Today’s sermon audio can be found on Castbox at 170 “Through Faith in Jesus Christ” Galatians 2:15-16.

Our first reading for August 2nd was Romans 3:9-31. Our text was Galatians 2:15-16. We read the passage in Romans because it can help us to understand and reinforce what is taught in Galatians 2:15-16.

Thesis: Justification is received only through faith in Christ without any works.

Today's Text

15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16ayet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law 16bbut through faith in Jesus Christ, 16cso we also have believed in Christ Jesus, 16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, 16ebecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, ESV

Sermon Outline

"Through Faith in Jesus Christ" Galatians 2:15-16

  1. Paul’s Most Important Thesis?
  2. Sinners (2:15)
  3. Justified (2:16)
  4. Works of the Law (2:16)
  5. Faith in Jesus Christ (2:16)
  6. Sola Fide

Scripture References: Romans 3:9-31; Galatians 2:15-16; Ephesians 2:8-10;

1. Paul's Most Important Thesis?

15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16ayet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law 16bbut through faith in Jesus Christ, 16cso we also have believed in Christ Jesus, 16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, 16ebecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, ESV

These two verses may possibly contain the most important assertions in all of Paul’s letters1. Paul here asserts or implies:

  1. All humans are sinners;
  2. No one can be justified by the works of the law;
  3. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can anyone be justified;
  4. Even Peter and Paul believed in Christ Jesus to be justified;
  5. Faith alone is the means of being justified;

Paul repeats two assertions three times each to emphasize their importance:

  • No one is justified by the works of the law;
  • The only way to be justified is through/by faith in Christ;

Why do I say that verses 15-16 might provide us with Paul’s most important thesis? Paul tells us how to be put into right relationship with God here in this thesis. Without that right relationship we face eternal punishment for our sins. Calvin wrote that justification is ‘the main hinge on which religion turns’2. He meant (among other things) that people had to understand justification correctly or else they could not be saved. A religion that does not lead to a right relationship with God is not of any value to us.

As we work through our text today I want to make sure we all understand what Paul means by the noun sinners, the verb justified, the phrase works of the law, and the phrase faith in Jesus Christ. These words are controversial once you articulate what you mean by them. But that is all the more reason to define them carefully. We do not want to be misunderstood when we are talking about eternal life and eternal damnation.

2. Sinners (2:15)

15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16ayet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law 16bbut through faith in Jesus Christ, 16cso we also have believed in Christ Jesus, 16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, 16ebecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, ESV

In verse 15 it sounds like Paul is still talking to Peter. One of the difficulties of interpreting Galatians 2:11-21 is that we cannot be sure where Paul’s direct words to Peter end. I tend to think of 2:11-21 as transitional between the Historical Argument of chapters 1-2 and the Theological Argument of chapters 3-4. Certainly 2:11-14 records an important and very relevant event. But that event provides Paul with an important example of why the theological assertions of verses 15-16 matter so much to us.

‘15We ourselves are Jews by birth’.
Paul is here hinting at the great spiritual advantage of being Jewish before Christ came. The Jews had what we now call the Old Testament. They had the Law of Moses. They had special privileges that Gentiles did not have. They had much more insight into what was right and what was wrong. They had detailed instructions on the right way to worship God. These were advantages but in themselves these advantages could not justify the Jewish people.

‘and [we ourselves are] not Gentile sinners;’.
Paul contrasts the great spiritual blessings of being Jewish with the relatively spiritually impoverished lives of the Gentiles. This designation ‘Gentile sinners’ may have been a standard way of referring to all non-Jewish people. There may be some irony here since Paul would later call himself the chief of sinners3 (though assuredly Jewish).

Paul’s Thesis, Point 1. All humans are sinners.
Although Paul does not here explicitly assert that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God4 he certainly implies it. In the next verse he tells us that both he and Peter could not be saved by works of the law. That is because they too like everyone else were sinners who needed to be saved by grace, through faith, in Christ.

3. Justified (2:16)

15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16ayet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law 16bbut through faith in Jesus Christ, 16cso we also have believed in Christ Jesus, 16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, 16ebecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, ESV

Paul uses the verb to justify three times in verse 16. Paul uses repetition of words and phrases here in verse 16 to emphasize the importance of his thesis. He also repeats the phrase works of the law three times and he repeats the concept of faith in Christ three times using similar but not identical wording.

There is much debate about Paul’s intended meaning of this verb as well as his intended meaning for the related noun often translated righteousness or justification. But a careful reading of Paul’s letters should clear up any confusion or controversy.

We hold to the old Protestant definition of to justify. The verb means to declare righteous. We could safely make that substitution for each of the three occurrences here in verse 16. Only God can declare us righteous. God is the judge.

1) ‘16ayet we know that a person is not declared righteous by works of the law’.
2) ‘16din order to be declared righteous by faith in Christ and not by works of the law,’.
3) ‘16ebecause by works of the law no one will be declared righteous.’.

What we should want and certainly need is for God to declare us righteous. The author of Hebrews tells us that it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,5. There is only one way to go through that judgment without being condemned for our sins. We must have been declared righteous on account of God having imputed the righteousness of Christ to us.

As Paul plainly puts it here in verse 16 and numerous other places we cannot be declared righteous by our works. We can only be declared righteous by faith in Christ.

4. Works of the Law (2:16)

15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16ayet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law 16bbut through faith in Jesus Christ, 16cso we also have believed in Christ Jesus, 16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, 16ebecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, ESV

Paul uses the phrase works of the law three times in verse 16. As we have said Paul repeats himself at least in part to emphasize his thesis.

