The Fight Over Justification and the Gospel in Galatians

Summary

White Horse Inn: The Fight Over Justification and the Gospel in Galatians

Episode Date: December 7, 2025
Hosts: Michael Horton, Justin Holcomb, Bob Hiller, Walter R. Strickland II

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Episode Overview

This episode launches a two-part mini-series exploring Paul’s letter to the Galatians, focusing on chapters 1–3. The hosts examine the controversy over justification: Are believers made right with God by faith alone, or is something more—law, customs, identity—essential for belonging and salvation? Drawing connections between church history, New Testament context, and contemporary theology, the conversation unpacks foundational differences between the gospel of grace and the addition of requirements for salvation. The roundtable also critically engages alternative readings such as N.T. Wright’s "new perspective" on Paul.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Background: Table Fellowship and the Controversy in Galatians ([00:50]–[03:18])

• Table Fellowship & Social Boundaries:
  • Peter faced criticism for eating with Gentiles, viewed by Jewish Christians as a violation of purity boundaries.
  • “Table fellowship at this time in history is a big deal. It marks association. … By Peter going into those homes, he’s crossing a boundary marker that would have ... been very offensive.” – Justin Holcomb ([01:05])
• Significance of Breaking Those Boundaries:
  • Eating together signified unity and equality, highlighting the radical nature of the gospel as breaking traditional divisions.

2. Paul’s Tone in Galatians: A Unique Severity ([03:18]–[05:29])

• Contrast in Epistolary Greetings:

  • Unlike his other letters, Paul immediately rebukes the Galatians for buying into a “different gospel.”
  • “He does not talk like that ever again at the beginning of a letter.” – Bob Hiller ([05:05])

• The Judaizers:

  • Jewish believers insisted Gentiles must adopt Jewish law (circumcision, customs) to be fully part of God’s people.
  • “That’s the big idea: Get circumcised to be saved, follow these customs so you can be our equal.” – Bob Hiller ([05:29])

3. Incidents Illustrating the Gospel Divide ([07:15]–[14:00])

• Acts 11 – Peter’s Vision and Its Fallout:

  • Peter’s vision (clean and unclean) symbolized Gentiles’ acceptance without adherence to Old Testament law.
  • “All foods are clean. All peoples are clean through faith in Christ.” – Michael Horton ([10:14])
  • The subsequent criticism exposes the social and theological struggle in the early church.

• Acts 15 – The Jerusalem Council:

  • Central question: Must Gentiles be circumcised to be saved?
  • The Council affirms salvation apart from the law, eliminating ceremonial requirements for Gentile believers.

• Galatians 2 – The Antioch Incident:

  • Paul rebukes Peter for withdrawing from eating with Gentiles, accusing him of hypocrisy and aligning with the Judaizers.
  • “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it then that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” – (Gal. 2:14 quoted by Bob Hiller [12:58])

4. Heresy of the Judaizers and the Core of Justification ([15:16]–[16:42])

• Nature of the Judaizing Error:

  • “They believed that what Christ had done needed to be pieced out by the believer’s own effort to keep the law.” – (quoting J. Gresham Machen, read by Michael Horton [17:15])
  • This was not a minor doctrinal issue but the heart of the gospel.

• Condemnation of Another Gospel:

  • Paul’s language of “eternally condemned” reveals the gravity of adding requirements to the finished work of Christ.

5. Division: Who’s Responsible? ([19:03]–[20:31])

• Judaizers as Divisive, Not Paul:
  • The insistence on law as a prerequisite for fellowship and salvation internally divides the church, creating classes rather than unity in Christ.
  • “Paul is separating out the heretics ... who are trying to supplant the Gospel of Jesus Christ with something else.” – Justin Holcomb ([20:18])

6. Justification by Faith Alone: Its Totality ([21:24]–[23:36])

• Faith versus Law Works:

  • “If you let yourself be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all ... You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ.” – Bob Hiller reading Gal. 5:2–4 ([21:24])
  • Any required addition to faith (not just circumcision) voids grace.

• Cultural or Ceremonial Customs as Additions:

  • Whether political affiliation, behavior, or cultural identity, anything added as a salvation requirement compromises justification by faith.

7. Is Paul Talking Only About Ceremonial Law? ([24:49]–[26:49])

• Some argue Paul addresses only ceremonial/cultural requirements in Galatians, but:
  • “If you’re circumcised, you’re obligated to keep the whole law ... The covenantal curses are not conditioned merely on circumcision. They’re conditioned on obedience to the law as a whole.” – Justin Holcomb ([25:32])
  • Justification is not a matter of “picking and choosing” parts of the law but involves the totality of the law.

8. James and Paul: Law, Gospel, and Grace ([29:03]–[31:19])

• James echoes Paul’s law-gospel structure:
  • James calls for works, but also highlights radical need for mercy and grace.
  • “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” – (James 2:13)
  • “The thing undergirding that is he gives more grace.” – Bob Hiller ([30:00])
• Peter’s Struggles Show Ongoing Need of Grace:
  • Even apostles fail; their only hope remains God’s grace in Christ.

