Path to Life – Key Verses – Galatians (NIV)
Path to Life – Key Verses – Galatians (NIV)
3:11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”
Paul here is quoting Habakkuk 2:4. When the end comes and you want to live with God, by what will you appeal to live? The only way to gain righteousness and life is by faith.
No one will go up to God and successfully claim they lived the perfect life which is the requirement. So you go based on your track record or anyone else who you choose that has offered to give you their track record. That’s Jesus. God’s righteousness is so perfect that nothing imperfect can stand in His presence. It’s like the ultimate disinfectant.
His righteousness is NOT a purity that is so pure that any imperfection will make it imperfect. The imperfection can not exist. I think of it like the sun – the heat is so intense that pretty much anything will disintegrate there. Whether it’s from destruction or repulsion, the two things won’t co-exist.
If someone says they are justified by the law, it means they are perfect in not violating the law. That’s only possible by God so either that person is God or they’re wrong. I don’t think an argument is needed about how humans haven’t kept the law.
So the only way to gain righteousness and life is by faith. Paul also brings up how Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. It was always the case that faith in God is the path to life.