17"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"[d]
In this passage from Galatians 2, Paul is rebuking Peter for congregating with the Jews when the Gentile believers came around. What is interesting to note is the fact that Peter was an apostle to the Jews, and Paul to the Gentiles. What Paul points out in this passage is that we are justified by grace, through faith, and not by the law. 'No one can be justified by the law before God', Paul states. It is only through faith that we can touch the Lord. Only through faith are we able to tap into the life God created for us. For by faith, we touch Christ, and it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives His victorious life through us! 'For if righteousness could be gained by the law (keeping the ordinances written in the law), then Christ's death would have been for nothing!'
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