Bible Commentaries
Galatians 2

Verse 1

Gal 2:1

Galatians 2:1

Then after the space of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem—This visit to Jerusalem was to have the question of circumcising the Gentile converts, as a condition of their acceptance with God, settled by the apostles. [Since for the purpose of his argument that he had not been dependent on the other apostles (Galatians 1:12; Galatians 1:17), that is in contact with them, it is pertinent to mention the fact that throughout the period of which he is speaking Jerusalem was the headquarters of the apostles. And this being the case the denial, by implication, was the strongest possible way of denying communication with them. It follows also that, had there been other visits to Jerusalem in this period, he must have mentioned them, un­less indeed they had been made under conditions which ex­cluded communication with the apostles, and this fact had been well known to his readers. Even in that case he would naturally have spoken of them, and appealed to the well- known absence of the apostles or spoken, not of going to Jeru­salem, but of seeing those who were apostles before him. The argument is strengthened by the use of the word “after,” which suggests that the period of fourteen years constituted a period of non-communication with the apostles.]

with Barnabas,—As the prophets and teachers at Antioch ministered to the Lord, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them,” and they sent them away, and they went through Cy­prus, the home of Barnabas; and then through the provinces of Asia Minor, proclaiming the word of God, and returning to Antioch, and called the church together, and rehearsed all things that God had done with them; and that he had opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles. “And certain men came down from Judaea and taught the brethren, saying, Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and questioning with them, the brethren appointed that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” (Acts 15:1-2).

taking Titus also with me.—[It should be noted carefully that it does not say that Paul took Barnabas as well as Titus, for the church at Antioch had appointed that Barnabas equally with Paul should go to Jerusalem. Nor was it Titus as well as others—for there were others appointed by the church to go (Acts 15:2), but Paul makes no reference to them. The also calls attention to the fact of Paul’s taking Titus in view of the sequel, as though he had said: “I not only went up to Jerusalem at this particular time under divine direction, but I took with me Titus besides.” With refers to Paul himself—“Titus who was with me." (Verse 3). From this it appears that Paul wished him to go, as an uncircumcised disciple, doubtless to have a practical example of what they would re­quire in the case. This question was one that reached and be­came a disturbing element in every church among the Gen­tiles.]

Verse 2

Gal 2:2

Galatians 2:2

And I went up by revelation;—Paul was directed by the Holy Spirit to go up to Jerusalem and let the apostles decide the question. The Holy Spirit had decided it for Paul, and he taught the decision to the people; but the disaffected portion of the disciples denied his apostleship, and ability to decide such questions. [We can well conceive that amid the dis­putes at Antioch Paul sought counsel from God, and received a special reply, which moved him to undertake the journey. This revelation, guiding Paul’s movements, attests his close relation to God. In Luke’s account (Acts 13:1-2) of this he tells of the appointment of Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusa­lem in order to promote the settlement of the anxious contro­versy.]

and I laid before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles—[The persons to whom this communication was made were the disciples in Jerusalem. Perhaps we can more clearly understand what is meant here by referring to Acts 25:14-21. There we are told that Festus laid Paul’s case be­fore Agrippa with the view of careful consultation concerning it. So here Paul, in harmony with the purpose for which he had gone to Jerusalem, laid before the brethren the gospel he was preaching to the Gentiles—the conditions of salvation and the obligations of believers. It should be noted that the word preach is in the present tense, which asserts the continuity and consistency of his preaching, even to the moment of writ­ing this epistle.]

but privately—He did this privately because he had been more or less misrepresented by his detractors. These private consultations were a wise precaution to avoid misunderstanding. Such private conferences are usually held in connection with public assemblies for the purpose of preparing and ma­turing business for final action.

before them who were of repute,—James, Cephas, and John, and others who were reputed leaders of the church in Jerusa­lem.

lest by any means I should be running, or had run, in vain.—[The whole phrase implies that Paul saw in the existing sit­uation a danger that his work on behalf of the Gentiles, both past and future, might be rendered ineffectual by the opposi­tion of the Jerusalem church, or of certain men in it, and the disapproval of the apostles, and fearing this, he sought to avert it.]

Verse 3

Gal 2:3

Galatians 2:3

But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:—Certain false brethren of the Judaizing party brought him into the conference unawares to Paul and the apostles, and demanded that he should be cir­cumcised.