9. Scripture and the Reformation: Word Above Apostles ([32:01]–[32:49])

• Reformers identified with Paul’s defense of the word over institutional authority:
  • “There’s a word that’s higher than Peter … The apostles get out of line, they need a preacher like Paul to come along and say, no, no, no, no, no. You are not in line with the word of Christ.” – Justin Holcomb ([32:01])

10. The New Perspective on Paul: Engaging NT Wright ([33:07]–[41:26])

• N.T. Wright’s Critique:
  • Argues Reformation focus on Galatians/Romans overemphasized going to heaven, whereas Paul’s main vision was about cosmic renewal and church community. ([33:46])
  • “If the Reformers had chosen Ephesians … the history not only of the Western church, but of the whole world might have been very different.” – N.T. Wright ([34:08])
• Hosts' Response:
  • Affirm cosmic scope (new heavens and earth) but maintain justification by grace is central, not merely ecclesial identity.
  • “It is salvation of the whole person, of the whole cosmos. But it is salvation.” – Michael Horton ([37:31])
  • Ecclesiology is built upon soteriology (salvation), not the other way around.
  • “We get the Church because we get saved.” – Michael Horton ([42:21])

11. Justification Across the Pauline Letters ([42:35]–[43:54])

• Not Isolated to Galatians/Romans:
  • The doctrine appears consistently in Timothy, Titus, Philippians, and elsewhere:
  • “Not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” – Bob Hiller ([43:12])
• Justification means “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law.” ([44:07])

12. Summary and Exhortation ([44:07]–[45:15])

• Galatians defends the gospel: justification by faith, not by keeping the law.
• The gospel frees, transforms, and reorders lives—not just as individuals but as a community no longer divided by old boundaries.
  • “When the gospel grips our hearts, it reorders our identity, our relationships, and even the gospel community that we inhabit.” – Walter Strickland ([44:07])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Table Fellowship:

  • “Eating with sinners is the as-if-ness of the Gospel … there really is a sins forgiven, declared righteous, great exchange thing happening just with eating with sinners.” – Bob Hiller ([10:53])

• On Adding to Christ:

  • “Anything that is necessary for salvation besides Christ no longer becomes adiaphora or indifferent.” – Michael Horton ([22:40])

• On Law and Grace:

  • “The law leaves you with no hope apart from Jesus. And if you try and find anything to grasp onto within the law, you’re placing yourself under the curse.” – Justin Holcomb ([26:49])

• On Justification in Paul:

  • “Not having a righteousness of my own is Paul’s definition of justification.” – Michael Horton ([44:07])

• On the Role of Foundational Doctrines:

  • “The doctrine upon which ecclesiology stands or falls is the doctrine of justification. You lose that, you lose the church.” – Justin Holcomb ([39:07])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Table Fellowship and the Boundary Crisis: [00:50]–[03:18]
• Paul’s Severe Rebuke to the Galatians: [03:18]–[05:29]
• Historical Incidents: Acts 11, 15, and Galatians 2: [07:15]–[14:00]
• What’s at Stake: Heresy, Division, and the Heart of the Gospel: [15:16]–[21:24]
• Faith Alone vs. Additive Salvation: [21:24]–[23:36]
• Ceremonial versus Entire Law?: [24:49]–[26:49]
• James’ Role and the Need for Grace: [29:03]–[31:19]
• The Word Above All Earthly Powers: [32:01]–[32:49]
• Engaging NT Wright’s ‘New Perspective’: [33:07]–[41:26]
• Justification’s Centrality Across Paul: [42:35]–[43:54]
• Closing Summary and Application: [44:07]–[45:15]

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Conclusion

This episode offers a robust, theologically rich look at the book of Galatians’ defense of the gospel. The hosts challenge additions to salvation, reaffirm that the church is created by and stands upon justification by faith alone, and reject any teaching that muddles or weakens the radical grace of God in Christ. The historical debate is shown to have urgent relevance today, wherever believers are tempted to add requirements—cultural, moral, or political—to the finished work of Jesus.

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Transcript

[Narrator]

In a world drowning in confusion and false teaching, faithful voices have never been more critical. For 35 years, Sola Media has stood as that voice, helping Christians to know what you believe and why you believe it. But we're not just looking back. We're looking ahead to the millions who still need to hear the gospel proclaimed clearly and defended boldly. Will you join us in this critical work? Your generous support will help us expand our apologetics content to reach seekers and strengthen believers, enhance our digital platform to engage younger generations where they are, and strengthen partnerships that multiply our gospel impact. To fuel another 35 years of reformation in hearts, homes and churches, visit solarmedia.org reformation and give today.

[Bob Hiller]

What happens then is you have Acts 11, 2, 3. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, well, why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them? So he's getting criticized for eating with.

[Justin Holcomb]

The Gentiles, Jews and Gentiles. Table Fellowship at this time in history is a big deal. It, it marks association. These are my people. I'm. I'm united with them. Jews were allowed to a certain extent to have Gentiles in their homes because they could control the cleanliness, the purity level. But Jews were not to ever enter into the home of a gentile because you don't know what was clean or pure or uncle. So by, by Peter going into those homes, he's crossing a boundary marker that would have set been very offensive to those Jewish people. So when he goes back up to Jerusalem, from our perspective, we're like, why are they so upset? But they have good reason to be upset. He's crossed the boundary. Now that is, that is. It is way out of line as far as they're concerned.

