Faith vs. Works

Which is primary and which is secondary?

Actually, Paul’s argument in Galatians does not pit sincere belief against principled, earnest activity, as if one of these is faith and the other is something else. Rather, he is specifically calling out the Jewish believers in Galatia who are turning back to “the traditions of their fathers” (Gal 1:14), namely the OT law and the systems of rules that the Jews had created over the centuries (which were actually a perversion of the Law’s intent.) They believed their birthright, via Abraham, guaranteed them a place in God’s kingdom, so long as they didn't screw it up by breaking a law or tradition. They forgot the story of Jacob and Esau. How the rightful heir relied too heavily on his firstborn position, and how God chose another to continue the line of promise. And most of them never made the connection that David did, understanding the purpose of the law and seeing beyond it to the eternal family God was building. Ironically, for much of their history, most of the nation of Israel neglected both sincere belief and principled, earnest activity around the plan of God.

Today, instead of understanding what Paul was saying, we've used his words of "faith" and "works" to describe the tensions of a medieval theological issue, and they've never recovered from that. So we end up repeating the same mistakes the Galatians made. Thinking that somehow our being "justified by faith" guarantees our inclusion in Jesus' kingdom, and then once we have that guarantee, everything else is secondary. We've fragmented the gospel from the didache and Christ's plan in a way that is unnatural, defining the gospel as a set of logical, theological concepts, rather than as the hinge-point of God's story. Paul is not trying to answer questions about the inception point or the mechanics of a salvation that acts as a golden ticket to heaven, but rather faith as an entirely new way of life that is distinct and unique from ALL rules-based religious traditions, whether they be of Jewish origin (which would certainly seem to have more gravitas than gentile-conceived traditions, due to its origins in the OT tradition of the people of God) or those of a more recent "Christian" vintage. (Gal 2:15-21)

Paul is telling the Galatians not to mix-in their old traditions with the way of Christ and His apostles, and not to be tempted to return to those old traditions, which, although they feel safe and comfortable (like going home for the holidays) they actually do nothing to build Christ’s kingdom and will not shield them from or prepare them for what is coming in the days ahead.

As Christians today, we like to say we are “justified by faith”, but many staunchly cling to the old traditions passed on to us by our fathers, or we attempt to freshen them up a bit to feel like they fit the times (Gal 2:18). These are the same types of rules-based traditions that Jesus did away with when He gave his life, was resurrected, and then provided a set of patterns, principles and processes that His global family movement was to be shaped around, via the apostles teaching (specifically Paul – Acts 9:1-30; Gal 1:11-18; 1 Cor 15:3-10; Eph 3:7-12).

We need to focus our energies on recovering those patterns and shaping our lives and churches around them.