Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 2:17

εἰ δὲ. The adversative thought is that in the process of being justified we are found to be sinners.

ζητοῦντες. The effort was real and lasting.

δικαιωθῆναι ἐν Χριστῷ εὑρέθημεν. The tense of εὑρ. may be “timeless,” but more probably refers to the time when we first sought etc. εὑρ. is more than ἧμεν; it includes acknowledgment; if we were found by our own experience, Romans 7:10. The mere effort to be justified in Christ proved to us that as far as the demands of the Law went we were still sinners.

καὶ αὐτοὶ. Parallel to καὶ ἡμεῖς (Galatians 2:16), even we Jews who passed over from Judaism to faith on Christ, and also were seeking etc.

ἁμαρτωλοί, Galatians 2:15, i.e. no better than Gentiles. When seeking to be justified we came to recognize our sinfulness as no less than that of Gentiles.

ἆρα of an argument which is only superficially true.

Χριστὸς ἁμαρτίας διάκονος; does Christ bring us into a condition of real sin? There is a double thought: Does the consciousness of being sinners make us more sinners than before, and, if so, is it Christ’s fault that we are worse sinners?

μὴ γένοιτο. For the use of this when an argument followed out to its apparently logical conclusion is seen to be contrary to the elements of the Christian faith cf. Galatians 3:21; Romans 11:1 al.

Other interpretations of this difficult verse are:
(a) St Paul is arguing that if by leaving the Law we become in the sight of God sinners (which we do not) then Christ brings sin, which is absurd; i.e. St Paul is showing that it cannot be wrong to abandon the Law. Galatians 2:18 then means, as with the first and right interpretation of Galatians 2:17, that not leaving the Law, but returning to it, is wrong.

(b) The verse represents the thought of an objector. If to be justified in Christ means to leave the Law (a sinful action), and thus to be in sight of God and man no better than a Gentile, Christ becomes a minister of sin. St Paul answers, God forbid. But Galatians 2:18 is then unintelligible.

(c) If when seeking etc. we do commit sins, Christ cannot be blamed for this. We are to be blamed (Galatians 2:18) because it is contrary to our profession and earlier action.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 2:17

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