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Galatians 2
The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.
Paul accepted by the apostles in Jerusalem
1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 2 And I went up by revelation, and set before them the gospel which I preach among the nations, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. 3 But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised; 4 and that because of false brothers secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our freedom which we have in the Messiah Yeshua, that they might bring us into bondage; 5 to whom we did not yield in subjection even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
6 But from those who seemed to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; Elohim shows no partiality to man; for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. 7 But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter, 8 for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the nations, 9 and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the nations and they to the circumcision. 10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
Paul opposes Peter in Antioch
11 But when Peter had come to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he would eat with those of the nations; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of the nations and not as the Jews, why do you compel the nations to live as Jews?"
Justified by faith
15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the nations, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Torah but through faith in Yeshua the Messiah, even we have believed in the Messiah Yeshua, that we might be justified by faith in the Messiah and not by works of the Torah; for by works of the Torah no flesh shall be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified in the Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, is the Messiah therefore a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the Torah died to the Torah, that I might live to Elohim. 20 I have been crucified with the Messiah; and it is no longer I who live, but the Messiah lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of Elohim, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of Elohim; for if righteousness comes through the Torah, then the Messiah died in vain.
Notes
- 2:3 Which visit to Jerusalem this is has long been discussed: the visit with the famine relief (Acts 11:30) or the meeting of Acts 15, where some insisted, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Torah of Moses" (Acts 15:5). Either way, the point is the same: Titus, a Greek, was not required to be circumcised in order to be accepted among the believers. Timothy, whose mother was Jewish, Paul did circumcise (Acts 16:3), so the issue was not circumcision as such but making it the condition for those from the nations to be justified.
- 2:9 Cephas is kefa, the Aramaic word for "rock," the name Yeshua gave to Simon Peter (John 1:42); in this chapter the Majority Text has "Peter" in verses 7, 8, 11 and 14 and "Cephas" here, and many modern Bibles read "Cephas" in verses 11 and 14 as well. James, Cephas and John were "pillars," a picture of the leaders as the supports of Elohim's house. The right hand of fellowship marked an agreement between partners: Paul and Barnabas to the nations, the others to the Jews, "the circumcision." The one request, to "remember the poor" (verse 10), Paul carried out with the collection for the believers in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26; 1 Corinthians 16:1-3).
- 2:12 What Peter withdrew from was sharing the table with believers from the nations. Many customs of the time kept Jews apart from people of other nations at meals, though the Torah does not command this; Peter himself had said, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to associate with or come to one of another nation. But Elohim has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). Whether the meals in Antioch involved food the Torah forbids is not said; many think the question was whether believers from the nations, uncircumcised, could be treated as full members at the same table. "Those who were of the circumcision" may mean Jewish believers who pressed for circumcision, or Jews in general.
- 2:14 "Live as Jews" is ioudaizein, found only here in the New Testament. In other writings of the time it meant to become a Jew: in the Greek translation of Esther many of the people of the land "became Jews" and were circumcised (Esther 8:17), and Josephus tells of a Roman officer who promised to become a Jew, even to be circumcised. In Antioch, Peter's withdrawal put pressure on believers from the nations to take that step in order to be fully accepted. Later church writers used the word for keeping the Shabbat and other commandments, a different use from Paul's. Where Paul's words to Peter end is not marked in the Greek; many continue them through verse 21.
- 2:16 Paul uses nomos, the usual Greek word for the Torah, some thirty times in Galatians. As in Romans (see the note at Romans 2:14), the TRB writes "Torah" where he means the Torah given through Moses, with or without the article, as in "works of the Torah" (erga nomou) here and at Romans 3:20, and "law" where he uses the word for a principle or rule, as in "the law of the Messiah" (6:2), and in the phrase "under law" (hypo nomon, 3:23; 4:4-5, 21; 5:18), as at Romans 6:14. "Faith in Yeshua the Messiah" can also be read "the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah" (see the note at Romans 3:22). The last words echo Psalm 143:2, "for no one living is righteous before You," and speak of how a person is justified, not of whether the justified should obey Elohim (5:13-14).
- 2:19 The TRB writes "Torah" twice here, because the subject of verses 16-21 is being justified by the Torah given through Moses; the verse is much debated. Many read it with verse 20: the Torah's own sentence on sin was carried out in the Messiah's death, and Paul, "crucified with the Messiah," has died to the Torah as a verdict over him and as a way of being justified (compare 3:13; Romans 7:4, where the TRB writes "law" because Paul is applying the marriage law). Others read "through the Torah" as the Torah itself pointing him to the Messiah (3:24). On any reading Paul does not say he stopped walking in Elohim's ways: years later he still walked "keeping the Torah" (Acts 21:24), and he asks, "Do we then make void the Torah through faith? Certainly not!" (Romans 3:31).