ heresy was to "nullify the grace of God" because if justification came “through Law”, which Paul continues to repudiate, then the work of Christ was pointless (Galatians 2:21). Paul closes Chapter 2 by setting the righteousness that comes from the Law against the righteousness that comes from faith in Christ. The Galatians cannot have it both ways, it is either the works of the Law or faith in Christ.

What is the source and origin of your righteousness? It is either yourself (self-righteousness) and your works or it is from Christ and His work on the cross.
You too cannot have it both ways.