Just as there is much debate about the verb to justify so is there much debate about the phrase works of the law. I mention these debates not to trouble you but to make you aware that the old Protestant doctrine of salvation is assuredly under attack. I believe that by the grace of God Luther, Calvin, and many other early Protestants correctly interpreted Paul’s doctrine of salvation.

Paul meant by the word the law6 the law of Moses. We have often mentioned that there are three categories of law in Moses: civil (for the governance of the theocracy), ceremonial (for the worship of God under the old covenant), and moral (for distinguishing good from evil). Paul certainly has in mind both the ceremonial category (e.g., circumcision) and the moral category (e.g., love God and love your neighbor) here in verse 16. Paul probably wasn’t thinking about how to govern the long lost theocracy of Israel in this case. Admittedly we do need to be careful of Paul’s use of this word.

What Paul meant by the phrase works of the law was obedience to the law of Moses. We could substitute obedience to the law of Moses for the phrase.
1) ‘16ayet we know that a person is not justified by obedience to the law of Moses’.
2) ‘16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by obedience to the law of Moses,’.
3) ‘16ebecause by obedience to the law of Moses no one will be justified.’.

Paul has said three times that we cannot be declared righteous, we cannot be justified, by obedience to the law of Moses. We should be careful with generalizations but surely Paul would agree with us if we generalized this negative assertion of the thesis. We cannot be justified by any sort of self-righteousness, works-righteousness, or human effort of any kind. We may want to think that we can ‘justify ourselves’7 but assuredly we cannot.

5. Faith in Jesus Christ (2:16)

15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16ayet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law 16bbut through faith in Jesus Christ, 16cso we also have believed in Christ Jesus, 16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, 16ebecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, ESV

Now we come to Paul’s answer to the question ‘How can I be declared righteous?’. Paul’s answer to that question is just like the answer he and Silas gave to the Philippian jailer. The jailer had said to Paul and Silas ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’. They both answered ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,’8.

Once again we have a three-fold emphasis on a key phrase. In this case Paul uses some variations as he repeats himself. The first time Paul writes ‘through faith in Jesus Christ. He is using the preposition through. The second time Paul switches from the noun faith to the verb to believe. He also reverses the order of Jesus Christ to Christ Jesus in the second instance. Then in the third case Paul uses the preposition by and uses only the name Christ.
1) ‘16bbut through faith in Jesus Christ,’.
2) ‘16cso we also have believed in Christ Jesus,’.
3) ‘16din order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law,’.

Of course there is much debate on these phrases as well. But the old Protestant interpretation readily withstands any rational scrutiny. Again, I do not want to alarm or disturb you. I simply want to warn you that there are multitudes of people who call themselves Christians who are certain that the only assessment of Paul that must be wrong is the one the old Protestants came to embrace.

Here we have the God-man, Christ Jesus, our Messiah, who has always been God, who assumed a human nature, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, fulfilled the law of Moses on our behalf, always obeyed God, suffered and died for our sins, was raised for our justification, ascended to the Father, sent the Holy Spirit to us, and ever intercedes for us at His Father’s side. That special one-of-a-kind God-man is the object of our faith. We believe in Jesus Christ.

But we need to remind ourselves how the old Protestants defined this personal, saving faith. We use the acronym KAT to represent the three aspects of this personal, saving faith.

  • K stands for Knowledge. We need to understand the basics of God’s Word.
  • A stands for Agreement or Assent. We need to agree with God about what He has written.
  • T stands for Trust. We need to trust God to save us and we need to rest in Him.

6. Sola Fide

21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:21-26, ESV

Sola Fide is a Latin phrase used often as a designation for one of the two key characteristic of the old Protestant belief system. The phrase means by faith alone9. We say that Sola Fide, By Faith Alone, is the subjective principle of the Reformation. Another Latin phrase, Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone, is often called the objective principle of the Reformation. We should note that we are not claiming that the first Protestants used both of these slogans.

Sola Fide, By Faith Alone, implicitly modifies justification. We say with Paul (and the early Protestants) that we are justified [declared righteous] by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. As Paul puts it in Romans 3:22, ‘all who believe’ do receive ‘the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ’.

We can restate Paul’s Galatian thesis in two ways:
1) Thesis: Justification is received only through faith in Christ without any works.
2) Thesis: Justification is never received by any human effort.

8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10, ESV

As we said earlier this faith is KAT faith. It is the personal, saving faith that God gives to unbelievers when he saves them. This saving faith is itself a gift from God. Note that Paul says not a result of works in Ephesians 2:9. Paul is not restricting works to obedience to the law of Moses. All human effort is excluded. But we also note that Paul tells us in verse 10 that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Paul ends Romans 3 with verse 31: ‘Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.’.

Footnotes

© 2026 Christian Life Church.

  1. See, for instance, Moo, Galatians (BECNT), kp 266. ↩

  2. Calvin’s Institutes, 2.11.1, McNeill, Battles. ↩

  3. 1 Timothy 1:15 (KJV). ↩

  4. Romans 3:23 (ESV). ↩

  5. Hebrews 9:27 (ESV). ↩

  6. There is no separate definite article in the underlying text. But English translations should provide it in verse 16. ↩

  7. As per the lawyer in Luke 10:29 (ESV). ↩

  8. See Acts 16:25-34 (ESV). ↩

  9. See, for instance, Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms. ↩