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Commentary on Galatians 2 verses 11–21
I. From the account which Paul gives of what passed between him and the other apostles at Jerusalem, the Galatians might easily discern both the falseness of what his enemies had insinuated against him and their own folly and weakness in departing from that gospel which he had preached to them. But to give the greater weight to what he had already said, and more fully to fortify them against the insinuations of the judaizing teachers, he acquaints them with another interview which he had with the apostle Peter at Antioch, and what passed between them there, _Gal 2:11-14. Antioch was one of the chief churches of the Gentile Christians, as Jerusalem was of those Christians who turned from Judaism to the faith of Christ. There is no colour of reason for the supposition that Peter was bishop of Antioch. If he had, surely Paul would not have withstood him in his own church, as we here find he did; but, on the contrary, it is here spoken of as an occasional visit which he made thither. In their other meeting, there had been good harmony and agreement. Peter and the other apostles had both acknowledged Paul's commission and approved his doctrine, and they parted very good friends. But in this Paul finds himself obliged to appose Peter, for he was to be blamed, a plain evidence that he was not inferior to him, and consequently of the weakness of the pope's pretence to supremacy and infallibility, as the successor of Peter. Here we may observe,
1.Peter's fault. When he came among the Gentile churches, he complied with them, and did eat with them, though they were not circumcised, agreeably to the instructions which were given in particular to him (Acts 10), when he was warned by the heavenly vision to call nothing common or unclean. But, when there came some Jewish Christians from Jerusalem, he grew more shy of the Gentiles, only to humour those of the circumcision and for fear of giving them offence, which doubtless was to the great grief and discouragement of the Gentile churches. Then he withdrew, and separated himself. His fault herein had a bad influence upon others, for the other Jews also dissembled with him; though before they might be better disposed, yet now, from his example, they took on them to scruple eating with the Gentiles, and pretended they could not in conscience do it, because they were not circumcised. And (would you think it?) Barnabas himself, one of the apostles of the Gentiles, and one who had been instrumental in planting and watering the churches of the Gentiles, was carried away with their dissimulation. Here note, (1.) The weakness and inconstancy of the best of men, when left to themselves, and how apt they are to falter in their duty to God, out of an undue regard to the pleasing of men. And, (2.) The great force of bad examples, especially the examples of great men and good men, such as are in reputation for wisdom and honour.
2.The rebuke which Paul gave him for his fault. Notwithstanding Peter's character, yet, when he observes him thus behaving himself to the great prejudice both of the truth of the gospel and the peace of the church, he is not afraid to reprove him for it. Paul adhered resolutely to his principles, when others faltered in theirs; he was as good a Jew as any of them (for he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews), but he would magnify his office as the apostle of the Gentiles, and therefore would not see them discouraged and trampled upon. When he saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel - that they did not live up to that principle which the gospel taught, and which they had professed to own and embrace, namely, that by the death of Christ the partition-wall between Jew and Gentile was taken down, and the observance of the law of Moses was no longer in force - when he observed this, as Peter's offence was public, so he publicly reproved him for it: He said unto him before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Herein one part of his conduct was a contradiction to the other; for if he, who was a Jew, could himself sometimes dispense with the use of the ceremonial law, and live after the manner of the Gentiles, this showed that he did not look upon the observance of it as still necessary, even for the Jews themselves; and therefore that he could not, consistently with his own practice, impose it upon the Gentile Christians. And yet Paul charges him with this, yea, represents him as compelling the Gentiles to live as did the Jews - not by open force and violence, but this was the tendency of what he did; for it was in effect to signify this, that the Gentiles must comply with the Jews, or else not be admitted into Christian communion.
