For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life 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 nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. (Galatians 2: 19-21)

Paul perceives in Jesus an ultimate act of friendship: voluntary self-sacrifice for the good of another. The crucifixion was not, for Paul, merely another occasion of imperial injustice.

He sees in the crucifixion an essential act of divine redemption. Jesus was sacrificed for the good of Paul... and the good of all.

In the self-sacrifice of the crucifixion is true justification. In this action is revealed the kind of love that is fundamental to our origins, our calling, and our fulfillment.