Galatians 2: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul continues the account of his own history: fourteen years later he goes up to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus, sets out the message he preaches among non-Jews privately to the leaders, and Titus, a Greek, is not forced to be circumcised. James, Cephas, and John add nothing to his message and shake hands on a division of work, asking only that he remember the poor. Paul then describes confronting Peter at Antioch for pulling back from eating with non-Jewish believers out of fear, and for pressuring non-Jews to live like Jews. The chapter closes with Paul's argument that a person is counted right with God through faith in Jesus Christ and not by keeping the law.

Claim by Claim

1. 2:1
   • Fourteen years later Paul went up to Jerusalem again.
   • Barnabas went with him.
   • He took Titus along as well.
2. 2:2
   • Paul went up in accordance with a revelation.
   • Paul set before them the gospel that he preaches among the Gentiles.
   • He set it before those of reputation privately.
   • He did this lest he should be running, or had run, in vain.
3. 2:3
   • Titus was with Paul.
   • Titus was a Greek.
   • Titus was not compelled to be circumcised.
4. 2:4
   • This was because of false brothers secretly brought in.
   • They slipped in to spy out the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus.
   • Their purpose was to bring us into slavery.
5. 2:5
   • Paul and those with him did not yield in submission to them, not even for an hour.
   • The reason was that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
6. 2:6
   • Some seemed to be something.
   • What they once were makes no difference to Paul.
   • God does not accept a man's outward appearance.
   • Those who seemed to be something added nothing to Paul.
7. 2:7
   • On the contrary, they saw that Paul had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised.
   • Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised.
8. 2:8
   • The one who worked in Peter for apostleship to the circumcised also worked in Paul toward the Gentiles.
9. 2:9
   • James, Cephas, and John seemed to be pillars.
   • They recognized the grace that had been given to Paul.
   • They gave the right hands of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas.
   • The agreement was that Paul and Barnabas should go to the Gentiles.
   • The agreement was that James, Cephas, and John should go to the circumcised.
10. 2:10
    • They asked only that Paul and Barnabas remember the poor.
    • Paul was eager to do that very thing.
11. 2:11
    • Peter came to Antioch.
    • Paul opposed Peter to his face.
    • The reason was that Peter stood condemned.
12. 2:12
    • Before certain men came from James, Peter used to eat with the Gentiles.
    • When those men came, Peter drew back.
    • Peter separated himself.
    • Peter did this because he feared those of the circumcision.
13. 2:13
    • The rest of the Jews also acted hypocritically along with Peter.
    • Even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
14. 2:14
    • Paul saw that they were not walking straight toward the truth of the gospel.
    • Paul spoke to Peter in front of them all.
    • Paul said Peter is a Jew.
    • Paul said Peter lives like a Gentile and not like a Jew.
    • Paul asked why Peter compels the Gentiles to live like Jews.
15. 2:15
    • We are Jews by birth.
    • We are not sinners from among the Gentiles.
16. 2:16
    • A man is not justified by works of the law.
    • A man is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ.
    • We ourselves have believed in Jesus Christ.
    • We believed so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of the law.
    • By works of the law no flesh will be justified.
17. 2:17
    • Suppose that while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves are found to be sinners.
    • Paul asks whether Christ is then a servant of sin.
    • Paul denies it absolutely.
18. 2:18
    • If Paul builds again the things he tore down, he proves himself a transgressor.
19. 2:19
    • Paul died to the law through the law.
    • He died so that he might live to God.
20. 2:20
    • Paul has been crucified with Christ.
    • Paul lives, yet it is no longer he who lives.
    • Christ lives in Paul.
    • The life Paul now lives in the flesh he lives by the faith of the Son of God.
    • The Son of God loved Paul.
    • The Son of God gave himself for Paul.
21. 2:21
    • Paul does not set aside the grace of God.
    • If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

2:1

"Went up" was the ordinary way of speaking about travel to Jerusalem, which stands on high ground, no matter which direction you came from. Barnabas was a Jewish believer from Cyprus who had vouched for Paul early on and traveled with him; Titus was a Greek convert, not a Jew by birth, which is why bringing him to this meeting mattered. The fourteen years are counted either from Paul's conversion or from the earlier visit he has just described; the Greek does not settle which.

2:2

The King James "lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain" uses a footrace image, which Paul applies to his work repeatedly. The worry is not about his message being wrong but about the effort coming to nothing if the Jerusalem leaders repudiated it.

2:3

Circumcision was the surgical removal of the foreskin, performed on Jewish baby boys on the eighth day. It was the physical mark of the covenant made with Abraham and so the sign of belonging to the Jewish people. The dispute running through this letter is whether non-Jews who joined the movement had to undergo it, which in practice meant becoming Jews. "A Greek" here means simply a non-Jew, an uncircumcised outsider; it is not primarily about nationality.