Verse 4

Gal 2:4

Galatians 2:4

and that because of the false brethren privily brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,—The freedom of which the apostle speaks is, of course, the freedom of the Christian from the bondage to the law, which would have been surrendered in principle and practice if the Gentile Christians had been compelled to be cir­cumcised. (Galatians 4:8-31; Galatians 5:1-3; Galatians 5:13). [That he calls it “our liberty” shows that, although the obligation of the Gentiles to be cir­cumcised was the particular question at issue, this was in Paul’s mind only a part of a larger question, which concerned both Jewish and Gentile Christians. The Antioch incident (verses 11-21) shows how closely the question of freedom of the Jews was connected with that of the liberty of the Gentile Christians.]

that they might bring us into bondage:—That is, to the law, implying an already possessed freedom. This language refers to Christians in general, not to the Gentiles exclusively. Paul distinctly charges that these men entered the church for a prop­agandist purpose, in order to make a legalistic body of it.

Verse 5

Gal 2:5

Galatians 2:5

to whom we gave place in the way of subjection, no, not for an hour;—He clearly saw that to yield to false brethren would be in effect to surrender the gospel of Christ. This he positively refused to do. [In antithesis to the possibility of his work proving fruitless (by reason of the opposition of the Jerusalem church and the apostles) Paul here sets forth the fact that on this very occasion and in a test case his decision prevailed. The fact of the presence of Titus with Paul had al­ready been mentioned in the preceding sentence. Its repeti­tion here is evidently, therefore, for an argumentative pur­pose, and doubtless as emphasizing the significance of the fact that he was not circumcised. It is upon this element that not even throws its emphasis. The opponents of Paul, the “false brethren,” desired, of course, the circumcision of all Gentile Christians. But so far were they from carrying through their demand that not even Titus, who was there on the ground at the time, and to whom the demand would first of all apply, was not circumcised. The noncircumcision of Titus, there­fore, was in reality a decision of the principle.]

that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.—He did this that the truth of the gospel might continue with the Gentiles, which could not be if they observed the law of Moses. (Galatians 5:2-3).

Verse 6

Gal 2:6

Galatians 2:6

But from those who were reputed to be somewhat—So far from Paul receiving the gospel from the apostles, those who in conference seemed to be the most important, most referred to, added nothing to him, taught him nothing that had not al­ready been revealed to him, showing that God had as fully en­trusted his will to Paul as to the chiefest of the apostles.

(whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth not man’s person)—they, I say, who were of repute imparted nothing to me:—In this parenthesis he evidently re­fers not to personal character but to standing, which the three here referred to had by reason of their personal relation to Jesus while he was in the flesh, in the case of James as his brother, in that of Peter and John as his personal followers. This fact of their history was undoubtedly referred to by the opponents of Paul as giving them standing and authority wholly superior to any that he could claim. (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:16; 2 Corinthians 10:7). Paul answers that the facts of this sort do not con­cern him, have no significance. Apostleship rests on a present relation to the glorified Christ, open to him equally with them.

Verse 7

Gal 2:7

Galatians 2:7

but contrariwise, when they saw that I had been intrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the gospel of the circumcision—So far from giving to him fresh ideas and thoughts, they recognized that God had committed to him the gospel of the uncircumcision, as he had the gospel of the circumcision to Peter. That is, God had as fully in­spired Paul to preach to the Gentiles as he had Peter to the Jews. For he that enabled Peter to work as an apostle effec­tually to the Jews was equally gracious to Paul in enabling him to work among the Gentiles. [The gospel is the same, but the sphere of labor is different. Paul was directed to the field of his labor among the Gentiles at his conversion (Acts 9:15), and more clearly by a special revelation in the temple at Jerusalem (Acts 22:17-20). Yet the division of labor was not absolute and exclusive. Paul generally commenced his work in the various places he visited in the synagogue be­cause it furnished the most convenient locality and the natural historical connection for the beginning of gospel work, and because it was resorted to by the numerous proselytes who formed the most favorable access to the heathen. On the other hand, Peter opened the door for the conversion of the Gentiles by the conversion and baptism of Cornelius.]

