Commentary on Galatians 2:15-21

Text in red are my additions.

JEWISH CONVERTS MUST NOT RETURN TO THE LAW

A Summary of Galatians 2:15-21~It is a question among scholars whether this section is the substance of St. Paul’s discourse to the Jewish Christians at Antioch, or whether it was rather a summing-up of his principles to the Galatians. The common opinion of the Fathers, which alone seems to be in harmony with the context, maintains that this discourse was given at Antioch, and that St. Paul has reproduced here only the substance of it. After reproving St. Peter, the Apostle directed his words to all present (verse 14), having in mind not only Peter, Barnabas and the Jewish Christians, who were well disposed, but also, and in particular, most likely those Judaizers of Antioch who were in favor of subjecting all Gentile converts to circumcision and the Mosaic observances. St. Peter’s conduct gave the occasion to St. Paul of showing how foolish and inconsistent it was to have sought justice in Jesus Christ, and thereafter to pretend to seek it in the Law.

St. Paul gives the substance of that discourse in this letter, first to show the Galatians how inflexible he was in principle; and secondly, to convince them that if it was wrong for Jewish Christians to seek justice in the Law, how much worse it was for Gentile converts (Lagrange).

Gal 2:15. We by nature are Jews, and not of the Gentile sinners.

We by nature are Jews, i.e., St. Paul, St. Peter, Barnabas and the rest of verse 14 were Jews by birth, enjoying, through the privileges granted by special revelation to their race, an atmosphere of moral purity which set them apart from the Gentiles, whose origin had been so much less favored (Rom 2:17-20; Rom 3:1-2; Rom 9:4-5). This statement is a proof that the Apostle was not addressing the Galatians, who were of Gentile origin.

Gal 2:16. But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; we also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Knowing (ειδοτες = eidotes) refers to St. Paul and St. Peter, as also does we (ημεις = hemeis) further along. Peter and Paul before their conversion were, like all other good Jews, most zealous for the Law and its observance; but afterwards they became thoroughly aware of the fact that justification was not to be obtained through the works prescribed by the Law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. The works of the Law here in question were its ceremonial precepts, such as circumcision, clean and unclean meats, etc., and not its moral precepts, the Ten Commandments; these latter have always been obligatory on all men.

Is not justified (ου δικαιουται = ou dikaiothesatai) , i.e., is not now, in this present life, justified, except (εαν μη translated above as “but by”) through active faith in Christ, the exclusive means of justification.

No flesh shall be justified, a quotation from Psalm 143:1-2. The meaning is enduring, namely, that no one can ever be justified by the works, i.e., the ceremonial precepts of the Law, as was long ago foretold by the Psalmist. See on Rom 3:20, Rom 3:27. Here are the comments on those verses: 

• Rom 3:20  Another reason why there can be no boasting on the part of the Jews, nor for greater reason on the part of the Gentiles, is that no one shall ever be, or ever has been, justified before God by the works, i.e., by the legal prescriptions of the Law. This the Apostle here affirms by the words of Ps 143:2. All the Law could do was to point out what ought to be done and what ought to be avoided, but it was as powerless to give the interior help and strength necessary for the observance of its precepts, as it was to free from sin committed. Obviously the works here spoken of were the legal prescriptions of the Law performed without faith and without the aid of grace. It is not the knowing, but the doing of the Law (Rom 2:13), i.e., the observing of the moral precepts of the Law, which grace alone can secure, that will justify and lead to salvation.

• Rom 3:27. Having proved that justification is not from the works of man, but is entirely due to the goodness of God and the merits of the blood of Christ, the Apostle now asks the Jews what they have to boast of; and he himself replies that their cause for boasting has been excluded; it has no further place.
• By what law. Better, “By what kind of law,” he further asks, is boasting done away with? By the law of works, i.e., the Old Law? No, certainly not; but by the New Law, i.e., the law of faith, which makes justification depend on faith in Jesus Christ, which faith, being a gratuitous gift of God, renders our pride and boasting impossible.
• The Old Law did not remove every cause for boasting, because it required works; but the New Law requires only faith (as already explained), and faith is a gift of God requiring only acceptance on man’s part. Of course the Old Law was at all times powerless to confer the help needed for its faithful observance. This help, through grace, is amply conferred by the New Law. As St. Augustine says, “The law of works is that which commands what is to be done; the law of faith is faith itself, which obtains the grace to do what the law commands. The law of works is the old law; the law of faith, the new law. The law of works contains the precepts; the law of faith, the help. The law of works gives us light to know; the law of faith, the power to perform,” etc. (De spiritu et littera, 13, 21).

Jesus Christ should be “Christ Jesus,” as in the Greek.

Gal 2:17. But if while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners; is Christ then the minister of sin? God forbid.

This verse is very difficult, and is explained in different ways. We give first what seems to be the more probable solution.

