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¹ PAUL’S LETTER TO THE COMMUNITIES IN GALATIA From Paul, an apostlea.-not sent from people or by human authority, but from Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from among the dead.

² And from all the brothers and sistersb with me. To the Christian communities of Galatia.c

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ He gave himself for our sins, so that he could rescue us out of this current evil age.d This wase the will of our God and Father.

⁵ May God get the glory forever and ever, amen!f

⁶ You’ve Turned Away from the Good News! I’m amazed how quickly you’ve switched loyalties! You’ve turned away from the One who called you by grace,g and gone to a different good news-

⁷ which isn’t another good news!h Maybe it’s just that there are some people trying to trying to frighten you, and they‘re hoping to overturn the good news of Christ.i

⁸ But even if we-or an angel from heaven-ever brings you a good news message that’s against the message we brought you,j then let them be cursed!k

⁹ Just as we’ve said before, I’ll say it again right now: if somebody brings you a good news message that’s against what you’ve received, then let them be cursed!

¹⁰ So now who am I trying to get on my side? People, or God? Am I trying to please people? If I still tried to please people, I wouldn’t be Christ’s servant.l

¹¹ Paul ‘s Apostolic Message Came to him by Revelation Brothers and sisters, I want you to know something about the good news I preach: it’s not a human opinion.m

¹² Because I didn’t get it from human beings, and I wasn’t taught it. No, I got it through of a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ After all, you’ve heard about my way of life when I was in Judaism-that I viciously persecuted the community of God. I was even trying to destroy it.

¹⁴ And I was going further in Judaism than lots of people my age in my country. I was even more passionate than they were about the traditions of my ancestors.

¹⁵ But then it pleased God to

¹⁶ reveal God’s Son in me-the One who had set me apart from my mother’s womb, and called me through divine grace!n God’s purpose was for me to spread the good news of Christ too the Gentile nations. When that happened, I didn’t go to get human advice right away.p

¹⁷ And I didn’t go off to Jerusalem to visit the people who were apostles before me. Instead, I went off to Arabia and then went back to Damascusq again.

¹⁸ Paul and the Jerusalem Apostles Then I went up to Jerusalem after three years to visitr Cephas,s and I stayed with him for fifteen days.

¹⁹ I didn’t see any other apostle, except for James, the Lord’s brother.

²⁰ God is my witness: I’m not lying about all this.t

²¹ Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.u

²² And the Christian communities in Judeav didn’t know me face to face.w

²³ But they were just hearing that “the man who used to persecute us now spreads the good news of the faith he used to try to destroy!”

²⁴ And they were praisingx God about me.

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¹ Then, fourteen years later, I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas. We took Titus with us too.

² I went up because of a revelation.a And I laid out for them the good news that I preach to the Gentiles. But I did it privately,b with the respected leaders. I didn’t want to find that I was running, or had been running, this race for nothing.c

³ But in fact, not even Titus, my non-Jewish companion,d was forced to be circumcised.e

⁴ There had been pressure through certain false believers that had sneaked in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus-so they could enslave us.

⁵ But we didn’t give in and follow their demands for even one minute.f We wanted the truth of the good news to stay in your possession.g

⁶ But among those who had some sort of reputation, the people with the most reputation didn’t impose anything on me. (What their official positions wereh doesn’t matter to me-God doesn’t go by human appearances.)

⁷ Far from imposing something on me, they saw that I’ve been entrusted with the good news for the non-Jews-just as Peter has been entrusted with the good news for the Jews.i After all,

⁸ the one who worked in Peter to bring the good news to the Jewsj also worked in me to bring the good news to the Gentiles.

⁹ And James and Cephask and John (who have a reputation as pillars) recognized the grace that’s been given to me. They shook hands with Barnabas and me as a sign that we were partners with them.l We agreed that we would go to the Gentiles, and they would go to the Jews.m

¹⁰ They only asked that we would continue to remember their poor-the very thing I was actively committed to doing.

¹¹ Paul Stands up to Cephas (the Apostle Peter) in Antioch Then, when Cephas came to Antioch, I stood up to him face to face and told him he was wrong.n

¹² Because he’d been eating with Gentiles before certain people came from James. But when they came, he started hesitating. And he was keeping himself separate out of fear of the people from the Jewish group.o

¹³ And the rest of the Jewish believers joined in the act with him-so that even Barnabas got drawnp into their play-acting.