Verse 8

Gal 2:8

Galatians 2:8

(for he that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of the circumcision wrought for me also unto the Gentiles);—Paul was as fully enabled to work miracles among the Gentiles as Peter was among the Jews. This was recognized as the mani­festation of the divine presence and of apostolic power and au­thority.

Verse 9

Gal 2:9

Galatians 2:9

and when they perceived the grace that was given unto me,—The grace that was given unto Paul sums up the facts of his having been put in trust of the gospel of the uncircumci­sion, and of God’s having wrought on his behalf in his dis­charge of that trust.

James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars,—Pillars or supports, leading men, chief champions in the church. The expression is used in all languages, espe­cially among the Jews of the great teachers of the law. [Paul does not deny his colleagues to be the leading apostles among the Jews; they were so still in fact as he was the pillar in the church among the Gentiles; but the Judaizers used the ex­pression in a partisan sense and with a view to deprecate Paul.]

gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship,—This was done to express their approval of the work in which they were engaged. The work of Paul and Barnabas among the Gentiles had been called in question, and they had been discouraged by many; these apostles, to encourage them and to show to all gainsayers that they regarded Paul and Barna­bas on an equal footing with the very chiefest apostles.

that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the cir­cumcision;—Thus Paul shows that the very apostles in praise of whom these people denied his apostleship had endorsed Paul and Barnabas as apostles. [The mutual recognition of the different spheres in which each was called to preach does not mean that Paul and Barnabas were precluded from preaching to the Jews, or the others to the Gentiles. The one message of salvation was to be offered to men, as they were, whether circumcised or uncircumcised. The whole evidence, therefore, clearly indicates that the meaning of the agreement was that Paul and Barnabas were to preach the gospel in Gentile lands, and the other apostles in Jewish lands.]

Verse 10

Gal 2:10

Galatians 2:10

only—[They had but one stipulation to make, and that did not touch the matter of preaching at all—so little founda­tion was there for the charge that Paul was indebted to the original apostles, either for the matter of the gospel he preached or for the authority to preach it.]

they would that we should remember the poor;—Remember the poor saints in Judaea. This would not only afford tempo­ral relief to the needy, but be a bond of union between the Jewish and Gentile believers, and furnish a proof of the grati­tude of the Gentiles, to the Jews for the unspeakable gift of the blessings of the gospel which came through them. Such a collection was raised during the great famine in the reign of Claudius Caesar, by the church at Antioch, as early as A.D. 41, and sent to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11:28-30). On his third missionary tour Paul raised a large contribution in the Gentile churches for this purpose, and accompanied by messengers of the churches took it to Je­rusalem. That he had respected the wish of the church at Je­rusalem in the matter was well known to the Galatians, before whom he had laid the claims of the Jewish brethren. (1 Corinthians 16:1; Romans 15:25-27; 2 Corinthians 8:8-9; Acts 24:17).

Paul did this no doubt out of kindness for them in their suf­ferings, and also as a means of breaking down the feelings of enmity between the Jews and Gentiles. When the Gentiles gave to the Jews, it eradicated in their hearts all feelings of bitterness against the Jews, and it had a tendency to subdue the feelings of enmity on the part of the Jews toward the Gen­tiles.

which very thing I was also zealous to do.—In this he inti­mates that he did not need the admonition the apostles gave him, and his practice vindicated his claim.

Verse 11

Gal 2:11

Galatians 2:11

But when Cephas came to Antioch,—Paul sojourned at Antioch both before and after he had brought the decrees of the apostles at Jerusalem on the subject of circumcision. While he was in Antioch, Peter came to the city. There has been differences among Bible students as to whether this visit was before or after the conference. From the interviews Paul reports in this epistle of his having with Peter up to the time of the conference, I am confident that it could not have been before. [The most judicious commentators claim that this visit of Peter to Antioch took place soon after the return of Paul and Barnabas from Jerusalem, in the interval described in Acts 15:35, shortly before the separation of Paul and Barna­bas, and the departure of Paul on his second missionary jour­ney.]

