June 11, 2025 - Galatians 2:19-21 - "Dead to the Law, Alive unto God"

Galatians 2:19-21

"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."

In this passage, the apostle Paul sets forth the heart of the Gospel and unveils the glorious mystery of sovereign grace in Christ. Life is not found through the works of the law, nor by our obedience to its commands. It is found solely through union with Christ in His death and resurrection. The righteousness required by the law was perfectly fulfilled by the sinless life and obedience of the LORD Jesus Christ. That righteousness was imputed to the account of every elect sinner when He declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and laid down His life as their Substitute and Surety.

Why, then, was the law given if no one could ever keep it? The apostle explains, “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” (Galatians 3:24). It was ordained by God to expose the utter inability and ruin of man in Adam. Through the Spirit’s work, the elect are brought to see their guilt, sin, and helplessness under the law. This leads them to be shut up to Christ—the only One Who ever fulfilled the law, both in letter and in spirit. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). No creature can satisfy God’s justice through personal obedience.

Thus Paul declares, “I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God” (Galatians 2:19). The law, being holy, just, and good, can only condemn the sinner, for “by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). But thanks be to God, in Christ, the believer is made dead to the law—freed from its curse and condemnation—because Christ has fulfilled the law’s demands on their behalf. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son… condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:3–4). This death to the law is not by man's effort, but by God's sovereign work of grace, imputing the obedience and blood of Christ to His elect.

Paul goes on to say, “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). This speaks of the believer’s union with Christ in His death, a union purposed from eternity, accomplished at the cross, and made effectual by the Spirit. In this death, the old man—the Adamic nature—is judged and put away. Yet, Paul says, “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” This is the miracle of sovereign grace: the life of Christ, indwelling and animating the believer. It is not a righteousness of our own, but the life of Christ formed in us by the Holy Spirit. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Paul then adds, “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). This faith is not of man, but of God—“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). It is the faith of the Son of God, granted by divine grace, by which the believer looks to Christ alone—resting in His finished work, trusting in His perfect righteousness, and rejoicing in His redeeming love. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Finally, Paul asserts, “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21). Here is the foundation and glory of the Gospel: righteousness is not earned—it is revealed and received through Christ alone. If righteousness could be attained by law-keeping, then the death of Christ would be unnecessary and meaningless. But Christ died to establish the righteousness of God for His people, that “He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Salvation is, from beginning to end, the work of God’s sovereign grace.

We who are the LORD’s rejoice in this gospel: our standing before God is not based on our works, but entirely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. We have been crucified with Him, made dead to the law, and are now alive unto God through the faith of His Son. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). This is the Gospel of sovereign grace—that God, in Christ, has justified, sanctified, and glorified every one of His elect through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

May this sacred truth cause our hearts to rest wholly and joyfully in Christ, Who alone is our Life and Righteousness, now and forevermore.