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class="vheadingv"><b>Verse</b><a href="/bsb/galatians/2.htm" class="clickchap" style="color:#001320" title="Click any translation name for full chapter">  (Click for Chapter)</a></div><div id="par"><span class="versiontext"><a href="/niv/galatians/2.htm">New International Version</a></span><br />&#8220We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nlt/galatians/2.htm">New Living Translation</a></span><br />“You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/esv/galatians/2.htm">English Standard Version</a></span><br />We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/bsb/galatians/2.htm">Berean Standard Bible</a></span><br />We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/blb/galatians/2.htm">Berean Literal Bible</a></span><br />We Jews by birth and not 'sinners' of <i>the</i> Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/kjv/galatians/2.htm">King James Bible</a></span><br />We <i>who are</i> Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nkjv/galatians/2.htm">New King James Version</a></span><br />We <i>who are</i> Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb_/galatians/2.htm">New American Standard Bible</a></span><br />“We <i>are</i> Jews by nature and not sinners from the Gentiles;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb/galatians/2.htm">NASB 1995</a></span><br />&#8220We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb77/galatians/2.htm">NASB 1977 </a></span><br />“We <i>are</i> Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lsb/galatians/2.htm">Legacy Standard Bible </a></span><br />“We <i>are</i> Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/amp/galatians/2.htm">Amplified Bible</a></span><br />[I went on to say] “We are Jews by birth and not sinners from among the Gentiles;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/csb/galatians/2.htm">Christian Standard Bible</a></span><br />We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/hcsb/galatians/2.htm">Holman Christian Standard Bible</a></span><br />We who are Jews by birth and not &#8220Gentile sinners&#8221<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/asv/galatians/2.htm">American Standard Version</a></span><br />We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/cev/galatians/2.htm">Contemporary English Version</a></span><br />We are Jews by birth and are not sinners like Gentiles. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/erv/galatians/2.htm">English Revised Version</a></span><br />We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/gwt/galatians/2.htm">GOD'S WORD® Translation</a></span><br />We are Jewish by birth, not sinners from other nations.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/gnt/galatians/2.htm">Good News Translation</a></span><br />Indeed, we are Jews by birth and not "Gentile sinners," as they are called. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/isv/galatians/2.htm">International Standard Version</a></span><br />We ourselves are Jews by birth, and not gentile sinners, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/msb/galatians/2.htm">Majority Standard Bible</a></span><br />We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile ?sinners?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/net/galatians/2.htm">NET Bible</a></span><br />We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nheb/galatians/2.htm">New Heart English Bible</a></span><br />"We, being Jews by birth, and not non-Jewish sinners,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wbt/galatians/2.htm">Webster's Bible Translation</a></span><br />We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wey/galatians/2.htm">Weymouth New Testament</a></span><br />You and I, though we are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/web/galatians/2.htm">World English Bible</a></span><br />“We, being Jews by nature and not Gentile sinners, <div class="vheading2"><b>Literal Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lsv/galatians/2.htm">Literal Standard Version</a></span><br />We by nature Jews, and not sinners of the nations,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/blb/galatians/2.htm">Berean Literal Bible</a></span><br />We Jews by birth and not 'sinners' of <i>the</i> Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/ylt/galatians/2.htm">Young's Literal Translation</a></span><br /> we by nature Jews, and not sinners of the nations,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/slt/galatians/2.htm">Smith's Literal Translation</a></span><br />We by nature Jews, and not sinners from the nations,<div class="vheading2"><b>Catholic Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/drb/galatians/2.htm">Douay-Rheims Bible</a></span><br />We by nature are Jews, and not of the Gentiles sinners. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/cpdv/galatians/2.htm">Catholic Public Domain Version</a></span><br />By nature, we are Jews, and not of the Gentiles, sinners.