“But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which 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 set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness [comes] through the law, then Christ died in vain."

Galatians 2:14-21

• So basically Paul is saying “Why are you trying to put the Gentiles under the yoke of bondage, under Judaism, when you yourself have been set free?” “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."-Matthew 11:29-30 A relationship isn’t binding. It’s freeing! His burden is light if you are willing to learn.
• Peter’s problem was pride. He was worried about how the Jews from Jerusalem would view him if he was hanging out with Gentiles. So he separated himself from them and in doing so put the yoke of bondage back onto himself. God is so good that even in the times of us being disobedient (Which Peter was being), He helps us out of it. God sent Paul to stop him from this.
• Paul isn’t saying that the Gentiles are sinners and the Jews are not. That is totally contradictory to what he wrote in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”. No one was perfect not even the Jews. Paul is talking about the eating of foods the law said were sinful like Pork.
• If there was one man on Earth who would know how justifying the law was, it would be Paul because he kept it to a tee. In the sense of the law, he was blameless. But in the sense of the Word, he was to be blamed. The works of the flesh hold no credibility before God. So Paul is saying “Knowing we can’t save ourselves, (Only Jesus can), we believe in HIM, so He can save us and not our works. My deed’s cannot save my flesh.” The gap between man and God cannot be bridged by works and deeds. It can only be bridged by the acceptance of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
• In the first part, Paul says God doesn’t approve of sin. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:8. God doesn’t love our sin, He loves us. If Paul had tried to rebuild or go back to his former life which he had destroy and crucified with Christ (Will go into that a bit more in the next blog post), he would be a transgressor. The old life has dead.
• While trying to be justified by faith, Paul was dead. The law was unkeepable so he was condemned. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”- James 2:10. So if you stumble in even the smallest point of the law, you are guilty. And the price is death. So he was dead so he could live for God.
• What a mind blowing concept that we have been crucified with Christ. I can admit that there have been area’s in my life where I have been like “I have this, I give you, POOF it’s gone”. Many other areas are a constant struggle. I did a little research on crucifixion and here's what I found: a crucifixion didn’t instantly kill. It took anywhere between hours to days. The war against the flesh is a constant one, which will be fought your whole life until the day you stand before God.
• The old life is gone. The self-serving, self-centered life is dead. The new life, with God at the head lives.
• This all comes back to God’s unfailing love. Jesus gave himself away so that I might live. Jesus bridged the gap between God and Man by dying for all of mankind. If we could earn our way by good works, well then the Saviour of the world died in vain. But our works cannot save us, only Jesus can. Trust in Him with all your heart!