Galatians 2:15

THE MESSAGE

We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,”

King James Version (1611)
We who are Iewes by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

King James Version
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

English Standard Version
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;

New American Standard Bible
"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from the Gentiles;

New Century Version
We were not born as non-Jewish "sinners," but as Jews.

Amplified Bible
[I went on to say] "We are Jews by birth and not sinners from among the Gentiles;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;

Legacy Standard Bible
"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;

Berean Standard Bible
We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile 'sinners'

Contemporary English Version
We are Jews by birth and are not sinners like Gentiles.

Complete Jewish Bible
We are Jews by birth, not so-called ‘Goyishe sinners';

Darby Translation
We, Jews by nature, and not sinners of [the] nations,

Easy-to-Read Version
We are Jews by birth. We were not born "sinners," as we call those who are not Jews.

Geneva Bible (1587)
We which are Iewes by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

George Lamsa Translation
For if we who are of Jewish origin, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

Good News Translation
Indeed, we are Jews by birth and not "Gentile sinners," as they are called.

Lexham English Bible
We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles,

Literal Translation
We, Jews by nature, and not sinners of the nations,

American Standard Version
We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

Bible in Basic English
We being Jews by birth, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

Hebrew Names Version
"We, being Yehudim by nature, and not Goy sinners,

International Standard Version
We ourselves are Jews by birth, and not Gentile sinners,Matthew 9:11; Acts 15:10-11; Ephesians 2:3,12;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
If we who by our nature are Jihudoyee, and are not of the Gentile sinners,

Murdock Translation
For if we, who are Jews by nature, and are not sinners of the Gentiles,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
We [which are] Iewes by nature, and not sinners of the gentiles,

English Revised Version
We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

World English Bible
"We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
We who are Jews by nature,

Weymouth's New Testament
You and I, though we are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
We Jewis of kynde, and not synful men of the hethene,

Update Bible Version
We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

Webster's Bible Translation
We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

New English Translation
We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,

New King James Version
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

New Living Translation
"You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners' like the Gentiles.

New Life Bible
You and I were born Jews. We were not sinners from among the people who are not Jews.

New Revised Standard
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
We, by nature Jews, and not sinners from among the nations,

Douay-Rheims Bible
We by nature are Jews: and not of the Gentiles, sinners.

Revised Standard Version
We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
We which are Iewes by nature and not synners of the getyls

Young's Literal Translation
we by nature Jews, and not sinners of the nations,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Though we be Iewes by nature, and not synners of the Gentyles,

Mace New Testament (1729)
We are Jews by birth, and not of the sinful race of the Gentiles,

Simplified Cowboy Version
"Me and you were born Jews. The Jews like to say anyone not born a Jew is a sinner. Neither of us were born sinners.

Contextual Overview

¹¹Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. Here's the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That's how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that's been pushing the old system of circumcision. Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade. ¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: "If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you're not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?" ¹⁵We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good. ¹⁷Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. 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. ¹⁹What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Jews: Matthew 3:7-9, John 8:39-41, Romans 4:16, Ephesians 2:3

sinners: Matthew 9:11, Mark 7:26-28, Acts 22:21, Romans 3:9, Ephesians 2:11, Ephesians 2:12, Titus 3:3

Reciprocal: Matthew 15:26 - It is not John 9:34 - wast Acts 10:11 - and a Acts 10:45 - the Gentiles Romans 2:9 - of the Jew Romans 2:17 - thou art Romans 11:17 - being Philippians 3:7 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done. This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Genesis 2:8
Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.