[Narrator]

Applying the riches of the Reformation to the modern church. This is White Horse Zinn, a weekly roundtable discussion about theology and culture.

[Walter Strickland]

Welcome to another episode of White Horse Inn. Today we're beginning a miniseries that's two episodes to be exact, on the book of Galatians. We'll have this episode that explores chapters one through three and a second one that explores chapters four through six. During our time together, we're going to answer important questions, including things about what was the real reason for the fallout between Paul and Cephas, who was Peter? And then also, are these passages strictly about justification by faith? And then how do these chapters inform the law, gospel distinction? To answer these questions and others, I'm here with the usual crew, Michael Horton, Bob Hiller, Justin Holcomb, and I'm Walter Strickland. Let's begin the conversation today by summarizing some of the background that informs what's going on here in the book of Galatians. And then we'll kind of summarize some individual issues and chapters of the book.

[Bob Hiller]

So let's jump in, looking at the beginning of Galatians. This helps us get to the background. Let me read to you the beginning. This is Galatians 1:6:9. I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion or trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one preached to you, let him be eternally condemned, as we've already said. And so now I say again, if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned. Whenever I teach Galatians, I start with that to compare it to all of his other beginnings, Right? If you look at what he said in Corinth, like Corinthians, I mean, to Corinthianize guys was to do some funky stuff. And he's like, I always thank God for you because of his grace given you. For in him you've been enriched in every way. Therefore, you do not like any spirit. I mean, it is like a love fest. He's happy. Romans, first, I thank my God, Jesus. Thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. Ephesians 1. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. Colossians. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we've heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. You go to Philippians, you can go to a lot of these. He is going nuts.

[Justin Holcomb]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bob Hiller]

Nuts to the Galatians. So we just have to highlight that he does not talk like that ever again at the beginning of a letter. And in some of those other letters, he has some harsh things to say to Corinth. He's like, if you all could stop doing orgies and sleeping around and getting drunk at communion and the guy who's with his mom, that would be really good.

So. But then. So. So that's the background is right. Is there something happening? We're going to see in Galatians 2 that Paul is writing about a group called the Judaizers. So the setup is this. You have Jesus in Matthew 5 saying, I don't think that. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. And so he starts then. So he's like, okay, law and prophets, everything's good. Then he starts healing non Jews. He starts inviting them to talk to him. He starts sending his disciples out to those around surrounding Israel. And this was obviously in the Old Testament, this is Isaiah and others. And Paul picks up on it later on that God's vision has been for the Gentiles from the very like that's what he's doing. And so then there was a question. Those coming to Christ, as long as they were circumcised and followed the customs of the Old Testament, there was no issue about their Jewishness and non Jewishness because they were basically doing what they needed to do. And so the question became, okay, is Jesus just kind of doing like an updated, expanded version of Judaism or something different happening here? And so there were a group of Jewish believers who wanted Gentiles to be circumcised and to follow the Jewish customs if they were to be saved and considered equals in Christ. That's the big idea. Get circumcised to be saved, follow these customs so you can be our equal. As here we are in the church. And so that sets us up for. There's three major incidents with this group called the Judaizers. It's coined by Paul one time in the New Testament. But the. The circumcision party people from Judea, there's. We see how this is playing out. So let's look at that briefly.

[Michael Horton]

Mutilators of the flesh is another one, right?

[Bob Hiller]

Yeah. In Galatians, I go ahead and cut it all the way.

That's not with gentleness in where you.

[Justin Holcomb]

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, God, you.

[Bob Hiller]

Know, also you're criticizing Peter here, but he's the one that said gentleness and with respect, like maybe you guys. Anyway, so. So there's three incidents. The first is in Acts 11 where Peter has a vision that these are not unclean. He has all. Like, who gets to declare what's clean and unclean in this vision of all foods are declared clean. And so he then is drawn to Cornelius's house, this Gentile who Peter proclaims the Gospel. Cornelius believes all of his family and his kids get baptized.

Come on now.

[Justin Holcomb]

The whole house, the whole household Everyone except the babies. There's this weird version that removes the babies.

[Walter Strickland]

Well, there was no babies in the house.

[Justin Holcomb]

Well, why would you want them inside?

[Bob Hiller]

The Holy Spirit is poured out, and they speak in tongues. And so what you see In Acts, there's four outpourings of the Holy Spirit. There's Acts 2, Jews, the Holy Spirit is poured out. They speak, in other words, tongues. And that's a sign of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Then you go to Acts 8 with Samaritans. They're kind of Jewish, kind of Gentiles. There's. Their status is pending, and the Holy Spirit's poured out on the Samaritans, and people are going, wait a second. What does this mean? Are they included too? Then the gentiles in Acts 11 is shocking. This is like, okay, what's happening here? And then later on, it's the followers of John the Baptist who are in, like, a historical salvation, redemptive time warp.