¹⁴ But I saw that they weren’t acting in line with the truth of the good news. And I said to Cephas, in front of everyone, “You’re a Jew. So if you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you force the Gentiles to live as Jews?

¹⁵ We’re Jews by birth, and we’re not ‘sinners from other nations’.q

¹⁶ But we know that a person is not found innocentr by doing what the Law requiress except through faith in Jesus Christ. And we’ve believed in Christ Jesus so that we’ll be found innocent by our faith in Christ, not by doing what the Law requires. Because No human beingt is going to be found innocent by doing what the Law requires.u

¹⁷ But suppose that while we’re trying to be found innocent in Christ, we discover that we’re sinners too.v Does that make Christ a servant of sin?w Absolutely not!x

¹⁸ After all, suppose I rebuild the same things I’ve torn down. Won’t I make myself a law-breaker by doing that?y

¹⁹ Because thanks to the Law, I’ve died to the Law-so I can live for God. I’ve been hung on a cross with Christ.

²⁰ And it’s not me that’s living anymore-Christ lives in me. And the life I live in my mortal bodyz now, I live by faith in the one who loved me and gave himself up for me.

²¹ I’m not disqualifying the grace of God. After all, if a verdict of innocentaa comes through the Law, then Christ died for nothing.

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¹ Right with God-By Faith, or by Keeping All the Law’s Commands? You unthinkinga Galatians, who hypnotized you? Your own eyes have seen Jesus Christ publicly hung on a cross!

² I only want to learn one thing from you: did you receive the Spirit by doing what the Law requires, or by hearing and believing?b

³ How can you be so unthinking? You started out in the Spirit-are you going to finish in the flesh?

⁴ Have you gone through all this for nothing? Was it really just for nothing?c

⁵ So-when Godd gives out the Spirit to you, and does displays of power among you-does that come from doing what the Law requires, or from hearing with faith?

⁶ It’s like Abraham, who “believed God, and it was credited to him as being in the right”.e

⁷ So understand that it’s the people who live on the basis of faith who are Abraham’s children.

⁸ And scripture sees ahead of time that God will find the Gentilesf innocent on the basis of faith. It tells the good news to Abraham ahead of time: All nations are going to be blessed through you.g

⁹ The result is that those who live on the basis of faith are blessed along with Abraham, who believed.

¹⁰ After all, those who operate on the basis of doing what the Law requires are under a curse. Because scripture says:h. Everyone who doesn’t hold to all the things written in the book of the Law, by doing them,i will be under a curse.j

¹¹ Yes,k it’s clear that that no one is found innocent by God through the Law, because “The person who is innocent will live by faith”.l

¹² But the Law isn’t based on faith. No, “The person who does these thingsm will live because of it”.n

¹³ Christ has paid the price to set us free from the curse of the Law. He became a curse for us. Because the scripture says,o Everyone hung on a stakep is cursed.

¹⁴ In this wayq the blessing of Abraham could go to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith.

¹⁵ God’s Promise of Christ for the World is Older Than the Jewish Law Brothers and sisters, I’m going to use a human example.r Even when it’s a human will, when it’s been finalized, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.

¹⁶ Now, the promises were mades to Abraham and to his “offspring”. It doesn’t say to “the offsprings,” as though it’s to a lot of people. No, it’s as though it’s about one person: “and to your offspring,”t which is Christ.

¹⁷ My point is this:u There is a will, which has been finalized by God.v The Law, which comes along 430 years later,w doesn’t cancel it out andx invalidate the promise.

¹⁸ After all, if the inheritance were based on the Law, it wouldn’t be based on the promise anymore. But God has given the gift to Abraham through a promise.

¹⁹ So why do we have the Law? Because of people‘s disobedient ways.y It was added until the promised offspring came. It was put in place by angels, using a go-between.z

²⁰ But there’s no such thing as a go-between where there’s only one party-and God is One!aa

²¹ The Purpose of the Law So-is the Law against the promises of God?bb Never! After all, if the Law as given could make people alive, then right living would have come out of it.

