Galatians 2:18

18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

Galatians 2:18 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
English Standard Version (ESV)
18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
New Living Translation (NLT)
18 Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down.
The Message Bible (MSG)
18 If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.
American Standard Version (ASV)
18 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
18 If I rebuild something that I've torn down, I admit that I was wrong to tear it down.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
18 If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
18 Suppose I build again what I had destroyed. Then I prove that I break the Law.

Galatians 2:18 Meaning and Commentary

Galatians 2:18

For if I build again the things which I destroyed
Which must be understood not of good things, for formerly he destroyed the faith of the Gospel, at least as much as in him lay, and now he built it up, established, and defended it; in doing which he did no evil, or made himself a transgressor, but the reverse; he showed himself a faithful minister of Christ: but of things not lawful, such as the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses, which were now abrogated, and he had declared to be so all over the Gentile world; and therefore should he go about to establish these things as necessary to salvation, or teach men to join the observance of them with Christ's righteousness for justification, then, says he,

I make myself a transgressor:
for he could not be otherwise, be the case how it would with respect to the abrogation, or non-abrogation of the law; for if the law was not abolished, then he made himself a transgressor of it; by neglecting it himself, and teaching others to do so; and if it was abolished, then it must be criminal in him to enforce the observance of it as necessary to a sinner's justification before God. Now though the apostle transfers this to himself, and spoke in his own person to decline all invidious reflections and characters; yet he tacitly regards Peter, and his conduct, who had been taught by the vision the abrogation of the ceremonial law, and acted accordingly by conversing and eating with the Gentiles, and had declared that law to be an insupportable yoke of bondage, which the Gentiles were not obliged to come under; and yet now, by his practice and example, built up and established those very things he had before destroyed, and therefore could not exculpate himself, from being a transgressor: or these things may regard sins and immoralities in life and conversation; and the apostle's sense be, that should he, or any other, take encouragement to sin from the doctrine of free justification by the righteousness of Christ, as if he was the author and minister of sin, and allowed persons in it; this would be to establish sin, which the righteousness of Christ justifies from, and engage in a living in sin, to which, by Christ's righteousness, they are dead unto; than which, nothing can be, a greater contradiction, and which must unavoidably make them not only transgressors of the law, by sinning against it, but apostates, as the word (parabathv) here used signifies, from the Gospel; such must act quite contrary to the nature, use, and design of the Gospel in general, and this doctrine in particular, which teaches men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and that being dead to sin, they should live unto righteousness.

Galatians 2:18 In-Context

16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!
18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
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