“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing. — Paul's final argument: to insist on Torah as the path to dikaiosynē would render Christ's death ('apethanon') meaningless ('dōrean'), a blasphemous negation of grace itself; the exclusivity of Christ's redemption demands the exclusivity of faith.
Church Fathers on Galatians 2:21
“I do not make void the grace of God.” Let those, who even now Judaize and adhere to the Law, listen to this, for it applies to them. “For if righteousness is through the Law, then Christ died for naught.” What can be more heinous than this sin? what more fit to put one to shame than these words? Christ's death is a plain proof of the inability of the Law to justify us; and if it does justify, then is His death superfluous. Yet how could it be reasonable to say that has…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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