I resisted him to the face,—[This instance is one of faithful public reproof; and every circumstance in it is worthy of special attention, as it furnishes a most important illustration of the manner in which such reproof should be conducted—it was done openly and frankly and addressed to the offender himself. This was a case so public and well known that Paul administered the reproof before the whole church.]

because he stood condemned.—[He was condemned by his own inconsistency. By first eating with the Gentiles and then pressing upon them observance of the very principle he had violated.] Some think that Peter could not have been guilty of such a course after he had aided in reaching the decision at the conference; but he had been instrumental in introducing the Gentiles into the church, at the house of Cornelius, some ten years before this, and knew that God had accepted them. His course was not the result of ignorance, but of fear of of­fending the Jewish prejudice. His wrong would have been as great before as after the conference.

Verse 12

Gal 2:12

Galatians 2:12

For before that certain came from James, he ate with the Gentiles;—[The visit to which reference is made took place soon after the return of Paul and Barnabas from Jerusalem, in the interval described in Acts 15; 35, shortly before the sepa­ration of Paul and Barnabas, and the departure of Paul on his second missionary journey.] While on this visit, with Paul and Barnabas, he ate with the Gentile brethren.

but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing them that were of the circumcision.—Some came from James at Jerusalem, stirred up the prejudice on the subject, and Peter withdrew from this association with the Gentiles, fearing the Jews. [It would be wrong to charge that James so instructed the men who came, for we are warned against this by the fact that the men from Jerusalem who stirred up the first strife in Antioch received no commandment at all. (Acts 15:24).]

Verse 13

Gal 2:13

Galatians 2:13

And the rest of the Jews dissembled likewise with him;—The other Jews dissembled and acted the hypocrite with Peter. [The men who had hitherto eaten with the uncircum­cised and now withdrew because they shrank from giving of­fense were, in fact, affecting religious scruples which they did not feel, and Paul does not hesitate to denounce such insincer­ity by saying they acted hypocritically.]

insomuch that even Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation.—The current became so strong that Barnabas, who had been reared in Cyprus among Gentiles, and had la­bored among the Gentiles, was swept into the current of dis­simulation, and withdrew with the others from association with them.

Verse 14

Gal 2:14

Galatians 2:14

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly accord­ing to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Cephas before them all,—When Paul saw that they walked not according to the way of truth, he rebuked Peter as the leading apostle and most blameworthy of all, before all, that all might be rebuked. [For only in this public way the censure could have its de­sired effect upon the body of Jewish Christians.]

If thou, being a Jew, livest as do the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews,—[Peter had lived as a Gentile in the house of Cor­nelius, in Caesarea, and had done the same for a time in An­tioch.]

how compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?—[Now, by withdrawing from the Gentiles, he was virtually say­ing to the Gentiles that they must live like the Jews or they could not have social intercourse with him.] Peter sought salvation not according to the Mosaic law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, which admitted persons not as Jews, but as men. This caused Peter to illustrate a truth we well rec­ognize, that is, that the miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit did not save, as it gave them the knowledge of the truth. It re­vealed the truth to them, then kept them under that truth to struggle with the temptations to do wrong as other men. The Jews reared in Gentile lands of necessity did not imbibe the strong prejudices against association with the Gentiles as the Jews of Judaea cherished. Paul, then, was not the subject of so strong prejudices as Peter, the chief of the apostles, for his course. We are not told, but Peter must have acknowledged his wrong under this reproof and changed his course. Not to have done so, when his sin was thus pointed out, would have intensified it. For him to acknowledge his wrong would have been another acknowledgment of Paul’s superiority to him. The facts of the case show this whether Peter owned it or not. It is introduced as a crowning truth to his claims to be the equal of the foremost apostle. God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and all the apostles own him as an apostle. Why should these Galatians, his own children in the gospel, call it in question?

Verse 15

Gal 2:15

Galatians 2:15

We being Jews by nature,—[The outspoken protest against an insidious attempt to force on Gentiles the Jewish law leads naturally to an inquiry what this law has done for men who are Jews by birth. Did it justify them before God? They knew it did not. They had to turn to Christ for the peace with God which the law could not give.]

and not sinners of the Gentiles,—[This expresses the inso­lent contempt of Judaizers for Gentiles, who did not belong to the holy nation nor inherit the law and the covenants. Yet in spite of these arrogant pretensions to superior sanctity they were driven by their own consciousness of being sinners to embrace the faith in Christ because they knew that no flesh could possibly be so perfect in obedience to law as to be thereby justified.]