[Walter Strickland]

Right.

[Justin Holcomb]

That's great. That's a good way of saying it.

[Bob Hiller]

So Acts 11 is the Gentiles. And so here what happens then is you have Acts 11, 2, 3. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them? So he's getting criticized for eating with the Gentiles.

[Justin Holcomb]

Jews and Gentiles. Table. Fellowship at this time in history is a big deal. It. It marks association. These are my people. I'm. I'm united with them.

[Walter Strickland]

Yeah.

[Justin Holcomb]

Jews were allowed to a certain extent to have Gentiles in their homes because they could control the cleanliness, the purity level. But Jews were not to ever enter into the home of a Gentile because you don't know what was clean or pure or unclean. So by. By Peter going into those homes, he's crossing a boundary marker that would have set. Been very offensive to those Jewish people. So when he goes back up to Jerusalem, from our perspective, we're like, why are they so upset? But they have good reason to be upset. He's crossed a boundary. Now that is. That is. It is way out of line as far as they're concerned.

[Michael Horton]

Well, and also, if I could just throw in, as Justin mentioned, you have this vision. Peter has this vision of the clean and unclean coming down in a blanket and God saying, everything in this sheet is clean. Now, that was symbolic of people. So food was very important. Not only fellowship, but the food itself marked Israel off from the world. And so now the food is clean. All foods are Clean. All peoples are clean through faith in Christ.

[Bob Hiller]

And this eating. Let's stop for the eating for a second. This is just a cool thing for people to pay attention to that. Eating in the Mediterranean culture was a lot more than just nourishment and sustenance. It meant something. So think about this. When Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, there really is a type of great exchange happening. Because to eat with sinners was to say we're equals. So in one sense, him meeting with sinners is him saying, I am in solidarity with, I'm identifying with them. So that's him taking on the sins of the world and people. And then for him to eat with them elevates them as if they were. They belonged at as equal. So there is really is a sins forgiven, declared righteous, great exchange thing happening just with eating with sinners. Eating with sinners is the as if ness of the Gospel and kind of double way played out.

[Walter Strickland]

Which. And Justin, this is why, you know, the Pharisees are saying, who is this? Who eats with tax collectors and sinners?

[Justin Holcomb]

Yep.

[Walter Strickland]

Because that eats with is so much grander than just what we think about. Because we often eat fast food in our cars. And so which means nothing but you know, just to sort of reorient us to what's going on here.

[Bob Hiller]

And that's criticism that that group is what's coming back to Peter saying, why are you eating with them? And then he decides, they say, well, this isn't working. I'm going to not eat with them. And then later on, Paul is criticizing him for not eating with and refusing to eat.

[Michael Horton]

You hypocrite.

[Bob Hiller]

He calls them out. That's the first episode. The first episode is this Peter with Gentiles, this circumcision party criticizing him. That's 1, 2 is Acts 15. This is where you have our first church council. Paul and Barnabas are in Antioch and they have gathered the church together and reported all that God has done. And it says this in Acts 14:27, all that God has done through them and how he has opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers this. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.

[Justin Holcomb]

Saved.

[Bob Hiller]

This is a salvation issue. Circumcision, salvation, go together. And so Paul and Barnabas were appointed along with some other believers to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and ask them this question. And so you have Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council. This is where they give the. They tell what happened. And then James says, why? You know, well, Peter, you know, why are we putting a burden on them that not even we carry? And then James says, all right, this is what we're doing. No sexual morality, no food, sacrifice to idols. And just do that. Like, let's. Let's take away table fellowship barriers. And that's when the church made a significant decision in Acts 15. But it was a circumcision in salvation. They cannot be saved. The Gentiles. This is Acts 15, 4 and 5. The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses is what they were arguing. And so two things happen there. Circumcision is mentioned as a prerequisite for salvation. And some believers that were already in the church from another sect, probably the Pharisees were formerly members, were stirring these up. And so this is Acts 15. Then we get to this next incident. Paul coins the term Judaizers. And he does that in Galatians 2:14. Paul rebukes Peter for no longer eating with Gentiles. And certain Jews arrive when Jews arrived Antioch. And this was the tradition that we talked about, that they're unclean. And Peter is implicitly endorsing the circumcision party. And this is where Paul is calling him out. And he says, when I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, you are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it then that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? And in the Greek is to Judaize. Why do you Judaize? And that's Galatians 2:14. What's really key to see is that Paul's opponents, the Judaizers, were saying that salvation rested on obeying the law, not just the customs, but the law. And that's where we go. That's the background happening is how was one made right with God? And so I'll stop there. That's. That's as much background I can think of.

[Justin Holcomb]

It's worth noting. So Justin has a wonderful little book called Know the Heretics. So if you don't own that yet, you need to go own that and give Justin 30 more cents or however much he makes on that book. But he starts that book, and I think this is very smart. Justin, you start the book with the first heresy as Judaizers. These. These are people who have, for all intents and purposes, converted to believing that Jesus is risen from the dead. He is the Messiah. But now they're doubling down on returning to the law that Jesus has died to bring you back into the law. And this is what Paul is very upset about. This is a heretical teaching because it says Christ is insufficient for your salvation. There's something more you must contribute. It's Jesus has done his part, you do yours. It's not exactly Pelagianism, but it's setting the stage for it.