²² But the scripture locks them all in prison together under sin! That way, the promise can be given to those who believe, on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.

²³ Now before faith came, we were locked away under guard together by the Law: we were waiting for the faith that still had to be revealed.

²⁴ As a result, the Law became our tutor until Christ came. That way, we could be found innocent on the basis of faith.

²⁵ And now that faith has come, we aren’t under a tutor anymore.

²⁶ Because you’re all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus!

²⁷ After all, those who have been baptized have put on Christ.

²⁸ There’s no more Jew and non-Jew, there’s no slave and free, there isn’t man and woman—you’re all one in Christ Jesus!

²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you belong to Abraham’s offspring, and you’re heirs in line with the promise.

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¹ My point is this:a As long as the heir is a child, there’s no difference between them and a slave-even though they own everything.

² No, they’re under guardians and caretakers until the moment set by their father.

³ In the same way, when we were children, we were kept in slavery by the ruling spirits of the world.b

⁴ But when the time was exactly right,c God sent God’s own Son. He was born to a woman, and born under the Law.

⁵ That way he could pay the price to set free the people who were under the Law-so that we could receive adoption as children.

⁶ And because you’re children, God has sent the Spirit of God’s Son into our hearts. And the Spirit calls out,d “Abba! Father!”

⁷ So you’re not a slave anymore—you’re a child of God. And if you’re a child, you’re also an heir because of God.

⁸ Have you Forgotten Where you Came From and What You Received through Christ? Now, it was totally different when you didn’t know God. You were slaves to beings that aren’t really gods.e

⁹ But now you know God-or, more accurately, you’re known by God. So how is it that you’re turning back again to those poor, weak ruling spirits?f How is it that you want to be slaves to them all over again?

¹⁰ You’re keeping special days, months, seasons, and years.g

¹¹ I’m afraid for you! I’m worried that I’ve worked hard among you for nothing.

¹² I’m asking you, please, brothers and sisters: be like me, just as I became like you.h You haven’t done anything wrong to me.

¹³ Now, you know that it was because ofi a physical disability that I brought you the good news the first time.

¹⁴ Even with the trialj that my physical condition was to you, you didn’t despise me or reject me. Just the opposite: You took me in as though I were an angel of God, as though I were Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ So where is that sense of blessing now?k After all, I can testify that if you could have, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶ So now have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷ They’re anxious to get your acceptance, but not in a sincere way. They actually want to shut you out, so that you’ll be anxious to get their acceptance.l

¹⁸ For that matter, it would be good if you sincerely valued my acceptance all the time,m and not just when I’m there with you.

¹⁹ My children, I’m in labor with you again until Christ is finally formed in you.

²⁰ I keep wishing that I could be with you, and talk differently about this-because I just don’t know what to do about you.n

²¹ Hagar and Sarah (Gen. 21:8-21; Isa. 54:1) Illustrate the Law and the Good News Tell me-those of you who want to be under the Law: don’t you listen to the Law?

²² After all, scripture sayso that Abraham had two sons. One was born to the slave woman and one was born to the free woman.

²³ However, the one born to the slave woman was born according to the normal physical way of things, and the one born to the free woman was born because of a promise.p

²⁴ These things have a hidden meaning:q they’re the two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, born into slavery. That’s Hagar.

²⁵ And Hagar (Mount Sinai) is in Arabia,r and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she’s in slavery with her children.

²⁶ But the Jerusalem above is free: she’s our mother.

²⁷ After all, scripture says,s Celebrate, though you were infertile and never got pregnant; Let loose a shout of joy, though you never were in labor. Because the woman who’d been deserted will have lots of children- Even more than the woman who kept her husband.t

²⁸ Brothers and sisters, you are the promised children, just like Isaac!

²⁹ However, just as the one who’d been born according to the normal physical way of thingsu persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is now.

³⁰ However, what does the scripture say? Kick out the slave woman and her son! The son of the slave woman will never inherit alongside the son of the free woman!v

³¹ So, brothers and sisters, we aren’t children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

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¹ Living as Free People in Christ Christ has released us into freedom! So stand in that freedom, and don’t get roped into a yoke of slavery again.

² I, Paul, am telling you right out:a if you get circumcisedb Christ won’t do you any good.

³ And I will testify furtherc to every man who is circumcised, that he is duty-bound to keep the whole Law.

⁴ Those of you who are justifying yourselves through the Law have nothing more to do with Christ.d You’ve fallen from grace.

⁵ Because we’re looking forward by faith to the hope of being found innocent.e

⁶ Because in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor lack of circumcision counts for anythingf at all. What counts is faith that expresses itself through love.g

⁷ You’d been running well. Who stopped you from believing in the truth?

⁸ This belief is not from the One who called you.

⁹ “A little yeast raises the whole batch of dough”.h

¹⁰ I’m believing in you in the Lord-that you won’t change your mind at all.i Whoever it is that’s trying to frighten you, they’re going to face God’s judgment.j

¹¹ And brothers and sisters, if I’m still preaching circumcision,k why am I still getting persecuted? Because then the stumbling block of the cross is erased.

¹² It’d be better for the people upsetting you to castrate themselves!l

¹³ As I said,m you’re called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Just don’t use your freedom as a base of operations for your flesh.n Just the opposite: out of love, be servants to each other.

¹⁴ After all, the whole Law is fulfilled by one thing: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”.o

¹⁵ If you bite and rip pieces offp each other, be careful or you’ll end up destroyingq each other.

¹⁶ But I say, liver in the Spirit, and don’t give the flesh what it wants at all.

¹⁷ After all, the flesh wants the opposite of what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit wants the opposite of what the flesh wants. They’re set against each other, so that you can’ts just do whatever you want.

¹⁸ But if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the Law.

¹⁹ Behaviors of the Flesh and Fruits of the Spirit But the behaviors of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, filthiness, promiscuity,t

²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, fights, petty rivalry, jealousy, rages, competitiveness, splits, rival groups,

²¹ hatred,u getting drunk, orgies, and things like that. I’m telling you ahead of time, just like I did before:v people who do these sorts of things aren’t going to inherit God’s Reign.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, harmony, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³ gentleness, and self-control.w There’s never a law against these sorts of things.

²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have put the flesh to death on a cross, together with its cravings and desires.

²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let’s live in line with the Spirit too.

²⁶ Let’s not get puffed up, and be challenging each other and envying each other.

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¹ Standing on your Own Two Feet-And Helping Others Brothers and sisters, suppose a person is caught in some kind of offense. You are the spiritual ones: correct the person with a gentle spirit. And watch out for yourself, so that you don’t get tempted too.a

² Carry each other’s burdens, and in that way you’ll fulfill the law of Christ.

³ After all, if somebody thinks they’re something and they’re not, they’re fooling themselves.

⁴ So everyone should test their own behavior.b And then they can be pleased with themselves, and not in relation to somebody else.c

⁵ Because “Each person is going to carry their own load”.d

⁶ A person who receives teaching should share in every resource with the teacher.e

⁷ Don’t be deceived. God is nobody’s fool:f “What a person plants is exactly what they’ll harvest.”g

⁸ In other words,h the person that plants in their flesh will harvest destruction from their flesh, but the person that plants in the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit.

⁹ Let’s carry on doing good, and not let ourselves get discouraged. Because we’ll each bring in a harvest if we don’t give up.

¹⁰ Finally, since we have the opportunity,i let’s do good to everyone, especially to the community of faith.j

¹¹ Final Warnings and Greetings See these big letters? I’m writing you in my own handwriting.

¹² It’s people that want to look good in outward thingsk who are trying to force you to get circumcised. It’s just so they won’t get persecuted because ofl the cross of Christ.

¹³ After all, not even the people who are circumcised keep the Law themselves. The real reason they want you to get circumcised is so that they can brag about your flesh!m

¹⁴ But God help me if I ever brag about anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through him,n the world has been hung on a cross in relation to me, and I’ve been hung on a cross in relation to the world.

¹⁵ Because neither circumcisiono nor lack of circumcision is anything-what matters is a new creation!

¹⁶ May peace and mercy rest on those who hold to this principle, and on God’s own Israel.

¹⁷ From now on, nobody make trouble for me, because I’m carrying the scarsp of Jesus on my body.

¹⁸ May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters! Amen.