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nabre/galatians/2.htm">New American Bible</a></span><br />We, who are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nrsvce/galatians/2.htm">New Revised Standard Version</a></span><br />We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;<div class="vheading2"><b>Translations from Aramaic</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lamsa/galatians/2.htm">Lamsa Bible</a></span><br />For if we who are of Jewish origin, and not sinners of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/aramaic-plain-english/galatians/2.htm">Aramaic Bible in Plain English</a></span><br />For we who are by our nature Judeans and not sinners of the Gentiles,<div class="vheading2"><b>NT Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/anderson/galatians/2.htm">Anderson New Testament</a></span><br />We, who are Jews by birth, and not Gentile sinners,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/godbey/galatians/2.htm">Godbey New Testament</a></span><br />We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/haweis/galatians/2.htm">Haweis New Testament</a></span><br />We who are Jews by descent, and not sinners sprung from Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/mace/galatians/2.htm">Mace New Testament</a></span><br />We are Jews by birth, and not of the sinful race of the Gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wey/galatians/2.htm">Weymouth New Testament</a></span><br />You and I, though we are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/worrell/galatians/2.htm">Worrell New Testament</a></span><br />We who are by nature Jews, and not sinners from among the gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/worsley/galatians/2.htm">Worsley New Testament</a></span><br />We, <i>who are</i> Jews by birth, and not sinners of the gentiles,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/parallel/galatians/2-15.htm">Additional Translations ...</a></span></div></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><a name="audio" id="audio"></a><div class="vheadingv"><b>Audio Bible</b></div><iframe width="100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jv8Ri4CeT34?start=348" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><div class="vheadingv"><b>Context</b></div><span class="hdg"><a href="/bsb/galatians/2.htm">Paul Confronts Cephas</a></span><br>…<span class="reftext">14</span>When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” <span class="reftext">15</span><span class="highl"><a href="/greek/1473.htm" title="1473: Hēmeis (PPro-N1P) -- I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.">We who are</a> <a href="/greek/2453.htm" title="2453: Ioudaioi (Adj-NMP) -- Jewish. From Iouda; Judaean, i.e. Belonging to Jehudah.">Jews</a> <a href="/greek/5449.htm" title="5449: physei (N-DFS) -- From phuo; growth, i.e. natural production; by extension, a genus or sort; figuratively, native disposition, constitution or usage.">by birth</a> <a href="/greek/2532.htm" title="2532: kai (Conj) -- And, even, also, namely. ">and</a> <a href="/greek/3756.htm" title="3756: ouk (Adv) -- No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.">not</a> <a href="/greek/1537.htm" title="1537: ex (Prep) -- From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out."></a> <a href="/greek/1484.htm" title="1484: ethnōn (N-GNP) -- Probably from etho; a race, i.e. A tribe; specially, a foreign one.">Gentile</a> <a href="/greek/268.htm" title="268: Hamartōloi (Adj-NMP) -- Sinning, sinful, depraved, detestable. From hamartano; sinful, i.e. A sinner.">“sinners”</a> </span> <span class="reftext">16</span>know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.…<div class="cred"><a href="//berean.bible">Berean Standard Bible</a> · <a href="//berean.bible/downloads.htm">Download</a></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="crossref" id="crossref"></a><div class="vheading">Cross References</div><div id="crf"><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/3-9.htm">Romans 3:9-20</a></span><br />What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. / As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. / There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/2-17.htm">Romans 2:17-29</a></span><br />Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; / if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; / if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness, ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/philippians/3-3.htm">Philippians 3:3-9</a></span><br />For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— / though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: / circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/acts/13-38.htm">Acts 13:38-39</a></span><br />Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. / Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/9-30.htm">Romans 9:30-32</a></span><br />What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; / but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. / Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/10-1.htm">Romans 10:1-4</a></span><br />Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation. / For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge. / Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/ephesians/2-11.htm">Ephesians 2:11-13</a></span><br />Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)— / remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. / But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/4-1.htm">Romans 4:1-5</a></span><br />What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered? / If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. / For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/11-1.htm">Romans 11:1-6</a></span><br />I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. / God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel: / “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”? ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/1_corinthians/1-22.htm">1 Corinthians 1:22-24</a></span><br />Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, / but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, / but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/3-28.htm">Romans 3:28-30</a></span><br />For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. / Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, / since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/7-7.htm">Romans 7:7-12</a></span><br />What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” / But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead. / Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/8-3.htm">Romans 8:3-4</a></span><br />For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, / so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/isaiah/64-6.htm">Isaiah 64:6</a></span><br />Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/jeremiah/9-25.htm">Jeremiah 9:25-26</a></span><br />“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh— / Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”</div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="tsk" id="tsk"><div class="vheading">Treasury of Scripture</div><p class="tsk2">We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,</p><p class="hdg">Jews.</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/matthew/3-7.htm">Matthew 3:7-9</a></b></br> But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? … </p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/john/8-39.htm">John 8:39-41</a></b></br> They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham… </p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/romans/4-16.htm">Romans 4:16</a></b></br> Therefore <i>it is</i> of faith, that <i>it might be</i> by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,</p><p class="hdg">sinners.</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/matthew/9-11.htm">Matthew 9:11</a></b></br> And when the Pharisees saw <i>it</i>, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/mark/7-26.htm">Mark 7:26-28</a></b></br> The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter… </p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/acts/22-21.htm">Acts 22:21</a></b></br> And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.</p><div class="vheading">Jump to Previous</div><a href="/galatians/1-15.htm">Birth</a> <a href="/galatians/2-14.htm">Gentile</a> <a href="/galatians/2-14.htm">Gentiles</a> <a href="/galatians/2-14.htm">Jews</a> <a href="/galatians/2-12.htm">Nations</a> <a href="/2_corinthians/7-5.htm">Nature</a> <a href="/2_corinthians/13-9.htm">Ourselves</a> <a href="/1_corinthians/5-10.htm">Sinners</a><div class="vheading2">Jump to Next</div><a href="/galatians/4-19.htm">Birth</a> <a href="/galatians/3-28.htm">Gentile</a> <a href="/galatians/3-8.htm">Gentiles</a> <a href="/galatians/3-23.htm">Jews</a> <a href="/galatians/3-8.htm">Nations</a> <a href="/galatians/4-8.htm">Nature</a> <a href="/galatians/2-17.htm">Ourselves</a> <a href="/galatians/2-17.htm">Sinners</a><div class="vheading2">Galatians 2</div><span class="reftext">1. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/galatians/2-1.htm">He shows when he went up again to Jerusalem, and for what purpose;</a></span><br><span class="reftext">3. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/galatians/2-3.htm">and that Titus was not circumcised;</a></span><br><span class="reftext">11. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/galatians/2-11.htm">and that he resisted Peter, and told him the reason;</a></span><br><span class="reftext">14. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/galatians/2-14.htm">why he and others, being Jews, believe in Christ to be justified by faith, and not by works;</a></span><br><span class="reftext">20. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/galatians/2-20.htm">and that they live not in sin, who are so justified.</a></span><br></div></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div> </td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="combox"><div class="padcom"><a name="study" id="study"></a><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top"><a href="/study/galatians/2.htm">Study Bible</a></td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/study/galatians/" title="Book Summary and Study">Book ◦</a> <a href="/study/chapters/galatians/2.htm" title="Chapter summary and Study">Chapter </a></tr></table></div><b>We who are Jews by birth</b><br>This phrase highlights the ethnic and religious identity of the speaker, Paul, and his audience, who are Jewish Christians. Being "Jews by birth" implies a heritage deeply rooted in the covenantal promises given to Abraham (<a href="/genesis/12.htm">Genesis 12:1-3</a>) and the Law of Moses. This identity comes with a rich history of being God's chosen people, set apart to follow the Torah and its commandments. The Jewish people were entrusted with the oracles of God (<a href="/romans/3-2.htm">Romans 3:2</a>) and had a unique role in God's redemptive plan. This background is significant in understanding the tension between Jewish Christians and Gentile converts in the early church, as the former often struggled with the inclusion of the latter without adherence to the Law.