Ephesians 4:28
Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can't work.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

We who are Jews by nature,.... I Paul, and you Peter and Barnabas, and the rest of the Jews at Antioch. Some are Jews by grace, in a spiritual sense, as all are that are Christ's, that are true believers in him, that are born again, and have internal principles of grace formed in their souls, of whatsoever nation they be; see Romans 2:28. Others become Jews by being proselytes to the Jewish religion: such were the Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven, that were dwelling at Jerusalem, when the Spirit was poured down on the apostles on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:5, but these here spoken of were such as were Jews by birth; they were born so, were descended of Jewish parents, and from their infancy were brought up in the Jewish religion, and under the law of Moses, and in the observance of it:

and not sinners of the Gentiles: רשעי אומות הiעלם, "the wicked of the nations of the world", as the l Jews call them. Not but that the Jews also were sinners both by nature and practice, were involved in the guilt of sin, under the power of it, and defiled with it, as the apostle elsewhere most fully proves: nor is this said with regard to the vain opinion the Jews had of themselves, as very holy and righteous persons, who in their own apprehension needed neither repentance nor remission; and who looked upon the Gentiles as very unholy and unfit for conversation with them: but this more particularly respects that part of the character of the Heathens, that they were without the law, and were under no restraints, but lived in all manner of wickedness, without hope and God in the world, and so were notorious sinners, filled with all unrighteousness, profligate and abandoned to every evil work, and are therefore called emphatically "sinful men", Luke 24:7. And indeed the word εθνος, Gentiles, among themselves is sometimes used for

μερος τι ποςηροτατον, "a certain most wicked part" of Gentiles in a city m, and so may here design such who lived the most dissolute lives and conversations, to which the Jews are opposed, who had a written law, and were under a better regulation and discipline. The reason of this description, both in the positive and negative branch of it, is to observe, that since they, the apostles, and others, who were born Jews, and so under the law of Moses, and, until Christ came, were under obligation to observe it, but had now relinquished it, and wholly and alone believed in Christ for righteousness and life; then it was the most unreasonable thing in the world, by any means whatever, to lead the Gentiles, who never were under the law, to an observance of it.

l Mattanot Cehunah in Vajikra Rabba, fol. 164. 3. m Harpocratian. Lex. p. 93.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We who are Jews by nature - It has long been a question whether this and the following verses are to be regarded as a part of the address of Paul to Peter, or the words of Paul as a part of the Epistle to the Galatians. A great variety of opinion has prevailed in regard to this. Grotius says, “Here the narrative of Paul being closed, he pursues his argument to the Galatians.” In this opinion Bloomfield and many others concur. Rosenmuller and many others suppose that the address to Peter is continued to Galatians 2:21. Such seems to be the most obvious interpretation, as there is no break or change in the style, nor any vestige of a transfer of the argument to the Galatians. But, on the other hand, it may be urged:

(1) That Paul in his writings often changes his mode of address without indicating it - Bloomfield.

(2) That it is rather improbable that he should have gone into so long a discourse with Peter on the subject of justification. His purpose was answered by the reproof of Peter for his dissimulation; and there is something incongruous, it is said, in his instructing Peter at such length on the subject of man’s justification. Still it appears to me probable that this is to be regarded as a part of the discourse of Paul to Peter, to the close of Galatians 2:21.

The following reasons seem to me to require this interpretation:

(1) It is the most natural and obvious - usually a safe rule of interpretation. The discourse proceeds as if it were an address to Peter.

(2) There is a change at the beginning of the next chapter, where Paul expressly addresses himself to the Galatians.

(3) As to the impropriety of Paul’s addressing Peter at length on the subject of justification, we are to bear in mind that he did not address him alone.

The reproof was addressed to Peter particularly, but it was “before them all” Galatians 2:14; that is, before the assembled church, or before the persons who had been led astray by the conduct of Peter, and who were in danger of error on the subject of justification. Nothing, therefore, was more proper than for Paul to continue his discourse for their benefit, and to state to them fully the doctrine of justification. And nothing was more pertinent or proper for him now than to report this to the Galatians as a part of his argument to them, showing that he had always, since his conversion, held and defended the same doctrine on the subject of the way in which people are to be justified in the sight of God. It is, therefore, I apprehend, to be regarded as an address to Peter and the other Jews who were present. “We who were born Jews.”

By nature - By birth; or, we were born Jews. We were not born in the condition of the Gentiles.

