Galatians 2:18 - Exposition

For if I build again the things which I destroyed ( εἰ γὰρ ἂκατέλυσα ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ ); for if I am building up again the things which I pulled down. I make myself a transgressor ( παραβάτην ἐμαυτὸν συνίστημι [or, συνιστάνω another form of the same verb]); a transgressor is what I am showing my own self to be. I must be wrong one way or the other; if I am right now, was wrong then; and from the very nature of the case now in hand, wrong exceedingly; no less than an absolute transgressor. This word "transgressor" denotes, not one who merely happens to break, perchance inadverdently, some precept of the Law, but one who, perhaps in consequence of even one act of wilful transgression, is to be regarded as trampling upon the authority of the Law altogether (comp. Romans 2:25 , Romans 2:27 ; James 2:9 , James 2:11 , which are the only places of the New Testament in which the word occurs; it is therefore a full equivalent to the word "sinner" of James 2:17 ). The Greek verb συνιστάνω , "to put forward in a clear light," is used similarly in 2 Corinthians 6:4 ; 2 Corinthians 7:11 . It is much debated, and is certainly nowise clear, how far down in the chapter the rebuke addressed to St. Peter extends. If it does not reach to the end of the chapter, as some think it does, the break may be very well placed at the end of this verse. For this verse clearly relates to St. Peter, whether actually addressed to him or not; notwithstanding that the verbs are in the hypothetical first person singular, they cannot be taken as referred to St. Paul, not being at all applicable to his case. On the other hand, with the nineteenth verse the first person is plainly used by St. Paul with reference to his own self, which is indeed marked by the emphatic ἐγὼ with which it opens.