Galatians / Question
Paul says a person is “not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” He repeats that “by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).
In Galatians 2:15–16, Paul speaks as a Jew to fellow Jews: even with their Jewish background, they know a person is not put right by “works of the law.” Instead, being put right happens through connection to Jesus Christ, expressed as believing in Christ. These lines sit inside Paul’s recounting of a sharp confrontation with Peter in Antioch about shared meals and separation between Jewish and non-Jewish believers (2:11–14).
Paul is speaking as part of a Jewish “we” and uses that shared identity as the starting point (verse 15). His main claim is explicit and repeated: people are not put right with God by “works of the law,” but through Christ-related faith (verse 16).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Galatians 2:16, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
16yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.