Paul and the Power of Grace

by John M.G. Barclay

You and I, Peter, are Jews, used to thinking of ourselves as categorically distinct from (and better than) “gentile sinners.” But we know that a person is not considered righteous (of good standing) before God through observing the Mosaic Law, except through trust in Christ, and we have put our trust in Christ so as to be considered righteous in that way. But if we seek divine affirmation in Christ, and our resulting behavior (as in Antioch) makes us look like “sinners,” has Christ led us into sin? No way! Only if I were to reinstate the Law as the measurement of righteousness would I make myself a “transgressor” by living non-Jewishly. The truth is: I have died to the Law (it is no longer for me the ultimate criterion of righteousness), in order to be aligned to God. My old self is dead, crucified with Christ, and my new self is reconstituted by the risen Christ, a life founded on trust in Christ and on his gift of himself for me. That is a divine gift I will not reject; for if the Law remains the normative standard and means of righteousness, Christ died to no effect.