The two preceding verses give the reasons why St. Paul, or any Jewish Christian, abandoned the Law for the faith of Christ, namely, that he might obtain justification. But a difficulty may here present itself: Is it not sinful to leave the Law? do we not become sinners by seeking to be justified in Christ, thus abandoning the Law? If so, Christ is the cause of sin to us, and we have become sinners like the Gentiles (verse 15). The inference is rejected as a blasphemy. The conclusion, then, is that it cannot be wrong to leave the Law; rather a return to it would be sinful (verse 18) (Lagrange, Lightfoot, etc.).

Another explanation is as follows: If we, Jews by birth, while seeking to be justified through faith in Christ, are also found guilty of some sins, do you hold Christ responsible for that? Is He the cause of our sins because He has induced us to give up the Law? Most certainly not. We are to be blamed, because we are building up again the things we had before destroyed through virtuous living (verse 18).

Gal 2:18. For if I build up again the things which I have destroyed, I make myself a prevaricator.

The Apostle seems to say that if, after abandoning the Law in order to seek justification in Christ, one returns to its practice, one becomes a transgressor of the positive law (παραβατην = “prevaricator”) and will of God which has pointed out that justification is to be obtained only through faith in Christ. Comely holds that to return to the Law is to transgress the Law itself, which by its very nature was intended to lead to Christ. According to other scholars, St. Paul means to say: If, after having abandoned the Law, I return again to its observance, I show by my action that I realize that I am a transgressor for having left the Law; my own act convicts me. St. Peter is not at all included in this condemnation, since he had no intention of reestablishing the authority of the Law as a principle (Lagrange).

With this verse St. Paul begins again to speak in the singular, (a) perhaps because he does not wish directly to include others in his supposition of doing wrong; or (b) because, having reproduced for his Galatian readers his discussion concerning Jewish converts, he returns more directly to his own personal case.

Gal 2:19. For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I may live to God: with Christ I am nailed to the cross.

According to Cornely’s understanding of the preceding verse the meaning here is that, since the Law was intended to lead to Christ, it became useless and dead, or one became dead to it, when one had obtained Christ, i.e., had received Baptism. Hence of its own nature and intention the Law had its term, and one became, as it were, dead to it, in order to be able to live to God in virtue of one’s union with Christ through faith and love.

St. Chrysostom and others say that the Law, by its numerous commands and exactions, which it did not give the necessary help to fulfil, brought its subjects to a state of moral and spiritual death. The consequence was that man was forced, by the very burden and inadequacy of the Law, to seek refuge in God Himself through Christ, who gives not only commands and precepts, but help to carry them out (Rom 7:7-24).

With Christ I am nailed, etc., i.e., St. Paul and every good Christian, by virtue of his union with Christ through faith and Baptism, is dead to the Law, from the malediction of which (Gal 3:13-14, Rom 7:9-10) Christ by His death on the cross has delivered us (Gal 3:10, Gal 3:13).

Gal 2:20. And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me.

I live. Although dead to the Law, St. Paul says he is living a new and more abundant life with Christ (Rom 6:4; 2 Cor 5:15). Through the Law came death; through faith in Christ, full and overflowing life.

Now not I, i.e., in this new life it is not I, the old natural man, that live; but a new and elevated man, transformed by the grace of Christ. This new life is a supernatural existence, as contrasted with the former natural and physical life. The meaning is not that St. Paul has lost his personality, but that the influence of Christ is now dominant in him.

And that I live now, i.e., this new supernatural life which, since my conversion, I live with Christ, I have not attained to by the works of the Law; but through faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself up to death for my salvation (Gal 1:4; John 3:16; John 15:13). It is evident from the context that this life of faith which Paul is now leading is animated by charity towards the Son of God who so loved him. What the Apostle says here of himself is proportionately true of all devout Christians. He is thus reminding the Galatians of Christ’s love for them individually, hoping thereby to draw them back to Christian faithfulness.

Now ( νυν = nyn) does not mean the present, as opposed to the future life, but the life of St. Paul since his conversion. Neither does in the flesh (εν σαρκι = en sarki) signify a life of concupiscence as opposed to the life of the spirit, but simply the physical life of which we must take account, since leading a spiritual life does not entirely absorb and transform our physical existence (Lagrange).

Gal 2:21. I cast not away the grace of God. For if justice be by the law, then Christ died in vain.

A return to the Law would mean to cast away that spiritual life which is given only through Christianity. If one seeks justification and sanctity in the Law, being persuaded that they can be found there, then for such surely Christ died in vain, i.e., for naught, because He died in order to procure for us that justification which the works of the Law were unable to give (Rom 3:21-26).

These final words of the Apostle were directed against the Judaizers who were trying to lead the Galatians away from the true Gospel. For such as they Christ died in vain. There is no thought here of St. Peter, who was in perfect agreement with Paul that justification was only through faith in Christ.