And not sinners of the Gentiles - This cannot mean that Paul did not regard the Jews as sinners, for his views on that subject he has fully expressed in Romans 2:0; Romans 3:0. But it must mean that the Jews were not born under the disadvantages of the Gentiles in regard to the true knowledge of the way of salvation. They were not left wholly in ignorance about the way of justification, as the Gentiles were. They knew, or they might know, that men could not be saved by their own works. It was also true that they were under more restraint than the Gentiles were, and though they were sinners, yet they were not abandoned to so gross and open sensuality as was the pagan world. They were not idolaters, and wholly ignorant of the Law of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 15. We who are Jews by nature — We who belong to the Jewish nation-who have been born, bred, and educated Jews.

And not sinners of the Gentiles — αμαρτωλοι. Not without the knowledge of God, as they have been. αμαρτωλος often signifies a heathen, merely one who had no knowledge of the true God. But among the nations or Gentiles many Jews sojourned; who in Scripture are known by the name of Hellenists, and these were distinguished from those who were termed εξ εθνων αμαρτωλοι, sinners of the Gentiles-heathens, in our common sense of the word; while the others, though living among them, were worshippers of the true God, and addicted to no species of idolatry. Some have translated this passage thus: We Jews, and not Gentiles, by nature sinners; for it is supposed that φυσει here refers to that natural corruption which every man brings into the world. Now, though the doctrine be true, (and the state of man, and universal experience confirm it,) yet it can neither be supported from this place, nor even from Ephesians 2:3. Romans 2:16. It appears, from the use of this word by some of the best Greek authors, that φυσει did not signify by nature, as we use the word, but expressed the natural birth, family, or nation of a man; to distinguish him from any other family or nation. I can give a few instances of this, which are brought to my hand in a small elegant pamphlet, written by Dr. Munter, the present bishop of Zealand, entitled Observationum ex marmoribus Graecis Sacrarum Specimen, and which has been lent to me by the right honourable Lord Teignmouth, to whose condescension, kindness, and learning, many of my studies have been laid under particular obligation.

The word in question is the xxviiith example in the above pamphlet, the substance of which is as follows: In an inscription on a Greek marble, given by Dr. Chandler, page 27, we find these words Ὁ γαμβρος μου Λεων Αρτεμεισιου, ὁ επικαλουμενος Ιασων, οικονει μεν Μειλησιος, φυσει δε Ιασευς· "My son-in-law, Leo, the son of Artemisius, who is called a Jasian, is of the house of Milesius, though by nature he is from Jaso." That is: Jaso being a town of Caria, this Leo is said to be φυσειιασευς, by nature a Jasian, although he sprang from the Milesian family. The following examples will place this in a clearer light. Josephus, Ant. Jud., lib. xi. cap. vi. sec. 5, speaking of Amanes, the Amalekite, says: Και γαρ φυσει τοις Ιουδαιοις απηχθανετο, ὁτι και το γενος των Αμαλεκιτων, εξ ὡν ην αυτος, ὑπ' αυτων διεφθαρτο· "For he was by nature incensed against the Jews, because the nation of the Amalekites, from whom he sprang, had been destroyed by them;" that is, he had a national prejudice or hatred to the Jewish people on the above account. The following example from Dio Chrysostom, Orat. xxxi., is also to the point: Οἱγε (Αθηναιοι) τον δεινα μεν Ολυμπιον κεκληκασι, ουδε φυσει πολιτην ἑαυτων· "For they (the Athenians) called this person an Olympian, though by nature he was not their citizen;" that is, he was called an Olympian, though he was not naturally of that city, or, in other words, he was not born there. From these examples, and the scope of the place, we may argue that the words, we who are Jews by nature, mean, we who were born in the land of Judea, and of Jewish parents. And hence the passage in Ephesians 2:3, which speaks most evidently of the heathens, "and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others," may be thus understood: Being Gentiles, and brought up in gross darkness, without any knowledge of God, abandoned to all sensual living, we were, from our very condition, and practical state, exposed to punishment. This sense is at least equally good with that given of the words in Romans 2:16, where it is proved that φυσει, in several connections, means truly, certainly, incontestably; "we were, beyond all controversy, exposed to punishment, because we had been born among idolaters, and have lived as they did. Here both senses of the word apply.