Galatians 2:5
That the truth of the gospel might remain
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
to whom not even for an hour we gave place by subjection, that the truth of the good news might remain to you.
우리가 일시라도 복종치 아니하였으니 이는 복음의 진리로 너희 가운데 항상 있게 하려 함이라
우리가 그들에게 단 한 시간도 굴복하지 아니하였으니 이것은 복음의 진리가 항상 너희와 함께 있게 하려 함이라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Gal 2:1-10 as a whole
Observe the apostle's faithfulness in giving a full account of the doctrine he had preached among the Gentiles, and was still resolved to preach, that of Christianity, free from all mixture of Judaism. This doctrine would be ungrateful to many, yet he was not afraid to own it. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Gal 2:5
To whom we did not yield by submission - Although in love he would have yielded to any. With such wonderful prudence did the apostle use his Christian liberty ! circumcising Timothy, Acts 16:3, because of weak brethren, but not Titus, because of false brethren. …
Read the whole commentary →
Note
In Jerusalem the test case was Titus, a Greek: must he be circumcised? False brothers who "had come in under false pretenses" demanded it (Galatians 2:4). Paul and Barnabas "did not give in to them for a moment." The reason is the second half of this verse.
The gospel's noun, , stands here in the genitive, in the phrase hē alētheia tou euangeliou, "the truth of the gospel." It comes again in Galatians 2:14, and both times something concrete is at stake: here a man's circumcision, there a shared table. The phrase does not mean that part of the gospel is true and part is not. It means the gospel as it is, with nothing added. Wesley glosses it: "That is, the true genuine gospel" Wesley.
"Would remain" renders diameinē, to stay on, to last; and the place where it is to remain is pros humas, "with you," which Wesley reads as "With you gentiles" Wesley. The Gentile believers of Galatia were not in the room in Jerusalem. Paul held out there for people who were not present, and he now writes to them.
The KJV's "no, not for an hour" and the LSV's "not even for an hour" keep the Greek's hour; the BSB's "for a moment" says the same in modern English. The KJV's "that the truth of the gospel might continue with you" and the BSB's "so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you" both make the truth the subject, as the Greek does: it is the truth that must stay.
What was at stake in Jerusalem had a name. The false brothers came "to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us" (Galatians 2:4). The truth of the gospel and the freedom of those who believe it stand or fall together, and the letter will end its argument on the same note: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1).
He did not refuse everything. Wesley notes that Paul circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3) but would not circumcise Titus: he yielded for the sake of weak brothers, never to false ones. "With such wonderful prudence did the apostle use his Christian liberty" Wesley. Matthew Henry gives the rule: "There are things which may lawfully be complied with, yet, when they cannot be done without betraying the truth, they ought to be refused" Matthew Henry.
The "you" of this verse are the Galatians, but everyone who has received the gospel since stands in that place. A gospel that reaches a reader today with nothing added comes by way of people who would not yield where yielding would have cost it.