Verse 16

Gal 2:16

Galatians 2:16

yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,—Those who came into Christ from the Jews knew that a man is not justified by the works of the Jewish law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ,—Even Paul and Peter sought justification through Christ instead of depending on the works of the law to justify them. In doing this they ignored or turned from that which made them Jews, and identified themselves in so doing with sinners needing a Savior. [We cannot doubt that Peter, before Andrew led him to Jesus, and Paul, before he went to Damascus, had sought the favor of God by obedience to the law; and that the failure of their search had taught them that thus it cannot be obtained. Indeed without this preparation the words of Jesus to Peter (Matthew 16:19), and afterwards to Paul (Acts 26:19), would have been ineffective. Until we find that our good works cannot save us, we cannot trust for salvation to the word of Christ. Consequently these words are true of all who venture to repose faith in Christ, and they were a powerful appeal to Peter’s remembrance of his own life. For he was now practically setting up a condi­tion, and in this sense a means, which, when he first came to Christ, he had forsaken because he had found from it salvation could not be obtained. In Paul’s address to Peter he appeals to him to take their own case. Although they were born Jews and not the offspring of idolaters and sharers of the awful im­morality of heathenism, yet, inasmuch as they found by expe­rience that no justification comes from works done in obedi­ence to the law, but only through faith in Christ, even we born Jews and as compared with other moral men put faith in Christ in order that in him we might have a justification not to be derived from works of law.]

and not by the works of the law:—The works here referred to are the works of Moses which the Jews trusted in for salva­tion. In coming to Christ they turned from all that was dis­tinctively Jewish.

because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.—It is true that no man could be justified by the law because no man left to himself could obey the law without fault, and only perfect obedience could bring justification through law, but Paul is not dealing in abstractions here. He is contrast­ing the salvation through works of the Jewish law, which the Jews sought and the salvation through Christ. The same thing is taught in the following: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” (Romans 8:3). The law of Moses had failed to keep the Jews from sin, and it was taken out of the way and faith in Christ Jesus is presented as leading to salvation.

Verse 17

Gal 2:17

Galatians 2:17

But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ,—The word sought suggests that they who followed after a low of righteousness did not arrive at that law (Romans 9:30-31) and had then turned themselves to Christ for the satisfaction which the law had not afforded them.

we ourselves also were found sinners,—They discovered themselves to be sinners, suggesting the surprise of the Jew who learned for the first time that before God he had no moral superiority over the Gentiles whom he contemptuously called sinners, while he esteemed himself to be righteous (verse 15; Romans 7:10), and now in the light of the life and death of Jesus Christ the Jew discovered himself to be exactly in the same condition (Romans 3:9).

is Christ a minister of sin?—Did Christ make them sinners when through his gospel he revealed to them their sinful con­dition, and they learned that they all with their legal righteous­ness were under sin (Romans 3:9), and that “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified”?

God forbid.—An expression of strong denial and aversion, rebutting an unjustifiable inference from his teaching.

Verse 18

Gal 2:18

Galatians 2:18

For if I build up again those things which I destroyed,—He had preached Christ as to the end of the law. It was their tutor to bring them to Christ that they might be justified through faith in Christ, but when faith came they were no longer under law. (Galatians 3:24-25). Then if he by observing the law built up what he had pulled down, he made himself a trans­gressor. He and all who had preached Christ had preached that the law was fulfilled, taken out of the way, nailed to the cross. For him to observe the law and teach others to ob­serve it was to nullify the death of Jesus and to take away the results of his death.

I prove myself a transgressor.—[If Peter did right in refus­ing to eat with the Gentiles, he had done wrong in associating with them earlier; if he had done right to obey the vision from heaven, he was a transgressor in disobeying it now.]

