What is the context of Galatians 2:18?
"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before
them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" (Galatians 2:14).
So when Paul says, "For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." He is talking about his life as a Jew or Pharisee (Which Jesus had a problem with because they rejected Jesus and His words and they held on to man made traditions or laws). Paul is saying he is dead to the law (i.e. the law of Moses) in verse 19. Paul is not saying that all law is dead to us. For Paul himself said that what he has written to us should be regarded as the LORD's Commandments (1 Corinthians 14:37).
YouAreAwesome said:
Well, first of all, the faith being spoken about here does not mean that the saints in the Old Testament did not have faith. Hebrews 11 shows us that the Old Testament saints also had faith. The faith being spoken about here is faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Which also includes repentance, i.e. a cry out to God to ask Him to forgive you of your sins with the intent that you will forsake those sins and not remain in them). Galatians 3:25 says that we are no longer under a schoolmaster. This schoolmaster was in reference to the 613 Old Covenant Laws and not the 1,050 + New Testament Commands or Laws. Nobody was ever justified by keeping the Law ever! Men were justified by faith even in the Old Testament. Galatians 3:25 is merely saying we are not under the Old Law (Which is what brang us to Christ). For this is why Paul says later in his letter to the Galatians,
"Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." (Galatians 5:2). Circumcision is a part of the Old Law and not the New Law.
YouAreAwesome said:
Again, this proves that Paul is talking about the Old Law and not all Law or New Covenant Law. If you were to keep reading, Paul talks about the fulfillment of the promises. Here is what Paul says,
24 "These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them.
25 And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law.
26 But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother" (
Galatians 4:24-26 NLT).
In other words, there are those who wrongfully misused the Law in the Old Covenant. They ingored love, faith, and justice in favor of a distorted version of God's laws (Making salvation all about what you do alone without a Savior or His grace). But that does not mean God does not want us to obey Him, though. That is what follows God's grace and mercy. For if there is no change to a life of obedience after having God's living in their life with His love effecting them, then they are proving they really do not know GOD (See 1 John 2:3-6).
YouAreAwesome said:
The word "letter" is in reference to the Old Law of Moses. For the context references the Law of Moses by saying "tablets of stone" (2 Corinthians 3:3), the letter killeth (2 Corinthians 3:6), ministration of death, written
and engraven in stones (2 Corinthians 3:7), the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses (2 Corinthians 3:7).
In other words, the verse would read like this,
"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of
the letter [the Old Law], but of the spirit: for
the letter killeth [whereby the Old Law could kill you if you disobeyed it], but the spirit giveth life." (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Meaning, it is not saying that we are not under any Commands now. It is simply saying we are not under the Old Testament Commands as New Covenant believers.
YouAreAwesome said:
This would not include sin or the breaking of the Commands within the New Testament. This is in context to the Old Law. We have freedom or liberty in the Spirit in regards to the Old Law (not the New Law).
YouAreAwesome said:
I love the New Living Translation on this one. It really clears up the confusion here that most read into it when they read the KJV.
"You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you. And even though "I am allowed to do anything," I must not become a slave to anything" (
1 Corinthians 6:12 NLT).
YouAreAwesome said:
A few verses that help us understand the new covenant of love. We are under no law, but the Royal Law. Does the Royal Law go against or abrogate instructions that in accordance with love? Nope. But we don't follow them because they are laws, from the outside; we follow because we have love in our hearts, on the inside. Heartfelt love, not commanded love. See the difference?
Well, first, the fear of the LORD has not stopped since the New Covenant.
"There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:18).
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1).
"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:21).
"And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great" (Revelation 19:5).
Second, we are under a lot more commands than just the Royal Law, too. Try doing a study on the Commands in the New Testament sometime and you will see what I am talking about.
In any event, may GOD bless you.
And may you be more in the knowledge of Him and His good ways.
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