t it was by faith alone that they could be justified. As a devout Jew he had followed the Law his entire life and felt it important that people know that in spite of his doing all the works of the Torah he was not justified before his vision. Verse 17.” But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners; is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.” Some critics of this passage would argue that there are two sets of behavior standards given for Christian and Jews. In order to obtain salvation in Jewish faith one must follow the rule of like and ceremony. In order that a Christian obtain salvation they must only believe in Christ. Some were worried that this new religion would be saturated by people who wanted to commit acts against the law and still be saved because they professed to believe in Christ. The concept of grace and mercy was a foreign one and harsh judgment was a reality of the day. The other part of this verse was, is Christ a master of sin?Paul knew that some would argue that if all Christian had to do was believe that Christ must be a proponent of sin because he didn’t threaten any penalty comparable to that of the old testament. Paul inserted that Christ was certainly not a master of sin. The Martin Luther commentary of Galatians states “ All who say that faith alone in Christ does not justify a person, convert Christ into a minister of sin, a teacher of the Law, and a cruel tyrant who requires the impossible. All merit-seekers take Christ for a new lawgiver. “ Martin Luther is saying that if Christ had required more than belief he would be a Minister of sin because that much pressure on people is cruelty. He also wrote in is commentary; “The Law drives us away from God, but Christ reconciles God unto us, for "He is the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." Now if the sin of the world is taken away, it is taken away from me....