[Bob Hiller]

I got criticized for doing Judaizers as the first heretics because I did all the historical ones. But I started with that and I said, well, what's the criticism? Because there's a council. I mean, the whole thing about heresies or having councils in the Church, speaking authoritatively, summarizing Scripture. And I was like, we have the Jerusalem Council situation, which exactly addresses this.

[Justin Holcomb]

And so, yeah, Paul's not acting like they're kind of borderline another denomination eternally condemned.

[Bob Hiller]

I'm pretty.

[Michael Horton]

I'm even wondering if. If you're a church.

[Justin Holcomb]

Yes.

[Michael Horton]

It's worth noting too, that it's not anti Semitic for Paul to use the term Judaizers here, because first of all, he and everybody in this conversation is Jewish. And worshiping one, worshiping a crucified Jew. But also Judaizing was a heresy, not an ethnic thing. It was that you are turning away from Christ. In order to become a Christian, you have to become a Jew first.

And that's why it's Judaizing. Can I read? This is from J. Gresham Machen. What was it that gave rise to the stupendous polemic of the Epistle to the Galatians? To the modern Church, the difference would have seemed to be a mere theological subtlety about many things. The Judaizers were in perfect agreement with Paul. The Judaizers believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Without the slightest doubt. They believed Jesus had really risen from the dead. They believed, moreover, that faith in Christ was necessary to salvation. But the trouble was they believed that something else was also necessary. They believed that what Christ had done needed to be pieced out by the believer's own effort to keep the Law. From the modern point of view, the difference would have seemed to be very slight, hardly worthy of consideration at all in view of the large measure of agreement in the practical realm. What a splendid cleaning up of the Gentile cities it would have been if the Judaizers had succeeded in extending to those cities the observance of the Mosaic Law. Surely Paul ought to have made common cause with teachers who were so nearly in agreement with him, surely he ought to have applied to them the great principle of Christian unity. As a matter of fact, however, Paul did nothing of the kind. And only because he and others did nothing of the kind does the Christian Church exist today. Paul certainly was right. The difference which divided him from the Judaizers was no mere theological subtlety, but concerned the very heart and core of the religion of Christ.

[Justin Holcomb]

So here's the other thing, is that this is an excellent point. Paul has a division with the Judaizers, but part of his problem with the Judaizers is that they're bringing division within the body of Christ. So he says, I wish you would. I wish they would emasculate themselves. Which is a verse that is just jarring and also completely brilliant.

[Bob Hiller]

5:12, just so everyone can go look.

[Justin Holcomb]

It up, we'll do a whole series on Galatians 5:12 coming up. But he says when he gets to the end of chapter four, I wish they would just remove them from you. Paul's not creating division within the church. He's keeping the Church safe from those who are by principle creating division, saying there's a distinction between Jews and Gentiles within the body of Christ. The Jews are the superior because they have the law. And if Gentiles want to be on our level, they themselves also need to be circumcised. They need to start following the ceremonies in the law of Moses, and then they will be fully the people of God. Then ultimately they can save themselves or they can be saved because they're following the law. Well, now you have classes. Now you have sort of.

Organized divisions within the Church. The Judaizers are the ones creating the division. It's not Paul. Paul is separating out the heretics, the false teachers, who are trying to supplant the Gospel of Jesus Christ with something else.

[Michael Horton]

Yeah, he talks just like that in chapter two, in fact, verse four, after he's mentioned that he went up to Jerusalem and met with Peter, James and John. He says, but it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty, which we have in Jesus Christ in order to bring us into bondage. So, yeah, these are not people like different denomination or something. These are people who snuck in to the meeting. And he's seeing the Judaizers in the Galatian churches as those who sneak into the church, not people who are actually part of it.

[Bob Hiller]

Right. To make this point, let me read Galatians 5:2 through 4 about salvation, the sneaking in and the Law. This. I mean, this makes Bob's point your point too, Mike. But this is not just like, oh, a different adiaphora tp. We're not really sure. We got to figure this is bullseye of the gospel stuff. Mark my words. I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourself be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again, I declare to everyone who lets himself be, every man that lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. That's what's at stake. That puts it all together nicely.

[Michael Horton]

And you could remove circumcision and replace it with all sorts of things we could come up with that we do as even Protestant Christians. Obviously, faith in Christ is necessary. But there's this other thing that you have to do. You have to.

You have to follow these customs. You have to vote this way. You have to observe these attitudes, and you have to make sure that you raise your kids this way.

Anything that is necessary for salvation besides Christ no longer becomes adiaphora or indifferent.

[Justin Holcomb]

Right?

[Michael Horton]

That's why Paul said Paul had Timothy circumcised just to promote the Gospel. Paul is not saying anybody who circumcised loses his justification. What Paul is saying is anyone who thinks that they are justified by the law of which circumcision is a testimony.