<p><b>and not Gentile “sinners”</b><br>The term "Gentile 'sinners'" reflects a common Jewish perspective of the time, where Gentiles were often viewed as outside the covenant and, therefore, outside the moral and religious laws that governed Jewish life. This distinction underscores the perceived moral and spiritual superiority that some Jews felt over Gentiles, who were seen as living in sin due to their idolatry and lack of adherence to the Law. However, Paul uses this phrase to challenge the notion that Jewish identity or adherence to the Law could justify anyone before God. This sets the stage for his argument that justification comes through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works of the Law (<a href="/galatians/2-16.htm">Galatians 2:16</a>). The phrase also echoes the broader biblical theme of God's plan to include all nations in His redemptive work, as seen in prophecies like <a href="/isaiah/49-6.htm">Isaiah 49:6</a>, which speaks of being a light to the Gentiles.<div class="vheading2">Persons / Places / Events</div>1. <b><a href="/topical/p/paul_the_apostle.htm">Paul the Apostle</a></b><br>The author of the letter to the Galatians, addressing issues of law and grace.<br><br>2. <b><a href="/topical/p/peter.htm">Peter (Cephas)</a></b><br>A leading apostle who had been confronted by Paul earlier in this chapter for his behavior towards Gentile believers.<br><br>3. <b><a href="/topical/j/jews_by_birth.htm">Jews by Birth</a></b><br>Refers to those who are ethnically Jewish and have been raised under the Mosaic Law.<br><br>4. <b><a href="/topical/g/gentile_‘sinners'.htm">Gentile ‘Sinners’</a></b><br>A term used by Jews to describe non-Jews, who were not under the Mosaic Law and were often seen as outside of God's covenant.<br><br>5. <b><a href="/topical/t/the_church_in_galatia.htm">The Church in Galatia</a></b><br>The recipients of the letter, a group of early Christians struggling with the integration of Jewish and Gentile believers.<div class="vheading2">Teaching Points</div><b><a href="/topical/u/understanding_identity_in_christ.htm">Understanding Identity in Christ</a></b><br>Our primary identity is not in our ethnic or cultural background but in our relationship with Christ. This challenges us to view others through the lens of faith rather than cultural or religious heritage.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/t/the_role_of_the_law.htm">The Role of the Law</a></b><br>The Mosaic Law served a purpose in guiding the Jewish people, but it is not the means of justification. Believers are justified by faith in Christ, not by adherence to the law.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/u/unity_in_the_body_of_christ.htm">Unity in the Body of Christ</a></b><br>The early church struggled with integrating diverse groups. Today, we are called to embrace unity in diversity, recognizing that all believers are equal in Christ.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/c/confronting_hypocrisy.htm">Confronting Hypocrisy</a></b><br>Paul’s confrontation with Peter serves as a reminder to address hypocrisy and inconsistency in our own lives and communities, ensuring our actions align with the gospel.<br><br><b><a href="/topical/g/grace_over_works.htm">Grace Over Works</a></b><br>Emphasize the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice and the grace that justifies us, encouraging believers to rest in faith rather than striving for righteousness through works.<a name="commentary" id="commentary"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/galatians/2.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(15-21) The section which follows is, in form at least, still a continuation of the rebuke addressed to St. Peter; but the Apostle soon drifts away from this, and begins imperceptibly a comment upon his own words, which is addressed directly to the Galatians. We are thus led, without any real break, from the historical and personal to the doctrinal portion of the Epistle. It is impossible to say exactly where the speech at Antioch ends and where the comment upon it begins; the Apostle glides from one to the other without any conscious division in his own mind. A similar mingling of narrative and comment is found in St. John's Gospel: compare, <span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> <a href="/context/john/3-14.htm" title="And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:">John 3:14-21</a>; <a href="/context/john/3-31.htm" title="He that comes from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth: he that comes from heaven is above all.">John 3:31-36</a>, the first of which sections formally belongs to the discourse with Nicodemus, and the second to the reply of John the Baptist, though it is clear that much after comment of the Evangelist's is interwoven with them. If we are to draw a dividing line at all in the section before us, it might be said that <a href="/context/galatians/2-15.htm" title="We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,">Galatians 2:15-16</a> were still most nearly a paraphrase of the words actually addressed to St. Peter; while from <a href="/galatians/2-17.htm" title="But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.">Galatians 2:17</a> onwards the Apostle is giving the rein more freely to his own reflections. The sequence of the thought seems to be somewhat as follows:--<p>We belong by our birth to a privileged people. We are not of Gentile descent, and therefore abandoned to our sins. And yet, with all our privileges, we found that we could get no justification whatever from the Law; and this sent us to Christ. We thus abdicated our privileged position; we put ourselves on the same level as the Gentiles, and became (in the eye of the Law) sinners like them. Sinners? Must we then admit that all Christ has done for us is to make us <span class= "ital">sinners?