The Meaning of Galatians 2:18 Explained

Galatians 2:18

KJV: For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

YLT: for if the things I threw down, these again I build up, a transgressor I set myself forth;

Darby: For if the things I have thrown down, these I build again, I constitute myself a transgressor.

ASV: For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  if  I build  again  the things  which  I destroyed,  I make  myself  a transgressor. 

What does Galatians 2:18 Mean?

Study Notes

transgressor
Sin.
sinned
Sin, Summary: The literal meanings of the Heb. and (Greek - ἀλεκτοροφωνία sin," "sinner," etc)., disclose the true nature of sin in its manifold manifestations. Sin is transgression, an overstepping of the law, the divine boundary between good and evil Psalms 51:1 ; Luke 15:29 , iniquity, an act inherently wrong, whether expressly forbidden or not; error, a departure from right; Psalms 51:9 ; Romans 3:23 , missing the mark, a failure to meet the divine standard; trespass, the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority Isaiah 14:12-14 , lawlessness, or spiritual anarchy 1 Timothy 1:9 , unbelief, or an insult to the divine veracity John 16:9 .
Sin originated with Satan Ephesians 2:1 , entered the world through Adam Romans 5:12 , was, and is, universal, Christ alone excepted; Romans 3:23 ; 1 Peter 2:22 , incurs the penalties of spiritual and physical death; Genesis 2:17 ; Genesis 3:19 ; Ezekiel 18:4 ; Ezekiel 18:20 ; Romans 6:23 and has no remedy but in the sacrificial death of Christ; Hebrews 9:26 ; Acts 4:12 availed of by faith Acts 13:38 ; Acts 13:39 . Sin may be summarized as threefold: An act, the violation of, or want of obedience to the revealed will of God; a state, absence of righteousness; a nature, enmity toward God.

Context Summary

Galatians 2:11-21 - Living By Faith In Christ
Evidently Peter had gone back from the clear revelation of Acts 10:1-48, and from his former practice as stated in Galatians 2:12. The fear of the conservative party of the mother Church had brought him into a snare. His example had a very unfortunate effect upon the rest of the Hebrew Christians, who took their lead from him. But Paul's remonstrance probably brought Peter back to his former and happier practice.
Paul goes on to show that the death of Christ has taken us altogether out of the realm of the ancient Law, with its restrictions and distinctions between clean and unclean, Jew and Gentile, Galatians 2:15-19. If the conservative view was right, and it was wrong to eat with the Gentiles, then all that Christ had done and taught was in vain. Indeed, he had become a minister to sin, Galatians 2:17, because he had taught his people to associate with Gentiles. But such a suggestion was, of course, unthinkable, and therefore Peter was wrong in withdrawing from Gentile fellowship.
Then the Apostle breaks out into the memorable confession of the power of the Cross in his own life, Galatians 2:20-21. It stood between him and the past. His self-life was nailed there, and this new life was no longer derived from vain efforts to keep the Law, but from the indwelling and uprising of the life of Jesus-the perennial spring of John 4:14. [source]

Chapter Summary: Galatians 2

1  He shows when he went up again to Jerusalem, and for what purpose;
3  and that Titus was not circumcised;
11  and that he resisted Peter, and told him the reason;
14  why he and others, being Jews, believe in Christ to be justified by faith, and not by works;
20  and that they live not in sin, who are so justified

Greek Commentary for Galatians 2:18

A transgressor [παραβατην]
Peter, by his shifts had contradicted himself helplessly as Paul shows by this condition. When he lived like a Gentile, he tore down the ceremonial law. When he lived like a Jew, he tore down salvation by grace. [source]
I build again the things which I destroyed [ἃ κατέλυσα ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ]
Peter, by his Christian profession, had asserted that justification was by faith alone; and by his eating with Gentiles had declared that the Mosaic law was no longer binding upon him. He had thus, figuratively, destroyed or pulled down the Jewish law as a standard of Christian faith and conduct. By his subsequent refusal to eat with Gentiles he had retracted this declaration, had asserted that the Jewish law was still binding upon Christians, and had thus built again what he had pulled down. Building and pulling down are favorite figures with Paul. See Romans 14:20; Romans 15:20; 1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 Corinthians 8:10; 1 Corinthians 10:23; 1 Corinthians 14:17; Ephesians 2:20f. For καταλύειν destroysee on Romans 14:20; see on 2 Corinthians 5:1. [source]
I make myself [ἐμαυτὸν συνιστάνω]
Better, prove myself. The verb originally means to put together: thence to put one person in contact with another by way of introducing him and bespeaking for him confidence and approval. To commend, as Romans 16:1; comp. Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 5:12. As proof, or exhibition of the true state of a case is furnished by putting things together, the word comes to mean demonstrate, exhibit the fact, as here, Romans 3:5; 2 Corinthians 6:11. [source]
A transgressor [παραβάτην]
See on James 2:11, and see on παράβασις transgression Romans 2:23. In reasserting the validity of the law for justification, which he had denied by seeking justification by faith in Christ, he proves himself a transgressor in that denial, that pulling down. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Galatians 2:18

