We’re continuing our study of Michael J. Gorman’s Inhabiting the Cruciform God
Gorman offers an extensive interpretation of Gal 2:15-21 to explain “justification” in Paul. Now, among scholars, there’s quite an extensive debate going on regarding how to understand Paul doctrine of justification. I’ll not spend time here trying to explain all that. Rather, I’ll attempt to explain this passage in a Gorman-esque way. The book is great, but it’s not really necessary to get into the details of the scholarly disputes to make the point.
In other words, I’m making his points consistently with his argument but in my own way.
(Gal 2:15-21 ESV) We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 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.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Now, this brief passage is a highly compressed expression of Paul’s view of justification. His views are expanded in the rest of Galatians and, much more so, in Romans. We can get the gist of this part of Gorman’s arguments here, though. Continue reading
Guy 
