What’s the Point? - October 25

Read Galatians 2:19-21 

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. 

Reflect 

How does legalism nullify the grace of God? 

If someone asked you, “Why did Jesus have to die?” you’d probably answer something like this:  He died in our place for our sins. All of us have sinned (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus paid the price that we owed. He died so that “everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). His work on the cross isn’t based on the law, it is based on grace. It is a “free gift of God” (Romans 6:23).  

This is the Gospel that Paul, Peter, and the rest of the apostles had been preaching. But the Judaizers were muddying the salvation doctrine waters by teaching that in addition to Jesus’ gracious work on the cross, the law and Jewish religious rituals still needed to be followed. They were trying to mix grace and law together. They even swayed Peter, Barnabas, and several other early Christian leaders! 

In today’s verses, Paul pointed out that you really can’t have both. Why? Because if our salvation depends upon our keeping the law, then what in the world was the point of Jesus’ death? If we could be made righteous through the law, then Christ died in vain.  

Friend, if you are a believer in Christ, you died to the law and now live to God. Now, it is Christ who lives in you and the law is no longer binding over you. In Romans 7:1-2 and 4, Paul explained: “Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.… Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”  

When Christ died in our place, we spiritually died with Him so we are released from the law! In Christ, we have also been raised with Him in a new spiritual life. “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in a new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6).  

Trying to add anything to Christ’s gracious work for our salvation nullifies the cross! It cancels out the spiritual union that we have with Christ. So if we are returning to the law, we are returning to sin. Why in the world would we want to do that? 

If you have never put your faith in Christ, I urge you to lay your burdens down. Stop trying to earn your salvation. Your works will never make you righteous. But Christ’s work on the cross in your place will make you righteous. “Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10). Confess, believe, and be justified and saved! 

If you are already in Christ, rest in His finished work on the cross. He died in your place. It is finished. Don’t return to the burden of the law anymore! When we try to mix the law and grace, we miss the point and nullify the grace of God. May it never be! 

Respond  

Lord, what a gift You have graciously given me. You loved me and gave Yourself for me. You paid the price that I owed but could never pay. May I never miss the point and return to the burden and slavery of legalism and sin. I know that in You, it is finished and I am free. I have been justified and I am saved. Praise You God! Amen. 

Reveal  

It’s easy to slip back into “earning mode”—whether that’s trying to prove our worth to God, our boss, or even our loved ones. But grace frees us to live differently. This week, choose one place in your life where you tend to measure yourself or others by performance—maybe at work, at home, or even in your faith—and practice letting grace take the lead. If someone falls short, respond with patience instead of frustration. If you fall short, acknowledge it honestly without tearing yourself down. Then, share a moment of encouragement with someone who seems weighed down by expectation—remind them they don’t have to have it all together. Simple words of reassurance, given freely, can reflect the kind of grace that changes hearts far more than perfection ever could.