If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.
Parallel translations
- WEB For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
- KJV For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
- NKJV For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
- NASB For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a wrongdoer.
- NLT Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down.
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
To rebuild the law system Paul tore down would be to make himself a transgressor. Returning to law-righteousness is the real error.
Overview
Paul argues that going back to law-keeping as the basis of acceptance would prove him guilty, not righteous. Having abandoned that system for Christ, to reinstate it would betray the gospel. The point reinforces that the answer to sin is grace, not a renewed reliance on the law.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gal 4:9–12But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- Gal 2:4–5This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
- Gal 2:12–16For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.
- Rom 14:15If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.
- Gal 2:21I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.
- 1 Cor 8:11–12So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
- Gal 5:11Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:18 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.