Galatians 2:15-21

Question: Just what is the Christian’s vital relationship to God in the Law of Moses (or  to the Law written on the heart, being made in the image of God – also known as Natural Law)?  This is the central issue in the Paul’s letter to the Galatian church which was being enticed to turn to obedience to the Law as a necessary means of gaining and maintaining right standing with God, even after trusting in Christ through faith alone. Can a sinner gain right standing with God (be justified) by obedience to Law? Can a saint maintain right standing (justification) by obedience to Law?

Let’s explore this question and others today in Paul’s letters to Galatia and Rome. Once we’ve done that today we can go on in a coming Sunday to ask, then what Christian obedience is, and what law or principle are we under for obedience and growth in Christ? And we can better discover the right uses of the Law of Moses in the Christian life. Since the NT epistles use the terms sins and transgressions, and if we’re not under the Law of Moses, what is the standard we should use to define a sin and a transgression?

But for today, let’s focus in on the Christian believer’s relation to the Law.