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Galatians 2:18<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n God is not pleased when we try to obey religious rules. He is pleased when we submit our will to Him.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The word translated \u201cdemolish<\/span>\u201d is katalu\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which is made up of kata<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cdown,\u201d used here as an intensifier, and lu\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning to let loose. It refers to unfastening something or taking it apart, hence \u201cdestroy.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Paul continues on in his criticism of Peter, Barnabas, and others for their separation from the Gentiles. Paul has told the Galatian Christians about how Peter, having freely enjoyed the fellowship with Gentile believers, turned away from these Gentiles (out of fear of what his Jewish brethren would think of him) when Jewish Christians from Jerusalem came to Antioch. Paul very clearly calls this type of behavior hypocrisy. He told Peter, and Barnabas who had been drawn into the same hypocritical behavior by Peter\u2019s actions, that if they had the freedom to behave as Gentiles then why would they insist that Gentiles now behave as Jews by observing circumcision and other practices of the Mosaic Law.<\/p>\n In the previous verse Paul introduced the notion of Christian liberty, the fact that we are justified by faith not works. And if we who are justified by faith, through the excuse of such liberty, return to the sinful practices of our former life we are being submissive to Christ. In other words, if we as Christians now return to obeying the Law in order to ensure our justification, then that very action causes us to be sinners.<\/p>\n \u201cif I build again those things which I destroyed<\/span>,\u201d refers to the commandments of the Law. Paul told the Christians in Ephesus that this legalistic distinction between Jews and Gentiles has been done away with in Christianity and Christ has fully satisfied and abolished the need for the commandments of the Law which separated Jew and Gentile.<\/p>\n But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is,<\/span> the law of commandments contained<\/span> in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from<\/span> the two, thus<\/span> making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.<\/span> (Ephesians 2:13-16<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n Since Christ has done away with the commandments contained in ordinances (the Law and any legalistic practices) we are actually being sinners when we try to satisfy these laws and ordinances now that we have been set free by Christ.<\/p>\n Application <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n As we said in the previous verse, this does not give us license to live as we please and sin as we please. Rather, it constrains us to be obedient to Christ because He has set us free.<\/p>\n Are you trying to satisfy the legal requirements of your church in order to secure your salvation? Or, are you trying to please your Lord and Savior?<\/p>\n You can\u2019t do both!<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2007 <\/span>Will <\/span>Krause. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone (618) 614-3070 and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to: Galatians 2:18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. Truth to Learn God is not pleased when we try to obey religious rules. He is pleased when we submit our will to Him. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cdemolish\u201d is katalu\u014d, which is made up of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galatians-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-2G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"..\/..\/signature.gif\")
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