Galatians 2:17
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!
Truth to Learn
As Christians we are not free to live as we want, we are constrained to live as He wants us to.
Behind the Words
The word translated “seek” is dzēteō, which means “to seek after,” “to look for,” or “to try to find.” It is expressed here as a participle, so it could be translated as “we are trying.”
Paul asks if Christ is a minister of sin. The word “minister” is translated from diakonos, which refers to “someone who is a servant” or “someone who waits on tables.” We can see from this that Paul is asking if Christ is serving sin.
His own response to this question is mē genoito. The word mē means “not” in a subjective sense and the word genoito (from ginomai, meaning “to come into being”) is expressed in the rare Optative mood indicating that the condition does not currently exist. As we put this all together we see that this expression means, “it is not so, and may it never even begin to be so.” In our modern vernacular we would say “There is no way!”
Meaning Explained
This verse is very difficult to understand and has been the subject of much debate over the years. One school of thought sees this as a Jewish objection as follows: If we are freed from the Law through faith in Christ then there is no rule of life (since we no longer have to follow the Law). Without the restraining effect of the Law, this produces a life of sin. Therefore Christ, who introduced this system through grace, must be regarded as the one who is serving up sin.
Although it is only a subtle distinction, I think it is more reasonable to see this as answering a direct objection to justification by faith. Throughout the life of the church people (especially legalizers) have objected to justification by faith alone, claiming that if saved Christians do not have to obey the Law then they are free to engage in a life of sinning at will without consequences. As a result, Christ appears to be enabling a Christian to sin freely without consequences.
Paul certainly does not teach that we now have the freedom to live as we want. As he will point out in the next few verses, we no longer are free to live in sin because we have been crucified with Christ and now owe our entire existence to Him. Therefore, we can no longer live as we wish, we cannot sin at will, rather we are constrained to let Christ live through us. That is, we are to subject our will to His in all areas of life. Since sin cannot abide in His presence, by being in Christ we are restrained from sinning, not free to sin as we want.
Application
We have to daily submit our will to Christ and commit to living our lives in a godly way, not because we have to in order to secure our salvation, but because we want to and we owe it to Him who gave Himself for us.
Are you grateful for what Christ has done for you eternally? If so, you should submit your will to Him and commit to following His example out of gratitude and respect.
That’s something to think about!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2007 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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