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For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God.
Galatians 2:19 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
  • BSB For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.
  • ESV For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
  • NKJV For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
  • NASB For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live for God.
  • NLT For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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

Through the law Paul died to the law so that he might live to God. The law's own work led him beyond itself to life in Christ.

Overview

Paul explains that the law, by condemning him, brought him to the end of self-righteousness and to Christ. Having died to the law's demands as a path to life, he now lives for God by grace. This paradox shows the law's purpose was never to be the ground of salvation.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 26

  • Rom 7:4Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
  • Rom 6:2May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
  • 1 Th 5:10who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
  • 2 Cor 5:15He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
  • Rom 6:11Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • Rom 3:19–20Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
  • Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
  • Rom 14:7–8For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.
  • 1 Pet 2:24who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
  • Titus 2:14who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
  • Rom 6:14For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
  • Heb 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
  • Gal 3:24So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
  • Gal 2:20I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that 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.
  • Col 2:20If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
  • Rom 10:4–5For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
  • 1 Pet 4:6For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.
  • Rom 5:20The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
  • Col 3:3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
  • Gal 3:10For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
  • Rom 7:6–11But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
  • Rom 7:14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.
  • Rom 4:15For the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.
  • 1 Cor 10:31Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
  • Rom 7:22–23For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
  • 1 Pet 4:1–2Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Galatians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Galatians 2:19YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GalatiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 2:19 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.