Changing From Within
ICS Daily Devotions

Galatians 2:20-21 (NKJV) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

In the book of Galatians, the central argument was between living by the law and living by faith in Christ’s redemptive work. The Apostle Paul confronted the Apostle Peter for agreeing with the Judaizers that the Galatians needed circumcision. The Judaizers were legalists who added the Law of Moses and dietary rules to the gospel of Jesus and His finished work on the cross as conditions for salvation. This contradicts God’s Word, which says that the law was given through Moses, while grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, so that no one can boast. Paul didn’t want the Galatians to return to the law but to live the new life in Christ Jesus through faith in the redemptive work of the cross, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

All Christians have a right standing before God because of the atonement purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us from our sins through the shedding of His blood. Paul said that if the law could attain righteousness for us, Christ would have died in vain!

Christianity is not a set of rules and laws to be observed from the outside. It is like holding a mirror as we try to change ourselves from the outside, while the issue is the sin nature within us. Jesus came to enable us to live from within by giving us a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone. Christianity changes us from the inside—it happens spiritually in the hearts of men. The moment we put our trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives in us, enabling us to live in the newness of life from the inside out.

If we live by the law and try to please God through our own efforts, we will eventually burn out; the yoke of the law and the burden of trying to fulfil it with our flesh will cause us to give up our Christian walk. Christianity becomes a yoke and a burden because we will feel that we are never good enough for God. Having a legalistic mindset makes attending church an obligation rather than a desire. The law cannot make us perfect before God; it cannot commend men but can only condemn them.

In contrast, living by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is from within. The Holy Spirit will empower the spirit man in the new creation to break free from the works of the flesh.

Reflection: What would it look like for you to stop defining yourself by spiritual disciplines and good works, and instead rest in who you already are in Christ—a new creation?

Sermon Series- Legalism or Life in Christ