Isn'T justified. And so if you're using anything as an addition to faith in Jesus Christ, then that thing no longer becomes something well, you could do or not do. It becomes something you can't do because it's being used toward justification.

[Walter Strickland]

Yeah, Mike, I think that's a helpful point. And I'd be curious to hear what you guys think about this as we're thinking about these false brothers that came in to spy out their freedom. And we've mentioned the Judaizers were adding to or basically giving people hoops to jump through in order to have table fellowship, which is to a euphemism for being a part of the family of Christ. There's some who have talked about this sort of insistence upon keeping the law as more like cultural customs, saying that others must keep the cultural customs of Judaism in order to be a part of the family. And then they do kind of what you did in the sense of saying, well, any other addition, Jesus plus anything is any sort of cultural custom. But there's almost this insistence that this is a heresy in Such a way. And we've seen churches, they say, well, you have to have Jesus plus a political party affiliation. Jesus plus talking in these ways like our theological heroes. And so I'm curious to hear you all engage that, to see if that's a fair parallel or implication of this passage or if that's something of a different kind.

[Justin Holcomb]

I think it is a parallel. I mean, I think it's kind of what Mike was just saying. Like you're fighting something else to add in. Well, with the. With the Jewish cultural issue, I mean, I've heard this even from people within my own circles, that when Paul is talking about the law here, he's really just referring to circumcision and the ceremonial law. Romans is where he's talking about the law in general, but Galatians, he's focused in on cultural nuances, ceremonial rites and that kind of stuff.

[Walter Strickland]

Dates and diets.

[Justin Holcomb]

Yeah, you guys are following days and times and weeks and years and all this kind of stuff. I can't believe this.

However, Paul does say.

If you're circumcised, you're obligated to keep the whole thing, as if the whole thing is the slave master or the taskmaster, or however we want to translate those verses, as if the law itself is the thing that is holding you over until Christ. And Christ is the answer to the law for you. 3, 10. He says, for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. That doesn't just mean circumcision. If you actually go back to read the law, you go to Leviticus.

When you're talking about the covenantal curses. The covenantal curses are not conditioned merely on circumcision. They're conditioned on obedience to the law as a whole, to the Torah. So we can't look at Paul here as if he's only talking about ceremonial law issues or that the Judaizers are. Maybe they're primarily concerned about ceremonial law issues. But Paul is saying, look, the problem for you and your sin, to say it this way, is the law and the accusation that it throws against you. Your only hope is Christ. It's not just that you get the ceremony. You don't have to worry about the ceremonies anymore. It's that the law leaves you with no hope apart from Jesus. And if you try and find anything to grasp onto within the law, you're placing yourself under the curse.

[Michael Horton]

And James supports this, doesn't he, when.

[Justin Holcomb]

He says, Paul and James always support each other? Mike?

[Michael Horton]

It's true. Of course. Of course, says the man who wrote the book on James.

And we should recommend that.

[Justin Holcomb]

No.

[Bob Hiller]

Give him 30 seconds.

[Justin Holcomb]

My 30 seconds? Yeah.

[Michael Horton]

James said, if you've offended at one point, you've offended the whole law. This isn't piecemeal. God doesn't grade on a curve.

If you're saying, I am going to. All this I've kept from my youth, Jesus is gonna put you in a corner and he's gonna say, oh, so then go sell everything you have and give it to the poor. Oh, rats. Is that what it means? So the whole law. It's not as if you had a division between the moral and ceremonial law in Galatians. That's a later development.

It's the whole law, everything in the law. And the works of the law are not limited to dietary rules and so forth. And it's interesting that, you know, in the new perspective on Paul today, that is how they interpret Galatians. It's just referring to the ceremonies. And it's interesting that Calvin, in his critique of the Council of Trent, says that Rome had the same exegesis of Galatians.

[Narrator]

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[Bob Hiller]

I want to. I want to go back to James real quick just because I know, I know that we're doing Galatians, but I mean, this is fascinating because James even does a little bit of a law gospel thing. Think of James 1:26 and 27. The three marks of true religion are bridle the tongue, care for orphans and widows, and keep yourself unstained from the world. And then later on in his Epistle, he says, no one can tame the tongue. James 3, 8. He's like, Bridle your tongue, but no one's doing it, or you look at. It's too easy for us to say, go in peace without lifting a finger. 2, 15, 17, failure at the second marks of the law. And then the third is avoiding worldliness. He's like your envies and quarreling exposes your friendship with the world. That's James 4:1:4. So James is even doing. And then what does he do? The deeper word in James. Now, we got to be clear. James is bossy. It's like 108 verses with 59.

[Walter Strickland]

Imperatives.

[Bob Hiller]

There's one imperative for every two verses in James. But the thing undergirding that is he gives more grace. James 4:6. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 2:13. The Father loves to give every good gift to those who ask for wisdom. And those who are seeking grace because they're humble. And that's James 1:17, James 1:5, and James 4:6, and 4:10. So when you said Bob, which you wrote the book on it, that he does agree with Paul, he's actually doing a type of, you know, he's not doing the law gospel the way Luther would have done it with here's the law, here's the gospel drives you to Christ, but he's saying, here's the law, here's the expectation, and here's your failure. What do you need? Mercy triumphing over judgment. And you need more grace. And it's pretty fascinating to see what.

