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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Galatians 2:18 - 2:18
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I build again the things which I destroyed (ἃ κατέλυσα ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ)
Peter, by his Christian profession, had asserted that justification was by faith alone; and by his eating with Gentiles had declared that the Mosaic law was no longer binding upon him. He had thus, figuratively, destroyed or pulled down the Jewish law as a standard of Christian faith and conduct. By his subsequent refusal to eat with Gentiles he had retracted this declaration, had asserted that the Jewish law was still binding upon Christians, and had thus built again what he had pulled down. Building and pulling down are favorite figures with Paul. See Rom 14:20; Rom 15:20; 1Co 8:1, 1Co 8:10; 1Co 10:23; 1Co 14:17; Eph 2:20 f. For καταλύειν destroy, see on Rom 14:20; see on 2Co 5:1.
I make myself (ἐμαυτὸν συνιστάνω)
Better, prove myself. The verb originally means to put together: thence to put one person in contact with another by way of introducing him and bespeaking for him confidence and approval. To commend, as Rom 16:1; comp. Rom 5:8; 2Co 3:1; 2Co 4:2; 2Co 5:12. As proof, or exhibition of the true state of a case is furnished by putting things together, the word comes to mean demonstrate, exhibit the fact, as here, Rom 3:5; 2Co 6:11.
A transgressor (παραβάτην)
See on Jam 2:11, and see on παράβασις transgression, Rom 2:23. In reasserting the validity of the law for justification, which he had denied by seeking justification by faith in Christ, he proves himself a transgressor in that denial, that pulling down.