Verse 19

Gal 2:19

Galatians 2:19

For I through the law died unto the law,—Paul was brought by the law to Christ. Jesus said: “Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me.” And, "For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.” (John 5:39; John 5:46). Of Timothy it is said: “From a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15). [To die to a thing is to cease to have any relation to it, so that it has no further claim upon or control over one. (Romans 6:2; Romans 6:10-11; Romans 7:6). That to which reference is here made is evidently the law as a legalistic sys­tem, a body of statutes legalistically interpreted. It was on the basis of the law in this sense that it was demanded that the Gentile believers should be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. It was under this that Paul had lived as a Phari­see, and under which he had ceased to live—died to it. How the necessity of abandoning the law was made evident to him by law, Paul does not here state, but it is most probable that he had in mind his experience under the law, which he de­scribes in Romans 7:7-25, where he tells us that his own ex­perience under it taught him his own inability to meets its re­quirements and its own ability to make him righteous, and thus led him finally to abandon it, and seek salvation through Christ. (Philippians 3:5-9).]

that I might live unto God.—In entering into Christ he died unto the law, that in Christ he might live unto God. [This im­plies that subjection to the law in reality prevented the unre­served devotion of the life to God—this is one vice of legal­ism, that it comes between the soul and God—and that it had to be abandoned if the life was really to be given to God.]

Verse 20

Gal 2:20

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ;—Christ was crucified, died to the law. Paul was crucified with Christ and so died to the law. Having died to the law, he was made alive in Christ. [Christ, though he had fully dispatched every obligation im­posed by the law, endured the extreme penalty prescribed for “every transgression and disobedience.” (Hebrews 2:2). When one, therefore, believes with the heart that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), he acknowl­edges the judgment of God against sin to be just, and accepts the death of Christ as the execution of that judgment upon him for his own guilt. In thus believing he becomes identified with Christ in his death, and since death nullifies all claims and obligations is “made dead to the law” (Romans 7:4) and ceases to be under the jurisdiction of the law. The idea of the be­liever’s death reappears in Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:11-12. The reference to this mode of execution, with its association with shame, heightens the contrast between the fancied law keep­ing of his opponents and the actual fact of their absolute failure to attain to righteousness thereby. The shame of the cross was not his who died upon it, but theirs whose trans­gression and disobedience made the cross necessary.]

and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:—Christ lived in Paul. He, through faith in Christ, was made alive in him. The life of Christ was reproduced in him. [Christ lived in him by his Spirit. “If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:9-10). Christ in his glorified body is in heaven, but he is represented here by the Holy Spirit. (John 14:17; Romans 8:11). When Paul sought to establish his own righteousness, everything depended upon vigilance and energy, but when he realized the failure of his best ef­forts, and trusted in Christ for directions as to how to live, he became conscious of a new power working within him.]

and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith,—[The believer is said to have died with Christ, and also to have been raised together with him through faith (Colossians 3:1), and it is this life of the spirit in association with Christ to which reference is here made.] The new life is received through faith (Galatians 3:27), and is maintained by the exercise of faith (2 Corinthians 7:7), which is the characteristic function of the new life.

the faith which is in the Son of God,—Christ is presented here as the proper object of the believer’s confidence. What Christ has done for man is the guarantee of his will and of his power to continue and to complete the work of salvation.

who loved me, and gave himself up for me.—The love where­with he loved Paul inspired a responsive love in his heart for Christ, and loving him he kept his commandments. Keeping the commandments of Jesus makes us like him. [In his love for the church (Ephesians 5:25) Christ does not lose sight of the individual believer. Each member of his body is the direct ob­ject of his love, and it is as true that he died for each as it is that he died for all. Hence, the individual believer appro­priates to himself that which is the possession of all.]

Verse 21

Gal 2:21

Galatians 2:21

I do not make void the grace of God:—In trusting God, walking by faith in Jesus Christ and seeking salvation through him, and turning from the law he did not frustrate or make vain the grace of God. [The teaching of the Judaizers certainly did set it aside, for if salvation is by grace it is no more of works, and conversely, if it is of works it is no more of grace; works and grace are incompatible, they are mutually exclusive. (Romans 11:6).]

for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought.—God seeks to make man righteous, and if righteous­ness could have been attained through the law of Moses, there would have been no need of the death of Christ. Hence his mission and death were meaningless, fruitless, without good to man. It was a vain and profitless mission and sacrifice that Christ made if man could have gained through the law, and without Christ all that was gained through him. Christ came to save man from his sins and make him righteous before God and to fit him to dwell with him. If the law could have fitted him for this divine companionship, the death of Christ was meaningless and vain. If man can be made righteous by any means out of Christ, it is equally true that Christ died for nought.

Thus he has vindicated, without dispute, his apostleship, and that the law was dead, and that life and salvation are to be found through Christ, and he urges the folly of leaving the gospel, and turning to the law of Moses or to any theory of man.