Bible Strands
Galatians 2:15
We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses Jewish believers in Antioch while publicly correcting Peter for compelling Gentile converts to adopt Jewish customs. He introduces his own ethnic identity to establish the premise for his argument about gospel boundaries.
The words — Ἰουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) translates literally to Jews, and ἁμαρτωλοὶ (hamartōloi) means sinners. Paul pairs these terms to mark the ethnic label he claims against the moral category Gentiles were assigned by Jewish tradition.
The thread — The text's claim that Jews and Gentiles share the same moral standing runs in Romans 3:9, which charges both groups as being under sin. It also connects to Ephesians 2:3 and Titus 3:3, which describe former Gentile conduct to show that ethnic origin does not prevent sin.
Why it lands — The verse states that birth status and religious pedigree confer no advantage before God. It requires readers to reject ethnic or ceremonial superiority as a basis for spiritual standing.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Cross-references
- Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
- Titus 3:3 For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Romans 3:9 What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.
- Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—
- John 8:39 “Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham.
- Romans 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
- Philippians 3:4 though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
- 1 Samuel 15:18 and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’
- Matthew 3:7 But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
- Matthew 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”