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Concerning Galatians 2, the heart of the matter is that if anyone could be "good enough" to be saved, then Christ died for nothing. So obviously, works - whether under the law or without knowledge of the law - is not enough.

No one teaches that works by themselves are sufficient to merit eternal salvation.

Furthermore, as I pointed out already, "works of the law" means a particular thing. Saying that one can not be saved by "works of the law" is not to say that good works in general play no role in our salvation. I've already posted Scripture stating that faith alone is dead, it must have works to go with it. And exhortations by John to keep His commandments to make our "faith" be not just empty words.

The issue of whether faith - or free will v predestination - is a factor is an ongoing discussion around here between the Calvinists and Arminians.

Surely.

And to that debate, I assert that Scripture authenticates both free will (commandments, exhortations) and predestination (prophesy).

I agree. I think our minds are too limited to comprehend how our free choices nonetheless serve God's plan. If someone argued that it was all up to our choices, I would sound like a Calvinist in pointing out God's control.

That doesn't usually happen here, so it's usually me arguing the role of free will against the Calvinist's obsession with God's sovereignity. The answer is in neither extreme.

SD

***Calvinist's obsession with God's sovereignity.***

My God is sovereign. Call me a Calvinist if you will.

Thank you for your reply and for sharing your views!

I agree. I think our minds are too limited to comprehend how our free choices nonetheless serve God's plan. If someone argued that it was all up to our choices, I would sound like a Calvinist in pointing out God's control.

That doesn't usually happen here, so it's usually me arguing the role of free will against the Calvinist's obsession with God's sovereignity. The answer is in neither extreme.

At the risk of sounding picky, I would call neither view extreme - but both Truth. IOW, I assert that both free will and predestination are to be received as unequivocal Truth simply because God has authenticated both.