</span> Far be so irreverent a thought. Our sin consists not in quitting the Law, but in returning to that which has once been abandoned. The function of the Law was preparatory and transitional. The Law itself taught me to expect its own abrogation. It was a stage on the way to Christ. To Him have I given in a complete adhesion. In His death I am severed from ancient ties. In His death I ceased to have any life of my own. All the life I have, man as I am, I owe to Christ, my Saviour. Thus I accept and do not reject and frustrate the gift so freely offered me: whereas, by going back to the Law for justification, I should be practically declaring the death of Christ useless and unprofitable.<p>(15) <span class= "bld">Who are.</span>--It will be seen that these words are in italics, and have to be supplied in the Greek. The Received text, which is followed in our version, also I omits a connecting particle, found in the best MSS., at the beginning of <a href="/galatians/2-16.htm" title="Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.">Galatians 2:16</a>. Restoring this, a better way of taking the whole passage appears to be to supply only the word "are" in the present verse, and make the next mark a certain opposition to it: "We are (indeed) by birth Jews . . . but" (or, <span class= "ital">and yet</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> "knowing as we did that the Law cannot justify any one, we believed on Christ." The first clause is concessive: "We grant you that we were born Jews, and not Gentiles: members of the chosen race, and not sinners." The next clause explains why it was that, with all these privileges, the Christian, though thus born a Jew, transferred his allegiance from the Law to Christ. The reason was that the Law failed in the one great object--to justify us or obtain our acquittal in the sight of God. . . . <div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/galatians/2.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">We who are Jews by nature</span> (<span class="greek">ἡμεῖς φύσει Ἰουδαῖοι</span>); <span class="accented">we being Jews by nature</span>; or, <span class="accented">we are Jews by nature.</span> In point of construction, it may be observed that, after <span class="greek">εἰδότες</span> in the next verse, recent editors concur in inserting <span class="greek">δέ</span>. With this correction of the text, we may either make this fifteenth verse a separate sentence, by supplying <span class="greek">ἐσμέν</span>, "we are Jews by nature," etc., and begin the next verse with the words, "but yet, knowing that... even we believed," etc.; or we may supply in this verse" being," and, conjoining it with "knowing," take the two verses as forming one sentence; thus: "We being Jews... yet knowing that... even we believed," etc. For the general sense, it is quite immaterial which mode of construing we adopt. The Revisers have preferred the latter. The former makes the passage run more smoothly; but this, in construing St. Paul's writings, is by no means a consideration of weight. "We," that is, "I Paul, and thou Cephas," rather than "I Paul, and thou Cephas, with those who are acting with thee;" for we read before, "I said unto Cephas," not" unto Cephas and the rest of the Jews." "By nature;" because we were Jews by birth. But the two expressions, "by nature" and "by birth," are not convertible terms, as is evident from ch. 4:8 and <a href="/romans/2-14.htm">Romans 2:14</a>; the former covers wider ground than the latter. The prerogatives attaching to the natural position of a born Jew were higher than those which appertained to a circumcised proselyte. This is why he adds," by nature." "Jews;" a term of honourable distinction, closely by its etymology connected in the mind of a Hebrew with the notion of "praise" (comp. <a href="/genesis/9-8.htm">Genesis 9:8</a>; <a href="/romans/2-29.htm">Romans 2:29</a>); a term, therefore, of theocratic vaunting (<a href="/romans/2-17.htm">Romans 2:17</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And not sinners of the Gentiles</span> (<span class="greek">καὶ οὐκ ἐξ</span> <span class="greek">ἐθνῶν ἁμαρτωλοί</span>); <span class="accented">and not of the Gentiles sinners.