Galatians: Justified by Faith, Not Works

Author: Stan Guthrie
October 02, 2025

Editor’s note: On Sunday morning, Pastor Chris spoke about our being crucified with Christ. He encouraged us to resist our culture’s insane fixation on the self by living out the doctrine of justification by faith rather than works. This week’s blog post focuses on a key verse in Galatians that hammers home the point.

[Y]et we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:16

Paul has such a strong relationship with members of the church he started in Galatia that he can tell them the truth, even when it hurts.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-8)

“O foolish Galatians!” he says with concern bordering on frustration (3:1). “Who has bewitched you?” Before responding to this different, distorted gospel, the apostle reminds the Galatians of his credentials. He is:

• “an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father” (1:1); 
• “a servant of Christ” (1:10);
• “set … apart before I was born … called … by his grace” (1:15);
• “entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised” (2:7);
• equal to the other apostles (1:16-2:9);
• consistent enough to stand up to Peter’s former hypocrisy (2:11-14).

The “different gospel” the Galatians were embracing said that the Spirit is received at the beginning of the Christian life “by works of the law” rather than “hearing with faith,” that we are perfected by “the flesh” (human effort) rather than “by the Spirit,” and that the Spirit works, and miracles come, “by works of the law” rather than “hearing with faith” (3:1-5). In other words, their distorted gospel said that justification—being made right with God—and sanctification—living a life of increasing holiness—come from human work rather than faith and the Spirit. 

This is anathema to Paul, who reminds them that Jesus was crucified (3:1b). The Lord has already accomplished the saving work. In no uncertain terms, Paul lays out the choice for the Galatians and all who would follow: “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (2:16, emphasis added). 

The point is emphatic and unmistakable. Three times in this key verse he says that justification comes not from works; two times, he says it comes by faith.

To buttress his point, Paul says the doctrine that justification by faith not works is firmly rooted in the Old Testament, referring to Genesis 15:6—“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—before adding:

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (3:7-9)

Then the apostle marshals his evidence. He draws a distinction between faith and the law, saying that, as Habakkuk said, “The righteous shall live by faith” (3:11-14). He says the law was an interlude of necessity between the covenant given to Abraham and the promised coming of Christ. He calls the law “our guardian until Christ came” (3:15-24). Now that faith has come, the guardian is no longer needed, we are all sons of God through faith, and all human distinctions fade next to our identity as Christians, “heirs according to promise” (3:26-29). 

Paul then contrasts the freedom of faith with the slavery of being under the law, noting that the Galatians are children of promise (4:1-20). There can be no mixing of the two (4:21-31).

Finally, Paul tells believers to reject circumcision as a sign of acceptance before God. “For freedom Christ has set us free,” Paul says; “stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (5:1). Those who do are “obligated to keep the whole law …. [and] have fallen away from grace” (5:1-4). Those who walk by the Spirit, however, can fulfill “the whole law” by obeying the command: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (5:5-6:18).

Such love mixes both good works (6:1-10) and good but hard words (6:11-18). But being right with God is worth it.

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Stan Guthrie is Minister of Communications for New Covenant Church in Naperville. This blog post is adapted from a chapter in Stan’s book, God’s Story in 66 Verses: Understand the Entire Bible by Focusing on Just One Verse in Each Book

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