2:4

The King James "privily" means secretly, and "unawares brought in" means smuggled in without anyone realizing. "Liberty" and "bondage" are the vocabulary of slavery: in the Roman world the line between a free person and a slave was the sharpest legal division there was, so the words carry more force than "freedom" and "restriction" do for us.

2:6

In 1611 English, "seemed to be somewhat" means "were reckoned to be something," that is, were held in high regard. It does not imply they only appeared important and were not. "God accepteth no man's person" translates a Greek idiom that is literally "God does not receive the face": he does not decide in someone's favor on the basis of rank or reputation. The English word "person" once carried that sense of outward standing.

2:7

"The gospel of the uncircumcision" and "the gospel of the circumcision" name two audiences, not two different messages. "The circumcision" is a standard shorthand for Jews, "the uncircumcision" for everyone else. The division being described is a division of labor.

2:8

An apostle is a person sent out with a commission, an authorized envoy. The word itself means "one who is sent," and Paul's argument here turns on his having the same commission Peter had, aimed at a different set of people.

2:9

Cephas is the Aramaic word for rock, and Peter is the Greek translation of it. They are two names for the same man, and Paul uses both in this chapter. "Pillars" pictures the community as a building held up by these three. Offering the right hand was the recognized gesture for sealing an agreement or a partnership, much as a handshake is now. The King James "heathen" translates the same word rendered "Gentiles" elsewhere in the chapter: the nations, meaning everyone who is not Jewish.

2:10

"Remember the poor" almost certainly refers to material support for the impoverished believers in Jerusalem, a collection Paul organized among his non-Jewish congregations for years afterward. The King James "forward to do" means eager to do, not "forward" in the modern sense of presumptuous.

2:11

Antioch in Syria was one of the largest cities of the empire and the base from which Paul worked; its community of believers included both Jews and non-Jews, which is what made the table question there so sharp. "He was to be blamed" means he stood condemned, that is, he was self-evidently in the wrong, not that someone had accused him.

2:12

Eating together was the issue, not food alone. Jewish law restricted which foods could be eaten and how they were prepared, and sharing a table with non-Jews risked ritual impurity and, in most Jewish opinion of the time, compromised a Jew's standing as an observant member of the people. To stop eating with the non-Jewish believers was to treat them as second class. "Them which were of the circumcision" refers to a particular group of Jewish believers who held that non-Jews must be circumcised to belong.

2:13

The King James "dissembled" and "dissimulation" translate the Greek word for playing a part on stage, the root behind our word hypocrisy. The charge is not that Peter and the others changed their minds but that their behavior no longer matched what they actually believed.

2:14

"Walked not uprightly" renders a single Greek word meaning to walk a straight line, as toward a fixed mark; the picture is of people veering off course. "To live as do the Jews" is also one Greek verb, sometimes transliterated as "judaize," meaning to take up Jewish practice: circumcision, food laws, festivals, sabbath.

2:15

"Sinners of the Gentiles" reflects a standard Jewish way of speaking, in which non-Jews were called sinners by definition because they lived outside the law given at Sinai. Paul is quoting that conventional label rather than endorsing it, and the next verse turns it against the people who use it.

2:16

"Justified" is a courtroom word: to be declared in the right, acquitted, given a favorable verdict. It is not about being made morally better but about how the verdict falls. "The works of the law" means the things the law of Moses requires a person to do, with circumcision, food rules and calendar observance especially in view here, since those are the practices under dispute. The King James "the faith of Jesus Christ" reproduces a Greek construction that can mean either faith directed toward Christ or the faithfulness Christ himself showed; the question has been argued for centuries and the grammar does not decide it. "No flesh shall be justified" uses a Hebrew turn of phrase in which "flesh" stands for a living human being: no one at all.

2:17

"God forbid" is the King James translators' way of rendering a short, emphatic Greek expression that contains no word for God and means roughly "may it never happen." A "minister" in 1611 English is a servant or agent, someone who carries out another's business, so the question is whether Christ turns out to be working on sin's behalf.

2:18

A "transgressor" is literally someone who steps across a line, a lawbreaker. The image of building again what you tore down is a builder's image: putting back the very structure you demolished proves that demolishing it was the offense.

2:19

"Dead to the law" uses a legal commonplace: death ends a person's obligations, since the dead are beyond the reach of claims against them. Paul is saying his relationship to the law has been terminated in that sense, and terminated by the law's own working.

2:20

Crucifixion was a Roman public execution, reserved chiefly for slaves, rebels and the lowest criminals, and considered the most shameful way to die. Saying "I am crucified with Christ" borrows that specific, degrading death as the image for what has happened to the speaker's old self. "The life which I now live in the flesh" means life in the body, ordinary daily existence; "flesh" in the King James often carries that neutral sense of physical human life.

2:21

"Frustrate" in 1611 English means to nullify or set aside, to make something void, not to annoy or thwart in the modern sense. "Grace" is favor freely given to someone who has no claim on it. "Christ is dead in vain" means Christ died for nothing, to no purpose.