</span> The word "sinners" must be here taken, not in that purely moral acceptation in which all are "sinners," but in that mixed sense in which moral disapproval was largely tinged with the bigoted disdain which the theocratic Israelite felt for "the uncircumcised;" the Levitically purist Jew for them who, having no" Law "(<span class="greek">ἄνομοι</span>), wallowed in every kind of ceremonial pollution, "unclean," "dogs" (comp. <a href="/matthew/15-27.htm">Matthew 15:27</a>; <a href="/philippians/3-2.htm">Philippians 3:2</a>; <a href="/acts/2-23.htm">Acts 2:23</a>). As a notion correlative to that of "Jews," the word is used by our Lord himself when he spoke of his being delivered into the hands of "sinners" (<a href="/matthew/26-45.htm">Matthew 26:45</a>; comp. <a href="/matthew/20-19.htm">Matthew 20:19</a>). As correlative to that of persons fit for the society of the righteous and Levitically holy, it is used by Christ and the evangelists in the phrase, "publicans and sinners," in which it is nearly equivalent to "outcasts." So the apostle uses it here. With an ironical <span class="accented">mimesis</span> of the tone of language which a self-righteous legalist loved to employ, he means in effect, "not come from among Gentiles, sinful outcasts." May not the apostle be imagined to have quite lately heard such phrases from the lips of some of those Pharisee-minded Christians to whom Cephas was unhappily now truckling? For the right appreciation of the train of thought which the apostle is now pursuing, it is important to observe that both Cephas and Paul had reason to regard themselves as having been, before they were justified, <span class="accented">sinners</span> in another sense of the deepest dye. St. Paul felt to the very end of his days that he had once been, and that therefore in himself he still was, a chief of sinners (<span class="greek">ἀμαρτωλούς ῶν πρῶτός εἰμι ἐγώ</span>); and surely the wickedness into which Cephas precipitated himself on the morning of his Lord's passion must have left ever alter in <span class="accented">his</span> mind too a similar consciousness. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/commentaries/galatians/2-15.htm">Parallel Commentaries ...</a></span><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><a name="lexicon" id="lexicon"></a><div class="vheading">Greek</div><span class="word">We [who are]</span><br /><span class="grk">Ἡμεῖς</span> <span class="translit">(Hēmeis)</span><br /><span class="parse">Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Plural<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/greek/strongs_1473.htm">Strong's 1473: </a> </span><span class="str2">I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.</span><br /><br /><span class="word">Jews</span><br /><span class="grk">Ἰουδαῖοι</span> <span class="translit">(Ioudaioi)</span><br /><span class="parse">Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/greek/strongs_2453.htm">Strong's 2453: </a> </span><span class="str2">Jewish. From Iouda; Judaean, i.e. Belonging to Jehudah.</span><br /><br /><span class="word">by birth</span><br /><span class="grk">φύσει</span> <span class="translit">(physei)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - Dative Feminine Singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/greek/strongs_5449.htm">Strong's 5449: </a> </span><span class="str2">From phuo; growth, i.e. natural production; by extension, a genus or sort; figuratively, native disposition, constitution or usage.</span><br /><br /><span class="word">and</span><br /><span class="grk">καὶ</span> <span class="translit">(kai)</span><br /><span class="parse">Conjunction<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/greek/strongs_2532.htm">Strong's 2532: </a> </span><span class="str2">And, even, also, namely. </span><br /><br /><span class="word">not</span><br /><span class="grk">οὐκ</span> <span class="translit">(ouk)</span><br /><span class="parse">Adverb<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/greek/strongs_3756.htm">Strong's 3756: </a> </span><span class="str2">No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.</span><br /><br /><span class="word">Gentile</span><br /><span class="grk">ἐθνῶν</span> <span class="translit">(ethnōn)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - Genitive Neuter Plural<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/greek/strongs_1484.htm">Strong's 1484: </a> </span><span class="str2">Probably from etho; a race, i.e. A tribe; specially, a foreign one.</span><br /><br /><span class="word">‘sinners’</span><br /><span class="grk">Ἁμαρτωλοί</span> <span class="translit">(Hamartōloi)</span><br /><span class="parse">Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/greek/strongs_268.htm">Strong's 268: </a> </span><span class="str2">Sinning, sinful, depraved, detestable. From hamartano; sinful, i.e. A sinner.</span><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading">Links</div><a href="/niv/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="//bibleapps.com/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 BibleApps.com</a><br /><a href="//bibliaparalela.com/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="//holybible.com.cn/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="//saintebible.com/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 French Bible</a><br /><a href="/catholic/galatians/2-15.htm">Galatians 2:15 Catholic Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/galatians/2-15.htm">NT Letters: Galatians 2:15 We being Jews by nature and not (Gal. Ga) </a></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="/galatians/2-14.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Galatians 2:14"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Galatians 2:14" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="/galatians/2-16.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Galatians 2:16"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Galatians 2:16" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>