II. Paul having thus established his character and office, and sufficiently shown that he was not inferior to any of the apostles, no, not to Peter himself, from the account of the reproof he gave him he takes occasion to speak of that great fundamental doctrine of the gospel - That justification is only by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law (though some think that all he says to the end of the chapter is what he said to Peter at Antioch), which doctrine condemned Peter for his symbolizing with the Jews. For, if it was the principle of his religion that the gospel is the instrument of our justification and not the law, then he did very ill in countenancing those who kept up the law, and were for mixing it with faith in the business of our justification. This was the doctrine which Paul had preached among the Galatians, to which he still adhered, and which it is his great business in this epistle to mention and confirm. Now concerning this Paul acquaints us,
1.With the practice of the Jewish Christians themselves: "We," says he, "who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles (even we who have been born and bred in the Jewish religion, and not among the impure Gentiles), knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. And, if we have thought it necessary to seek justification by the faith of Christ, why then should we hamper ourselves with the law? What did we believe in Christ for? Was it not that we might be justified by the faith of Christ? And, if so, is it not folly to go back to the law, and to expect to be justified either by the merit of moral works or the influence of any ceremonial sacrifices or purifications? And if it would be wrong in us who are Jews by nature to return to the law, and expect justification by it, would it not be much more so to require this of the Gentiles, who were never subject to it, since by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified?" To give the greater weight to this he adds (Gal 2:17), "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ the minister of sin? If, while we seek justification by Christ alone, and teach others to do so, we ourselves are found giving countenance or indulgence to sin, or rather are accounted sinners of the Gentiles, and such as it is not fit to have communion with, unless we also observe the law of Moses, is Christ the minister of sin? Will it not follow that he is so, if he engage us to receive a doctrine that gives liberty to sin, or by which we are so far from being justified that we remain impure sinners, and unfit to be conversed with?" This, he intimates, would be the consequence, but he rejects it with abhorrence: "God forbid," says he, "that we should entertain such a thought of Christ, or of his doctrine, that thereby he should direct us into a way of justification that is defective and ineffectual, and leave those who embrace it still unjustified, or that would give the least encouragement to sin and sinners." This would be very dishonourable to Christ, and it would be very injurious to them also. "For," says he (Gal 2:18), "if I build again the things which I destroyed - if I (or any other), who have taught that the observance of the Mosaic law is not necessary to justification, should now, by word or practice, teach or intimate that it is necessary - I make myself a transgressor; I own myself to be still an impure sinner, and to remain under the guilt of sin, notwithstanding my faith in Christ; or I shall be liable to be charged with deceit and prevarication, and acting inconsistently with myself." Thus does the apostle argue for the great doctrine of justification by faith without the works of the law from the principles and practice of the Jewish Christians themselves, and from the consequences that would attend their departure from it, whence it appeared that Peter and the other Jews were much in the wrong in refusing to communicate with the Gentile Christians, and endeavouring to bring them under the bondage of the law.
2.He acquaints us what his own judgment and practice were. (1.) That he was dead to the law. Whatever account others might make of it, yet, for his part, he was dead to it. He knew that the moral law denounced a curse against all that continue not in all things written therein, to do them; and therefore he was dead to it, as to all hope of justification and salvation that way. And as for the ceremonial law, he also knew that it was now antiquated and superseded by the coming of Christ, and therefore, the substance having come, he had no longer any regard to the shadow. He was thus dead to the law, through the law itself; it discovered itself to be at an end. By considering the law itself, he saw that justification was not to be expected by the works of it (since none could perform a perfect obedience to it) and that there was now no further need of the sacrifices and purifications of it, since they were done away in Christ, and a period was put to them by his offering up himself a sacrifice for us; and therefore, the more he looked into it the more he saw that there was no occasion for keeping up that regard to it which the Jews pleaded for. But, though he was thus dead to the law, yet he did not look upon himself as with law. He had renounced all hopes of justification by the works of it, and was unwilling any longer to continue under the bondage of it; but he was far from thinking himself discharged from his duty to God; on the contrary, he was dead to the law, that he might live unto God. The doctrine of the gospel, which he had embraced, instead of weakening the bond of duty upon him, did but the more strengthen and confirm it; and therefore, though he was dead to the law, yet it was only in order to his living a new and better life to God (as Rom 7:4, Rom 7:6), such a life as would be more agreeable and acceptable to God than his observance of the Mosaic law could now be, that is, a life of faith in Christ, and, under the influence thereof, of holiness and righteousness towards God. Agreeably hereunto he acquaints us, (2.) That, as he was dead to the law, so he was alive unto God through Jesus Christ (Gal 2:20): I am crucified with Christ, etc. And here in his own person he gives us an excellent description of the mysterious life of a believer. [1.] He is crucified, and yet he lives; the old man is crucified (Rom 6:6), but the new man is living; he is dead to the world, and dead to the law, and yet alive to God and Christ; sin is mortified, and grace quickened. [2.] He lives, and yet not he. This is strange: I live, and yet not I; he lives in the exercise of grace; he has the comforts and the triumphs of grace; and yet that grace is not from himself, but from another. Believers see themselves living in a state of dependence. [3.] He is crucified with Christ, and yet Christ lives in him; this results from his mystical union with Christ, by means of which he is interested in the death of Christ, so as by virtue of that to die unto sin; and yet interested in the life of Christ, so as by virtue of that to live unto God. [4.] He lives in the flesh, and yet lives by faith; to outward appearance he lives as other people do, his natural life is supported as others are; yet he has a higher and nobler principle that supports and actuates him, that of faith in Christ, and especially as eyeing the wonders of his love in giving himself for him. Hence it is that, though he lives in the flesh, yet he does not live after the flesh. Note, Those who have true faith live by that faith; and the great thing which faith fastens upon is Christ's loving us and giving himself for us. The great evidence of Christ's loving us is his giving himself for us; and this is that which we are chiefly concerned to mix faith with, in order to our living to him.
