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Thursday, July 24th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

New Life Version

Galatians 2:18

But if I work toward being made right with God by keeping the Law, then I make myself a sinner.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Justification;   The Topic Concordance - Law;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Justification before God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Justificiation;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Sin;   Spirituality;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Church;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Canticles;   ;   Galatians, the Epistle to the;   Key;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Circumcision;   Cross, Crucifixion;   Galatians, Letter to the;   Human Free Will;   Romans, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Antioch;   Council;   Galatians, Epistle to the;   Grace;   Law;   Peter;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Galatians Epistle to the;   Law;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Build;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Peter;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Builder;   Galatians, Epistle to the;   Prove;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - New Testament;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for December 3;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.
King James Version (1611)
For if I build againe the things which I destroyed, I make my selfe a transgressour.
King James Version
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
English Standard Version
For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
New American Standard Bible
"For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a wrongdoer.
New Century Version
But I would really be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up.
Amplified Bible
"For if I [or anyone else should] rebuild [through word or by practice] what I once tore down [the belief that observing the Law is essential for salvation], I prove myself to be a transgressor.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Legacy Standard Bible
For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Berean Standard Bible
If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.
Contemporary English Version
But if I tear down something and then build it again, I prove that I was wrong at first.
Complete Jewish Bible
Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor.
Darby Translation
For if the things I have thrown down, these I build again, I constitute myself a transgressor.
Easy-to-Read Version
But I would be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For if I build againe the things that I haue destroyed, I make my selfe a trespasser.
George Lamsa Translation
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I will prove myself to be a transgressor of the law.
Good News Translation
If I start to rebuild the system of Law that I tore down, then I show myself to be someone who breaks the Law.
Lexham English Bible
For if I build up again these things which I destroyed, I show myself to be a transgressor.
Literal Translation
For what if I build again these things which I destroyed, I confirm myself as a transgressor.
American Standard Version
For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.
Bible in Basic English
For if I put up again those things which I gave to destruction, I am seen to be a wrongdoer.
Hebrew Names Version
For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
International Standard Version
For if I rebuild something that I tore down, I demonstrate that I am a wrongdoer.
Etheridge Translation
For, if those things which I destroyed I build again, I make it manifest of myself that I transgress the commandment.
Murdock Translation
For if I should build up again the things I had demolished, I should show myself to be a transgressor of the precept.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For yf I builde agayne the thynges which I destroyed, then make I my selfe a trespasser.
English Revised Version
For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.
World English Bible
For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Weymouth's New Testament
Why, if I am now rebuilding that structure of sin which I had demolished, I am thereby constituting myself a transgressor;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
God forbede. And if Y bylde ayen thingis that Y haue distruyed, Y make my silf a trespassour.
Update Bible Version
For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.
Webster's Bible Translation
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
New English Translation
But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God's law.
New King James Version
For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
New Living Translation
Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down.
New Revised Standard
But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, if, the things that I pulled down, these, again, I build, a transgressor, I prove, myself, to be.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For if I build up again the things which I have destroyed, I make myself a prevaricator.
Revised Standard Version
But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For yf I bylde agayne yt which I destroyed. then make I my selfe a treaspaser.
Young's Literal Translation
for if the things I threw down, these again I build up, a transgressor I set myself forth;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For yf I buylde agayne yt which I haue destroyed, then make I my selfe a trespacer.
Mace New Testament (1729)
on the contrary, if I re-establish what I have demolish'd, I show myself a prevaricator.
Simplified Cowboy Version
I'd really be a sinner if I tried to make people do the things that I gave up when I signed on to ride for Jesus.

Contextual Overview

11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to stand up against him because he was guilty. 12 Peter had been eating with the people who are not Jews. But after some men came who had been with James, he kept away from them. He was afraid of those who believe in the religious act of becoming a Jew. 13 Then the rest of the Jews followed him because they were afraid to do what they knew they should do. Even Barnabas was fooled by those who pretended to be someone they were not. 14 When I saw they were not honest about the truth of the Good News, I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said, "If you are a Jew, but live like the people who are not Jews, why do you make the people who are not Jews live like the Jews?" 15 You and I were born Jews. We were not sinners from among the people who are not Jews. 16 Even so, we know we cannot become right with God by obeying the Law. A man is made right with God by putting his trust in Jesus Christ. For that reason, we have put our trust in Jesus Christ also. We have been made right with God because of our faith in Christ and not by obeying the Law. No man can be made right with God by obeying the Law. 17 As we try to become right with God by what Christ has done for us, what if we find we are sinners also? Does that mean Christ makes us sinners? No! Never! 18 But if I work toward being made right with God by keeping the Law, then I make myself a sinner. 19 The Law has no power over me. I am dead to the Law. Now I can live for God. 20 I have been put up on the cross to die with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. The life I now live in this body, I live by putting my trust in the Son of God. He was the One Who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Galatians 2:4, Galatians 2:5, Galatians 2:12-16, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 4:9-12, Galatians 5:11, Romans 14:15, 1 Corinthians 8:11, 1 Corinthians 8:12

Reciprocal: Romans 6:15 - shall we

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
God saw all that He had made and it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 2:7
Then the Lord God made man from the dust of the ground. And He breathed into his nose the breath of life. Man became a living being.
Genesis 2:9
And the Lord God made to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasing to the eyes and good for food. And He made the tree of life grow in the center of the garden, and the tree of learning of good and bad.
Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 2:12
The gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are there.
Genesis 2:13
The name of the second river is Gihon. It flows around the whole land of Cush.
Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."
Ruth 3:1
Then Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi said to her, "My daughter, should I not look for a home for you, so all will be well with you?
Proverbs 18:22
He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and gets favor from the Lord.
1 Corinthians 7:36
If a man and woman expect to get married, and he thinks his desires to marry her are getting too strong, and she is getting older, they should get married. It is no sin.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 παραβατης 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For if I build again the things which I destroyed - Paul here uses the first person; but he evidently intends it as a general proposition, and means that if anyone does it he becomes a transgressor. The sense is, that if a man, having removed or destroyed that which was evil, again introduces it or establishes it, he does wrong, and is a transgressor of the Law of God. The particular application here, as it seems to me, is to the subject of circumcision and the other rites of the Mosaic law. They had been virtually abolished by the coming of the Redeemer, and by the doctrine of justification by faith. It had been seen that there was no necessity for their observance, and of that Peter and the others had been fully aware. Yet they were lending their influence again to establish them or to build them up again. They complied with them, and they insisted on the necessity of their observance. Their conduct, therefore, was that of building up again that which had once been destroyed, destroyed by the ministry, and toils, and death of the Lord Jesus, and by the fair influence of his gospel. To rebuild that again; to re-establish those customs, was wrong, and now involved the guilt of a transgression of the Law of God. Doddridge supposes that this is an address to the Galatians, and that the address to Peter closed at the previous verse. But it is impossible to determine this; and it seems to me more probable that this is all a part of the address to Peter; or rather perhaps to the assembly when Peter was present; see the note at Galatians 2:15.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. For if I build again the things which I destroyed — If I act like a Jew, and enjoin the observance of the law on the Gentiles, which I have repeatedly asserted and proved to be abolished by the death of Christ, then I build up what I destroyed, and thus make myself a transgressor, by not observing the law in that way in which I appear to enjoin the observance of it upon others.


 
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