This verse is apparently an answer to the assertion of Paul’s opponents that his message of being put right with God by faith in Jesus Christ amounts to making Christ a minister of sin, since those who put themselves “outside of the law” (by not obeying its demands) would be regarded by Jews as being “sinners.”

To be put right with God by our union with Christ is literally “to be justified in Christ.” Many interpret the clause to mean that Christ is the active agent of justification (Jerusalem Bible “looking to Christ to justify us”), while others see this to mean that Christ is the means of our justification. A literal translation would, of course, be ambiguous. Good News Translation understands God to be the primary source or causative agent of justification, and therefore the implicit subject of the passive verb, and the phrase “in Christ” to refer to means (as in 2.4), namely, the intimate fellowship between Christ and the Christian. One may also translate this expression as “to get into the right relationship with God because we are joined to Christ,” “… because we have become one with Christ,” or “… by means of our being so closely associated with Christ.” It is rare that one can use in a receptor language a literal rendering of “in Christ.”

Try is literally “seek,” and it should be rendered in such a way that it does not mean simply attempting or striving without any assurance of success, but rather desiring fervently or hoping (Revised Standard Version “endeavor,” Knox “putting our hopes of justification in Christ”).

We are found is a literal translation, but the difficulty with keeping the literal form is that in many cases the agent of a passive verb has to be made explicit. Here, however, the expression is simply equivalent to “to become” (compare New English Bible “turn out to be”). In some languages we are found to be may be rendered as “it happens that we are.”

One of the complications involved in understanding the first part of this verse is the embedding of a clause of attendant circumstances (as we try to be put right with God by our union with Christ) within a conditional clause (if … we are found to be “sinners”). It may be better in some languages to eliminate this embedding of one clause within another. One may translate “We endeavor to be put right with God by our being joined with Christ. But if as we do this we are found to be….”

Sinners could mean either in the ethical sense (wrongdoers, evildoers) or, as in verse 15, a term to designate those who are outside the law. Most probably the latter is meant here, and therefore one may translate the expression as “to be so-called ‘sinners’ as much as the Gentiles are.” It may even be possible in some instances, in order to make the meaning quite clear, to say “to be so-called ‘sinners’ (as far as the Law is concerned) as much as the Gentiles are.”

Does this mean that Christ is serving the cause of sin? is literally “Is Christ therefore a minister of sin?” A “minister of sin” is one who furthers the interests or cause of sin, who promotes and encourages it (Phillips “makes us sinners,” Jerusalem Bible “induced us to sin,” New American Bible “is encouraging sin”; New English Bible “an abettor of sin”).

The whole verse may be understood in the following way: Paul is saying that to be put right with God by faith, Jewish Christians have to abandon the Law. By abandoning the Law, they have become sinners, that is, outside the Law. Can it therefore be deduced from this that they have made Christ a minister of sin? To this, Paul answers: By no means. The expression is emphatic, expressing complete negation of the premise of a question which has just been asked (compare Phillips “of course not”; New American Bible “unthinkable”). In some instances one may translate “that is certainly not true,” or “in fact, the opposite is true.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .