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Galatians 2

Paul defends the gospel’s freedom for Gentiles and grounds justification and life with God in faith in Christ.

Paul recounts a visit to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus, where the recognized leaders affirmed his work among the Gentiles. Titus, a Greek, was not compelled to receive circumcision. Paul then tells the Galatians how he confronted Peter in Antioch after Peter withdrew from meals with Gentile believers out of fear. That conflict leads into Paul’s explanation of justification through faith in Christ, his death to the law, and the life he now lives through Christ.

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1Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
2I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.
3But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
4This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage,
5to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.
6But from those who were reputed to be important—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,
7but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised—
8for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles—
9and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.
10They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do.
11But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.
12For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?
15“We, being Jews by nature and not Gentile sinners,
16yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
17But if while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!
18For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
19For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God.
20I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
21I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
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Key verses
Galatians 2:20Paul describes his life as bound to Christ’s death and sustained by faith in the Son who loved him.
Galatians 2:16This verse states the conviction behind Paul’s confrontation with Peter: justification comes through faith in Christ, apart from law observance.
Galatians 2:19Paul’s death to the law explains why rebuilding its claim over his standing with God would contradict his life in Christ.
Where this chapter reaches

Acts recounts disputes over Gentile circumcision and the involvement of Jerusalem’s leaders, sharing the people and central issue described here. Romans and Philippians share Paul’s teaching about righteousness through faith in Christ, while Romans also develops participation in Christ’s death and life.

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What does Peter’s withdrawal from shared meals reveal about the reach of fear within a church?

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Which part of Paul’s description of life in Christ most challenges how you understand faith?

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Questions people ask about Galatians 2

Why did Paul confront Peter in Galatians 2?

Peter had eaten with Gentile believers, then withdrew when people came from James because he feared the circumcision group. Other Jewish believers, including Barnabas, followed him. Paul confronted him before them all because this conduct contradicted the gospel and pressured Gentiles to live as Jews.

What does justified mean in Galatians 2:16?

Justified means counted righteous before God. Paul repeats that this standing comes through faith in Jesus Christ and cannot be gained through works of the law. The immediate dispute concerns Gentile believers and Jewish practices, yet Paul includes Jewish believers in the same need for faith in Christ.

What does being crucified with Christ mean in Galatians 2:20?

Paul describes a union with Christ that joins him to Christ’s death and changes the basis of his life. He still lives in the flesh, yet Christ lives in him. His words explain verse 19: having died to the law, he now lives to God through faith in God’s Son.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).