Philip Dampier's Blog

“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. (Gal. 2:19) When Paul crucified his old self to live in Jesus he left the law behind. Jesus nailed that law to the cross and Paul sees himself (and all Jewish Christians) having died…

“For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.” (Gal. 2:18) Normally we would think of rebuilding as a worthwhile task so we may find the statement of Paul that rebuilding would make him a sinner. However, Paul was more than likely talking about…

“But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!” (Gal. 2:17) Verses 17 and 18 are not without difficulty as to obtaining their meaning. There are two basic schools of thought and there…

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners; yet we know that ‘ a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not…

“But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal. 2:14)…

“And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.” (Gal. 2:13) If nothing else is learned in verse 13 we should learn the importance of our example in front of others. When a person of the statue of…

“For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.” (Gal.2:12) Here is the sequence in Antioch, a church with two different kinds of people but supposedly one in Christ. 1. Peter often…

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” (Gal. 2:11) When Paul confronted Peter on Peter’s visit to Antioch it was in relation to the topic already under discussion which is probably why Paul included it here. The gospel as it relates…

“Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” (Gal. 2:9) Remembering the poor is not a new theme in the Word of God. It is not a new concept initiated for the New Testament church and its members. God made man and…

“…and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” (Gal. 2:9) Have you given much thought…