[Walter Strickland]

James does, which is really interesting, talking about the need of more grace, because we haven't fulfilled the fullness of the law. I mean, I think of Peter. Here he is circumcised, eating with the uncircumcised. Then the circumcised come, and then he acts like he has nothing to do with the circumcised, with the uncircumcised rather. And I'm like, peter, this is the reason why you need Christ. Yeah, you need more grace. Because we're. Because, I mean, even though you're trying to act like you've upheld the law, you haven't upheld the law.

[Michael Horton]

You know, let's remember blessed Peter.

He is.

A magnificent apostle preaching the gospel on the steps of the temple during a high holy day and in front of the police. But remember also the Peter who denied Jesus three times, including to a little girl. There is a kind of fear of man that Peter displays that comes up again here. That's what Paul is really criticizing him for. You gotta. You gotta have the courage of your convictions, Peter.

[Justin Holcomb]

I'll tell you. You can start to see.

Why the reformers really love this book. Because there's a word that's higher than Peter, right? There's. There's something.

Greater than these great apostles in the church who come along and speak. Like, when the. The apostles get out of line, they need a preacher like Paul to come along and say, no, no, no, no, no. You are not in Line with the word of Christ. This is what I think Luther and Calvin probably saw themselves doing, that they were not placing themselves above Cranmer ii. Yeah, Cranmer II and Henry viii. Yes. They saw themselves as fighting for the word and to use Luther's line, the word above all earthly powers. Peter was not above the word. And Peter knows it. He learns it all the time.

[Michael Horton]

He does know it. He just sometimes, you know, forgets it, forgets to live in line with it.

[Justin Holcomb]

Sometimes those in the institution forget it. And so you need the word to come back and be preached to them again. Mike, you brought up something a minute ago, and I want to get into this here.

You mentioned the new perspective on Paul. For those of us who are in the Reformation tradition, we have a view of law and gospel, and Galatians has really dictated the way we think about this. But there is some pushback against this from some pretty significant scholars like, like your pal NT Wright, who seems to think that perhaps there's been an overemphasis on Galatians within the Protestant Church, and perhaps we need to take a step back and consider some other books of the Bible in, In the same kind of way. And I want to see if we could get a response to these words from him about this.

[Bob Hiller]

Even though we just talked about James not. I mean, we just put James in the center of this and said that it agrees. So, I mean, come on.

[Michael Horton]

I think.

[Justin Holcomb]

Look at us.

[Michael Horton]

I think it, I think really, it's.

[N.T. Wright]

It.

[Michael Horton]

It is to our shame that Galatians is, Is really the only book that Protestants talk about. I, I mean, seriously, I would, you know, I would love it if Galatians were more on the, on the scoreboard for Protestants.

[Justin Holcomb]

I'd go to that church.

[Walter Strickland]

Yeah. Yeah, me too. I agree.

[Justin Holcomb]

All right, let's. Let's Hear it from N.T. wright.

[N.T. Wright]

Protestant reformers of the 16th century, to whom we owe so much in so many ways, tended to highlight Romans and Galatians in particular. They were doing battle over the doctrine of justification. And those two letters are Paul's main expositions of it, though it pops up here in Ephesians also in the middle of chapter two. But I put it to you, and by the end of this course, I hope you'll see what I mean, that if the Reformers had chosen Ephesians rather than Romans and Galatians as their key texts, the history not only of the Western church, but of the whole world might have been very different. Let me explore this just a bit further, since a bit of historical perspective won't go amiss. We come to this letter as to all Scripture in larger, implicit contexts of the ways in which these texts have been read, two points stand out. First, the Reformers were addressing as a matter of urgency the doctrine of justification, because the key question of the day appeared to them in the form, how can I be sure that I'm going to heaven when I die? And granted universal sin. This question focused on how people could be put right with God, in other words, justification. So for them, the doctrine was all about how to get to heaven and preferably how to avoid having to spend time in purgatory on the way the medieval church had made that seem so difficult and uncertain, with more and more religious observances and rules and regulations. And at the end of it, for most people, the best they could hope for was a stint in purgatory before finally being allowed into heaven. But actually, as I've argued in many places, neither Romans, nor Galatians, nor especially Ephesians is addressing that question. The horizon of hope towards which they are working is not about you or your soul going to heaven after you die. Look at verse 10 of Ephesians, chapter 1. God's plan was to sum up the whole cosmos in the Messiah. Yes, everything in heaven and on earth in him. So when in verse 14 of chapter 1, the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance, we have to remind ourselves that here, as in Romans 8, the Christian inheritance is not heaven. The Christian inheritance is the whole of creation redeemed in the Messiah.

[Michael Horton]

This isn't an issue for us as Reformation Christians.

The meek will inherit the earth.

You guys, I'm sure, have as well.

[Bob Hiller]

I've.

