We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners”
Parallel translations
- WEB “We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners,
- KJV We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
- NKJV We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
- NASB “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from the Gentiles;
- NLT “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul notes that he and Peter are Jews by birth, not Gentile sinners. He begins from common ground before stating the gospel truth.
Overview
This verse opens Paul's summary of justification, addressed first to fellow Jews. He concedes the Jewish sense of privilege as a starting point, only to overturn reliance on it. Even those born into the covenant people, he will argue, are justified by faith, not heritage or law.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Eph 2:3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
- Titus 3:3For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Rom 3:9What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.
- Eph 2:11–12Therefore 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)—
- Phil 3:4though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
- Rom 4:16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
- John 8:39–41“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham.
- Matt 3:7–9But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
- 1 Sam 15:18and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’
- Matt 9:11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
- Mark 7:26–28Now she was a Greek woman of Syrophoenician origin, and she kept asking Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
- Acts 22:21Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 2:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.