Galatians 2:11-21

Freedom from the Law

11 But when Cephas[a] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.[b]
12 For he used to eat with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.
13 Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas[c] in front of everyone, "If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?"[d]
15 We are Jews by birth and not "Gentile sinners";
16 yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.[e] And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ[f] and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will[g] be justified.
17 But if, while seeking to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also found to be sinners, is Christ then a promoter[h] of sin? Absolutely not!
18 If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.
19 For through the law I have died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ;
20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh,[i] I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Footnotes 9

  • [a]. Other mss read Peter
  • [b]. Or he was in the wrong
  • [c]. Other mss read Peter
  • [d]. Some translations continue the quotation through v. 16 or v. 21.
  • [e]. Or by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ
  • [f]. Or by the faithfulness of Christ
  • [g]. Lit law all flesh will not
  • [h]. Or servant
  • [i]. The physical body
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