Doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!

Galatians 2:11-21 (TNIV) -

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.12 For before certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.

13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles

16 know that a person 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 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!

18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
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 now 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!”

My thoughts -

Sin, grace, and the law are all difficult to grasp. I wish I had some great insight on them to share but I am no scholar and certainly no trained theologian. That said, I will take a shot a this in sharing what I believe Paul is saying here.

Paul is, first of all, taking a shot here at those who would hold others to a standard that they themselves can not live up to. When we hold others to a standard we can't live up to we become the worst kind of hypocrites. You see this all the time, though. There's always some story in the news about the gay bashing pastor or politician who's having an affair. A lot of us enjoy telling others what they can't do, especially sexually, while being completely unable to control our own desires. We love to hold others accountable but fail to be able to do so for ourselves.

When I think about sin, the sin I'm most concerned with is my own. It does no good for me to call others out for what they do if I can't even get my own life in order. My relationship with God is such that I find myself constantly convicted of my own sin and my own failures. But that relationship doesn't stop there. Christ in me enables me to not wallow in that sin but to, through grace, overcome it. That doesn't mean that I'm perfect, but I'm striving for it.

As a fallen creature I'm not sure what being without sin is like, everything in this life is tainted by sin, but grace reveals my own participation in this and enables me to improve. This is a daily process. I didn't ask Jesus into my heart and then have God, through some act of magic or something, remake me into some kind of perfect entity. There was no magic incantation and there were no immediate results. Following Jesus, it turns out, is an awful lot of work. But it is work that is well rewarded both in this life and in the one to come.

Jesus didn't live and die so that we could be exactly how we are. We are called to come into a relationship with him and to allow grace through him to change us. We have died to our own sinful will and desires and are alive in Christ. But just acting a certain way and lording our actions over others spits in the face of Christ's life and sacrifice. Having a rigid, legalistic view of the nature of God does not allow others to participate in a relationship with God until after they have met criteria that, without God's grace, we would be condemned by. Jesus lived and died for all. We must make that grace available for all while also allowing grace to work in us to bring us closer to God.

No, we are not supposed to sin. Jesus died so that we wouldn't HAVE to be stuck as slaves to our own sinful desires. That's what salvation looks like. We're saved FROM sin. We don't have to be separated from God through our sins any longer! It's grace and not the law that saves us. And what it saves us from is sin. If we were to continue to live in our sins we render grace powerless. If we are to require obedience to the law in order to receive grace then we render grace powerless and force a standard on others that we know would be impossible for ourselves.