God’s Word Translation
Galatians 2:19
19When I tried to obey the laws in the Scriptures, those laws killed me. As a result, I live in a relationship with God. I have been crucified with Christ.
Galatians 2:19 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
- New International Version (NIV)“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
Context of Galatians 2:19
17If we, the same people who are searching for God’s approval in Christ, are still sinners, does that mean that Christ encourages us to sin? That’s unthinkable! 18If I rebuild something that I’ve torn down, I admit that I was wrong to tear it down. When I tried to obey the laws in the Scriptures, those laws killed me. As a result, I live in a relationship with God. I have been crucified with Christ. 20I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live I live by believing in God’s Son, who loved me and took the punishment for my sins. 21I don’t reject God’s kindness. If we receive God’s approval by obeying the laws in the Scriptures, then Christ’s death was pointless.
Read all of Galatians 2Galatians 2:19 word by word
ἐγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, ἵνα θεῷ ζήσω. Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Galatians 2:19
- Galatians 3:10Certainly, there is a curse on all who rely on their own efforts because Scripture says, “Whoever doesn’t obey everything that is written in Moses’ Teachings is cursed.”
- Romans 3:19We know that whatever the Scriptures say applies to everyone under their influence, and no one can say a thing. The whole world is brought under the judgment of God.
- Romans 4:15The laws in Moses’ Teachings bring about anger. But where those laws don’t exist, they can’t be broken.
- Romans 5:20The laws in Moses’ Teachings were added to increase the failure. But where sin increased, God’s kindness increased even more.
- Romans 7:7What should we say, then? Are the laws in Moses’ Teachings sinful? That’s unthinkable! In fact, I wouldn’t have recognized sin if those laws hadn’t shown it to me. For example, I wouldn’t have known that some desires are sinful if Moses’ Teachings hadn’t said, “Never have wrong desires.”
- Romans 8:2The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death.
- Romans 10:4Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval.
- Romans 6:2That’s unthinkable! As far as sin is concerned, we have died. So how can we still live under sin’s influence?
- Romans 7:4In the same way, brothers and sisters, you have died to the laws in Moses’ Teachings through Christ’s body. You belong to someone else, the one who was brought back to life. As a result, we can do what God wants.
- Colossians 2:20If you have died with Christ to the world’s way of doing things, why do you let others tell you how to live? It’s as though you were still under the world’s influence.
- Colossians 3:3You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
- 1 Peter 2:24Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you.
- Galatians 2:20I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live I live by believing in God’s Son, who loved me and took the punishment for my sins.
- Romans 14:7It’s clear that we don’t live to honor ourselves, and we don’t die to honor ourselves.
- 1 Corinthians 10:31So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God.
- 2 Corinthians 5:15He died for all people so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the man who died and was brought back to life for them.
Commentaries on Galatians 2:19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19For I through the law am dead to the law - In consequence of properly considering the nature and requisitions of the law, I am dead to all hope and expectation of help or salvation from the law, and have been obliged to take refuge in the Gospel of Christ. Or, probably the word , Law, is here put for a system of doctrine; as if he had said, I through the Gospel am dead to the law. The law itself is consigned to death, and another, the Gospel of Christ, is…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19For I through the law - On this passage the commentators are by no means agreed. It is agreed that in the phrase “am dead to the law,” the Law of Moses is referred to, and that the meaning is, that Paul had become dead to that as a ground or means of justification. He acted as though it were not; or it ceased to have influence over him. A dead man is insensible to all around him. He hears nothing; sees nothing; and nothing affects him. So when we are said…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-19Verses 15-19 Paul, having thus shown he was not inferior to any apostle, not to Peter himself, speaks of the great foundation doctrine of the gospel. For what did we believe in Christ? Was it not that we might be justified by the faith of Christ? If so, is it not foolish to go back to the law, and to expect to be justified by the merit of moral works, or sacrifices, or ceremonies? The occasion of this declaration doubtless arose from the ceremonial law…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19For through the law: Trying to please God by following the law always leads to sin (5:2–4; see Rom 7:5, 8–11). Living by the Spirit leads away from sin (Galatians 5:16, 22–24). I died to the law: "Dying to the law" means stopping the attempt to meet all its demands. Those who trust in Christ share in his death (2:20). They are no longer judged by the law (see Romans 6:2, 10–11; 7:2–6) and do not see the law as a way to be saved. Instead, Christians live…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1919. Here Paul seems to pass from his exact words to Peter, to the general purport of his argument on the question. However, his direct address to the Galatians seems not to be resumed till Ga 3:1, "O foolish Galatians," &c. For--But I am not a "transgressor" by forsaking the law. "For," &c. Proving his indignant denial of the consequence that "Christ is the minister of sin" (Ga 2:17), and of the premises from which it would follow. Christ, so far from…Read the comment
Topics related to Galatians 2:19
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Galatians 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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