Lastly, The apostle concludes this discourse with acquainting us that by the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ, without the works of the law (which he asserted, and others opposed), he avoided two great difficulties, which the contrary opinion was loaded with: - 1. That he did not frustrate the grace of God, which the doctrine of the justification by the works of the law did; for, as he argues (Rom 11:6), If it be of works, it is no more of grace. 2. That he did not frustrate the death of Christ; whereas, if righteousness come by the law, then it must follow that Christ has died in vain; for, if we look for salvation by the law of Moses, then we render the death of Christ needless: for to what purpose should he be appointed to die, if we might have been saved without it?
How should (the Church) fear to suffer a fraudulent loss of him whom she had already lost on his ereption, and whom, after condemnation, she could not have held? Lastly, to what will it be becoming for a judge to grant indulgence? to that which by a formal pronouncement he has decisively settled, or to that which by an interlocutory sentence he has left in suspense? And, of course, (I am speaking of) that judge who is not wont "to rebuild those things which he has destroyed, lest he be held a transgressor."
Justly, therefore, did he refuse to "build up again (the structure of the law) which he had overthrown." The law, indeed, had to be overthrown, from the moment when John "cried in the wilderness, Prepare ye the ways of the Lord," that valleys and hills and mountains may be filled up and levelled, and the crooked and the rough ways be made straight and smooth -in other words, that the difficulties of the law might be changed into the facilities of the gospel.
"For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor."
Observe the Apostle's discernment; his opponents endeavored to show, that he who kept not the Law was a transgressor, but he retorts the argument upon them, and shows that he who did keep the Law was a transgressor, not merely of faith, but of the Law itself. "I build up again the things which I destroyed," that is, the Law; he means as follows: the Law has confessedly ceased, and we have abandoned it, and betaken ourselves to the salvation which comes of faith. But if we make a point of setting it up again, we become by that very act transgressors, striving to keep what God has annulled. Next he shows how it has been annulled.
(Vers. 17, 18.) Therefore, by the works of the Law, all flesh will not be justified. But if we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if the things that I destroyed, I build again, I make myself a transgressor. That flesh, of which it is written, 'All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field' (Isaiah 40:6), will not be justified by the works of the Law. But that flesh of Jesus Christ is justified by faith, of which it is said in the sacrament of the resurrection: All flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luke 3:6). But also according to a lower understanding, not all flesh was justified by the Law, but only those men who were in Palestine. Now, however, all flesh is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, while his Church is founded throughout the whole world.
When they say that he who does not keep the law is a transgressor, he says the exact opposite, calling a transgressor the person who keeps the law. It is like saying: The law has ceased, as we confessed, and so, having abandoned it, we have taken refuge with the salvation which is from faith. If, then, we contest about the application of the law, we become transgressor of the same, inasmuch as we contest about keeping what has been dissolved by God.