Romans 3:5 Commend [συνίστησιν]
Only twice outside of Paul's writings, Luke 9:32; 2 Peter 3:5, both in the physical sense. Lit., to place together. Hence of setting one person with another by way of introducing or presenting him, and hence to commend. Also to put together with a vein of showing, proving, or establishing. Expositors render here differently: commend, establish, prove. Commend is the prevailing sense in the New Testament, though in some instances the two ideas blend, as Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Galatians 2:18. See Romans 16:1; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 6:4; 2 Corinthians 10:18. [source]
Romans 3:5 Commendeth [συνιστησιν]
This common verb συνιστημι — sunistēmi to send together, occurs in the N.T. in two senses, either to introduce, to commend (2 Corinthians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 4:2) or to prove, to establish (2 Corinthians 7:11; Galatians 2:18; Romans 5:8). Either makes good sense here. Who visiteth the wrath (ο επιπερων την οργην — ho epipherōn tēn orgēn). “Who brings on the wrath,” “the inflicter of the anger” (Vaughan). I speak as a man See note on Galatians 3:15 for same phrase. As if to say, “pardon me for this line of argument.” Tholuck says that the rabbis often used κατα αντρωπον — kata anthrōpon and τι ερουμεν — ti eroumen Paul had not forgotten his rabbinical training. [source]
James 2:9 Ye commit sin [αμαρτιαν εργαζεστε]
“Ye work a sin.” A serious charge, apparently, for what was regarded as a trifling fault. See Matthew 7:23, οι εργαζομενοι την ανομιαν — hoi ergazomenoi tēn anomian (ye that work iniquity), an apparent reminiscence of the words of Jesus there (from Psalm 6:8).Being convicted (ελεγχομενοι — elegchomenoi). Present passive participle of ελεγχω — elegchō to convict by proof of guilt (John 3:20; John 8:9, John 8:46; 1 Corinthians 14:24).As transgressors For this word from παραβαινω — parabainō to step across, to transgress, see Galatians 2:18; Romans 2:25, Romans 2:27. See this very sin of partiality condemned in Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:17; Deuteronomy 16:19. To the law and to the testimony. [source]
James 2:9 As transgressors [ως παραβαται]
For this word from παραβαινω — parabainō to step across, to transgress, see Galatians 2:18; Romans 2:25, Romans 2:27. See this very sin of partiality condemned in Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:17; Deuteronomy 16:19. To the law and to the testimony. [source]

What do the individual words in Galatians 2:18 mean?

If for that I had torn down these things again I build a transgressor myself I prove
εἰ γὰρ κατέλυσα ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ παραβάτην ἐμαυτὸν συνιστάνω

  that 
Parse: Personal / Relative Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: ὅς 
Sense: who, which, what, that.
κατέλυσα  I  had  torn  down 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: καταλύω  
Sense: to dissolve, disunite.
ταῦτα  these  things 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
πάλιν  again 
Parse: Adverb
Root: πάλιν  
Sense: anew, again.
οἰκοδομῶ  I  build 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: οἰκοδομέω 
Sense: to build a house, erect a building.
παραβάτην  a  transgressor 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀποστάτης 
Sense: a transgressor.
ἐμαυτὸν  myself 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative Masculine 1st Person Singular
Root: ἐμαυτοῦ  
Sense: I, me, myself etc.
συνιστάνω  I  prove 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: συνιστάω 
Sense: to place together, to set in the same place,to bring or band together.