[Michael Horton]

I've emphasized that my whole ministry against the Platonic ascent of the soul and so forth. But Tom Wright tends, if I may put it bluntly, tends to conflate the going to heaven when we die and ignoring the resurrection and the new creation as this world redeemed rather than scrapped. He tends to conflate that with it not being about salvation.

No, it is salvation of the whole person, of the whole cosmos. Right, right. But it is salvation. Paul actually begins, and it's always good, I think, to begin where Paul does.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, on he goes. So sin and grace lie at the heart of Ephesians. Is it about the church? Yes, of course, but it's about the church people being saved. Is it about the whole creation being summed up in Jesus Christ? Absolutely. Is it about the wall between Jews and Gentiles being torn down? Yes, it's all that, but all towards salvation.

[Justin Holcomb]

The foundation of Ephesians 2, where Paul talks about the separation and the wall being torn down, is the first part of Ephesians 2, where he talks about us being dead in our sins and trespasses, but then being saved by grace. The, the justification, the gospel, the work of Christ is the foundation and the end or the goal, that is to say, of everything else. So all of these things.

[Bob Hiller]

This is.

[Justin Holcomb]

Why we will say the church and ecclesiology are wildly important. Of course they're important. But the doctrine upon which ecclesiology stands or falls is the doctrine of justification. You lose that, you lose the church. And that's actually, I think, what Galatians is getting after here. Walter. Sorry, go ahead.

[Walter Strickland]

Yeah, well. Well, you know, as I was listening to the video, it seemed like I was wondering where the critique was, you know, because it seems like there's this insistence upon a missing aspect of salvation that we were just not getting. But to Mike's point, it seemed like that that missing link was the sole concern that he had, which at that point it distorts the whole point which we lose salvation as we're talking about in Galatians and even that Bob's already said in Ephesians Chapter one, we're dead in our trespasses and sins. And then you got Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace you've been saved through faith. And then that begets that community.

Hostilities fall.

[Bob Hiller]

His critique reminded me of when we were doing the Roman Catholic series and they would say all these quotes and they're like, they're quoting people that we would never quote. Be like, that's Protestantism. I'm like, no, that's Finnish. Like, that's not us. And so when NT Wright is doing this, I'm thinking, well, wait a second. The Reformers were the ones that were talking about prophet, priest and king, the breadth of the work of Christ and how it influences Protestants were the ones that were being really careful about salvation, saying it's not only justification, which necessarily leads to sanctification, but also leads to glorification. And then you have exactly the point we're making here, I mean, it jumped out to me here. 1 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. You heard the gospel, believed and were sealed by the Holy Spirit. Verses 13 and 14 from 1, you just said it. Dead in the trespasses, made us alive by grace. And then we have access, 2, 18, access in one spirit to the Father through Him in whom we have boldness and access through faith. In him grace was given, verse 4:7. Grace was given to each one according to the measure of Christ's gift, underscoring gift, not merit. I mean, the comprehensiveness of the effects of the work of Christ. That is a gift that is received by faith. I mean, it's about as clear as possible.

[Michael Horton]

I think the basic difference here between what we're saying and what Tom Wright is saying is that.

Tom goes at soteriology through the lens of ecclesiology.

And even to the point of really collapsing soteriology into ecclesiology. Whereas I think what Paul does is.

As you were saying, Bob, he lays the foundation on soteriology. If we're saved by grace alone, by God's gracious election, redemption, justification, sanctification, glorification, if we're saved along that whole way, but that's all the stuff God does, only God does for us, then the Church.

Is very important because that's what we're saved to as the Church. We're saved to belong to the church. Yes, all of that. But we get the whole thing in the bargain. We get the Church because we get saved.

[Justin Holcomb]

Right?

[Bob Hiller]

And Paul does this. This is the boogeyman of like, well, maybe Ephesians. Well, maybe two Timothy one, nine. He saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we've done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, maybe Titus 3, 4, 5. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit. It's not just in Ephesians. It's also in Timothy and Titus and.

[Michael Horton]

James, and not because of righteous things we've done. Notice that is works of the law. He doesn't say not through our circumcision, he says not through righteous things that we've done. And he does the same thing in Philippians 3 when he basically says he gets a sheet of paper out. He draws a line down the middle. Assets, debits. I used to have all these assets, religious assets that I was relying on. And then Christ came into my life, and now all those assets, I moved over to the debit column in order to have Christ alone fill that asset space.

Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. No, I mean, that's not just circumcision. Not having a righteousness of my own is Paul's definition of justification.

[Walter Strickland]

Yeah, that's so true. And so, as we've seen, Paul's letter to the Galatians is not just a defense of his own ministry. It's really a defense of the gospel itself. The good news is that justification before God comes not through the effort to keep the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law on our behalf. This grace, it doesn't lead to a careless disregard for the guidance found in the law. It leads to salvation and transformation. And when the gospel grips our hearts, it reorders our identity, our relationships, and even the gospel community that we inhabit. And so we no longer strive to prove ourselves. We live out of the freedom of Christ that was secured for us. And so, as we make our journey through this world, may we measure every teaching, every practice, every ambition by the gospel of this grace itself, remembering that the life we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God who gave himself for us.

[Narrator]

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