Justified by Love
SACRED STORY – Galatians 2:11-21
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; 12for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. 13And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. 17But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be
sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. 19For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20and it is no longer I who live, but it is 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. 21I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
As a pastor, I’ve done a lot of listening and reflecting about why people do or don’t want to be a part of religion or communities of faith or God altogether. Maybe you have too. There are many different reasons, and often people have more than one that forms their understanding and practice. And there are honestly good and valid reasons why people DON’T want to be connected with Christianity or DON’T find value in the church or even see it as an actively destructive force in the world. So much harm has been done under the banner of Jesus. One of the ways that happens and so one of those reasons people want nothing to do with Jesus... is because of situations like the one in this text, where leaders of the church act in ways that are dis-aligned from the good news they preach and teach and commend to others.
Now, I’ll be the first to say that church leaders are also human and mess up and can get it wrong. That doesn’t excuse any harm done and that alone can be enough to lead folks to walk away from all this God stuff. It’s so hurtful because our actions, especially of those who would speak publicly of God, are experienced as an extension of God's own. But what doubles down on that harm is often a lack of accountability for church leaders when those things happen, when other faithful people say nothing or try to minimize the consequences or even outright justify the harm done.
And that’s it. That right there is the kicker - when we would rather justify ourselves than live out of our justification through Christ. That’s why Paul feels the need to confront the issue with Cephas, the Aramaic version of the Greek name Peter.
Hypocrisy sucks, but that’s not even what makes this so dangerous. On the one hand, Peter trusts that God’s grace is sufficient, fully covering and embracing him and the Gentiles and their meals without requiring that they become something they’re not. His actions reveal this faith. On the other hand, Peter is willing to abandon that community and that Gospel in order to be seen as good and right, or even worse...as a false neutral in the eyes of other groups within the church. These actions reveal a different kind of belief - a persisting reliance on how well he can navigate or maneuver through potential conflict over and above God’s promise of wide embrace.
This back and forth isn’t the same as code-switching or adapting ourselves for the sake of safety or survival or community. Peter, the Rock of the Church, is in a position of authority. He’s not someone vulnerable in the same way as the marginalized people who shift their ways of being for the sake of ultimate goodness. AND his lack of clarity and consistency isn’t just about convenience, it serves to maintain his own power from a source of politics rather than the source of God’s goodness. AND because of his role as a leader and teacher, this thinking and practice has spread into the lives of others and corrupted their understanding of and witness to this way of Resurrection life.
Paul’s critique isn’t even that Peter is inconsistent, but that his actions are inconsistent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul confronts Peter not to preserve Peter’s reputation or integrity, but to insist on the liberation of the Good News.
Peter’s words may proclaim that God’s love is boundless, but he is preaching with his actions that at the end of the day there’s still something else that dictates his being and the community of the faithful. The Gospel proclaims that we are no longer subject to anything but God’s love, and yet we still compromise by our actions in ways that would make us subject to systems that are not aligned to this promise. And often we do this for the sake of ease. We proclaim that we are free in Christ, but may still live as if we are subject to pressure that isn’t the Gospel. It’s the same false freedom offered by Empire - “you’re free...but not quite all the way. You will be loved and cared for...as long as you play our game our way.” Paul essentially asks the questions, “If you are still playing the game of empire, how do you expect others not to?”
Still, I have great compassion for Peter. I can empathize with the fear that if we don’t get it right, we’ll be cast out or we’ll lose something significant. I, too, find myself functioning by the belief that if I stack the Jenga blocks just so, I will finally be secure or worthy of goodness, or at least eligible. And when you’re living like every ounce of love and acceptance must be earned...then everything becomes a hustle, a strategy, a way of living that requires segmenting and splicing your very own self rather than living as a whole holy person. This is what it looks like to be justified by the law - not that a grounded and guided way of being is bad...but constrained by a mindset that you are valued for your compliance rather than your being. It’s not what Jesus lived and died for. This isn’t what Resurrection life looks like.
I see this play out in our understandings and practices of allyship - of advocating for people and groups different than our own which face unjust exclusion. There’s one way of being an ally that focuses on learning all the right words and the “right” perspectives, and learning and valuing vocabulary and viewpoints beyond your own is important. But sometimes there’s a part of our motivation in doing so that is fueled more by our fear of being wrong and excluded ourselves... than by love - when we want to get it right so that we’re not seen as the bad guy rather than the people we claim to care for have what they need. This would be performative allyship. But true allyship is about being present alongside and with and is set into motion by love.
Faith should not be a life living in fear of, but with love for. This is the difference between getting it right for the benefits it offers you vs caring about others so much that you want to get it right for their sake not yours.
Scripture reminds us that we love because God first loved us. And that’s the kind of justification that Paul is talking about here. Often in the church when people talk about being justified, they mean getting a belief or prayer or practice just right to GET in. But the resurrection reveals that God is already getting the world in line with the promise of boundless love. Justification is not about being deemed worthy, it’s about being aligned with God.
It’s the difference between “You better get right.” vs “you have been set aright”, like a divine hand helping you back up onto your feet so that you can be a part of doing the same for others. Starting from a place of blessed balance changes not only how but why we live and move and have our being.
That’s how I understand being justified through faith. Paul proclaims, “we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” This bible translation and many others translates these greek words as “faith IN Jesus”, but the original language more accurately translates to “faith THROUGH Jesus”, or even the “faith OF Jesus”. I left the translation this way above so that you can see what’s most likely in your own bibles and know what’s behind those words for yourselves. We are set right with God, ourselves, one another, and the world because of JESUS’ faithfulness, not by our own, otherwise we wouldn’t need a Christ in the first place.
Paul speaks up to remind Peter of God’s grace so that he can cut it out with all the hustling for goodness sake and start living from his already beloved standing. God’s love is the starting place, not the reward. Being justified through faith is not about getting in, but being in already.
What would be different in your life if you let go of the ways you felt unworthy and underneath that found the firm foundation of God’s unwavering love for you? Of GOD’S faithfulness toward YOU. What would change about the ways you interact with others and creation?
Perhaps we would notice a divine beauty in ourselves that helps us to notice the same in others. Perhaps we could hear a word of critique that calls us back to ourselves, our relationships, and God’s promises without shame, but with gratitude. Perhaps the ways we tend to act as gatekeepers of holiness would subside. Perhaps we could celebrate rather than manipulate our distinct cultures. Perhaps we would all know true rest and wholeness in our bodies and souls. Perhaps we would be truly free through God’s abundant goodness. Perhaps we would know what it is to live boundless lives of love. Let it be so. Amen.