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SUMMARY
Galatians 2:18 encapsulates the Apostle Paul's forceful argument against reverting to the Mosaic Law as a means of justification after having embraced the liberating truth of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. Paul asserts that to re-establish the Law as a path to righteousness, after having declared it insufficient and "destroyed" its salvific role, would be to contradict the very Gospel he preaches and thereby condemn himself as a transgressor of the new covenant.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Paul employs several potent literary devices in Galatians 2:18. The most prominent is a Hypothetical Statement ("For if I build again..."), which allows Paul to explore the logical absurdity and severe theological consequences of a particular action without necessarily admitting to performing it. This is closely tied to Rhetorical Argumentation, where Paul uses a strong, almost self-condemning, statement to underscore the gravity of Peter's (and by extension, the Judaizers') error. The verse also features a powerful Contrast between "building again" and "destroyed," creating a vivid image of theological reversal. This contrast is further enhanced by the Metaphor of building and destroying, which vividly illustrates the shift from a law-based system of righteousness to a grace-based one. The act of "destroying" the old system and then contemplating "building it again" highlights the fundamental incompatibility of the two approaches to justification.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Galatians 2:18 stands as a theological bulwark against any attempt to reintroduce human effort or legalistic observance as a prerequisite for, or a complement to, God's justifying grace. It profoundly asserts the radical and complete nature of the new covenant in Christ, where believers are declared righteous solely on the basis of faith in His finished work. To "build again" the Law's salvific role would be to invalidate Christ's sacrifice, suggesting it was insufficient, and to deny the very essence of the Gospel. This verse underscores that the Law, while holy and good, was never intended to be a means of justification but rather to expose sin and lead humanity to Christ.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Galatians 2:18 serves as a timeless warning for believers to remain vigilant against the subtle and overt temptations of legalism. In an age where self-improvement and performance are highly valued, it's easy to slip into thinking that our standing with God depends on our works, rituals, or adherence to a set of rules, rather than solely on the finished work of Christ. This verse calls us to constantly examine our hearts and ensure that our confidence for salvation and acceptance before God rests entirely on Christ's righteousness, not our own. It reminds us that Christian freedom is not a license for sin, but a liberation from the burden of earning what has been freely given, allowing us to serve God out of love and gratitude, not fear or obligation. We must guard the purity of the Gospel, ensuring that we do not "build again" any system that diminishes the sufficiency of Christ or adds human requirements to His perfect grace.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does Paul mean by "build again the things which I destroyed"?
Answer: Paul is using a powerful metaphor. "The things which I destroyed" refers to his previous reliance on the Mosaic Law as a means of achieving righteousness before God. As a zealous Pharisee, Paul (Saul) had meticulously attempted to earn God's favor through legal observance. However, upon his conversion and revelation of Christ, he recognized that this path was futile and had been superseded by Christ's work. He "destroyed" or abandoned that system as a means of justification. To "build again" would mean to re-establish or revert to the idea that adherence to the Law is necessary for salvation or for maintaining one's righteous standing with God. This would be a profound contradiction to the Gospel of grace he now preached.
Why would building again make Paul a "transgressor"?
Answer: If Paul, after having declared the Law insufficient for justification and embraced salvation by faith in Christ, were to then advocate or live in a way that suggested the Law was still necessary for righteousness, he would be acting as a "transgressor." This doesn't mean he would be breaking the Mosaic Law, but rather that he would be violating the truth of the Gospel itself. He would be contradicting the very message of grace and the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice, effectively denying the new covenant and making himself guilty of undermining the truth he preached. It would be a transgression against the revealed will and way of God in Christ.
Does this verse imply that the Law is bad or sinful?
Answer: No, this verse does not imply that the Law is inherently bad or sinful. Paul consistently teaches that the Law is "holy and righteous and good" (Romans 7:12). Its purpose, however, was not to provide justification but to expose sin and demonstrate humanity's need for a Savior (Romans 3:20). The "destruction" Paul refers to is the Law's role as a means of justification, not its moral authority or its revelatory value. For believers in Christ, the Law's demands are fulfilled in Christ, and the Spirit empowers them to live righteously, not to earn salvation but as an outflow of it (Romans 8:3-4).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Galatians 2:18 finds its ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is the "end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4). The "things which I destroyed" — the futile pursuit of righteousness through legal works — were rendered obsolete by Christ's perfect obedience and atoning sacrifice. He perfectly fulfilled the Law's righteous requirements on our behalf and bore its curse, thereby establishing a new and living way to God through faith, not works (Hebrews 10:19-20). To "build again" the Law as a path to justification would be to deny the absolute sufficiency of Christ's finished work on the cross, implying that His sacrifice was incomplete or that human effort could somehow add to His perfect redemption. Christ's work ensures that believers are not "transgressors" in the sense of being under the Law's condemnation, but are declared righteous by grace through faith, forever free from the burden of earning their salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). He is the one who took away the sin of the world, making a new covenant possible, where righteousness is a gift, not a wage (John 1:29; 2 Corinthians 5:21).