GALATIANS 1 1 PAUL, an apostle not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and 2 God the Father who raised him from the dead, with all the brothers who are beside 3 me, to the Communities of Galatia: grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus 4 Christ, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from the 5 present evil world according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the honour for ever and ever, Amen. 6 I wonder that you are going over so hastily from him who called you 7 through the grace of Christ, going over to a different gospel.--It is not another gospel: only, there are certain persons who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even though we or an angel from heaven were to preach1 a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again : If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. 10 Now is that "speaking to conciliate men," or God? 11 12 Trying "to please men"! If I were still pleasing men, I should not be Christ's slave. It is not after the manner of man: I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it; 13 You have heard of my conduct at one time in Judaism, that I persecuted 14 the Community of God and made havoc of it beyond measure, and that I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, zealot as I was 15 more and more for the traditions of my fathers. But when it was the good pleasure of him who set me apart from my mother's womb and 16 called me through his grace, to reveal his Son for me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately communicate with flesh and 17 blood, or go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. No, I 18 went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Kephas, 19 and with him I stayed for fifteen days. I saw no one else of the apostles, 20 except James the brother of the Lord. (Lo, before God, I swear I am 21 not lying in what I write to you!) Then I came to the regions of Syria 22 and Cilicia. And still I was personally unknown to the Communities of 23 Judaea which were in Christ. They only heard reports that "he who 24 once persecuted us, is preaching now the faith of which he once made 21 havoc"; and they magnified God on my account. fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem once more, along with Barnabas ; 2 Omitting [[iòs]]. 1 Omitting [[]]. Then after 2 I also took Titus with me. Now I went up owing to a revelation. And I laid before them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles--it was in private, however, before those of repute--lest haply I might be running or might 3 have run, in vain. (But, Greek as he was, even Titus my companion 4 was not compelled to have himself circumcised. On account of the false brothers stealthily introduced, men who crept in by stealth to spy out that freedom which we possess in Christ, for the purpose of enslaving us, 5 we did not yield in the way of submission for a single hour; in order that 6 the truth of the gospel might remain with you.) But from those of some repute-whatever they were at one time makes no difference to me, God regards no man's person: to me certainly they communicated nothing. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been intrusted with the 8 gospel for the Uncircumcision just as Peter had been for the Circumcision -for he who worked by Peter for a mission to the Circumcision, worked 9 also by me for the Gentiles-and when they recognised the grace given to me, then James and Kephas and John, those who were of repute as pillars, gave the right hand of fellowship to myself and to Barnabas, on condition that we should be for the Gentiles, and they for the Circum10 cision. Only, we were to "be mindful of the poor "the very thing I 11 endeavoured to do. But when Kephas came to Antioch I opposed 12 him to his face. The man stood self-condemned. For, before certain persons came from James, he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separate himself, as he feared those who belonged 13 to the Circumcision. And along with him the rest of the Jews also dis sembled, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their dissembling. 14 But when I saw that their course was not straightforward, in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Kephas before them all, "If, Jew as thou art, thou livest like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it thou art 15 trying to compel the Gentiles to Judaise ?" We are by nature 16 Jews, and not "sinners of Gentiles"! Yet as we know that a man is not justified by deeds of law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus, we ourselves believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by deeds of law; for by deeds of law no flesh shall be justified. 17 Now if we ourselves, as we sought to be justified in Christ, 66 were found 18 also to be sinners," is Christ then a minister of sin? God forbid! Rather I prove myself to be a transgressor, if I build up again that which I 19 destroyed. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live 20 for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me; the life I now live in the flesh I live in faith, 21 faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave up himself for me. do not frustrate the grace of God; for if uprightness is through the law, then Christ died without a cause. 8 1 O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you-you before whose eyes 2 Jesus Christ was depicted on the cross? I would learn merely this from you was it by deeds of law that you received the Spirit, or by the 3 message of faith? Are you such fools? Did you begin in the Spirit 4 only to stop now with the flesh? Had you all that experience in vain 5 (if indeed it is really in vain)? Does he who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do that by deeds of law (pray) or by 6 the message of faith? It is just as with Abraham, who believed God, and 7 it was counted to him as uprightness. Understand then 8 that those who depend on faith are the sons of Abraham. Moreover the scripture, foreseeing that it is by faith God justifies the Gentiles, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham: In thee shall all the 9 nations be blessed. So that those who depend on faith are blessed with 10 Abraham the faithful. For all who depend on deeds of law are under the curse for it is written, Cursed is everyone who abides_not 11 by all the things written in the book of the law, to do them. Further, that in the law no one is justified before God is clear, because it is 12 by faith that the upright shall live. Now the law does not exist by 13 faith; nay, he who does them shall live thereby. Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming accursed for us (For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a gibbet), 14 15 That the blessing of Abraham might reach the Gentiles in Christ That through faith we might receive the promised Spirit. Brothers, when a man's will has been ratified-to use a merely human way of speaking-no one sets it aside or adds new conditions, though 16 it be but the will of a man. Now it was to Abraham that the promises were spoken, and to his offspring. He does not say "and to offsprings" in the plural, but in the singular "and to thy offspring"-which is Christ. 17 My point is this: the law which came four hundred and thirty years later does not cancel a will previously ratified by God, so as to annul 18 the promise. If the inheritance is by law, it is no longer by promise. 19 Now God has bestowed it on Abraham by promise. What of the law then? It was added to produce the transgressions, until the coming of the seed to whom the promise has been made; and it was given through 20 the administration of angels by the agency of a mediator. (Now a 21 mediator implies more than one; whereas God is one.) Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? God forbid! Had a law been given which was able to make alive, uprightness would have really been by 22 law; but the scripture shut up all things under sin, in order that the promise which is by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who 23 believe. Now before that faith came, we were guarded under control of law, 24 shut up with a view to the faith which was to be revealed. So that the law proved our tutor till Christ came, in order that by faith we might 25 be justified. But faith has come, and we are under a tutor no longer. 26, 27 You are all God's sons through faith in Christ Jesus; for all of you who 28 had yourselves baptized into Christ, put on Christ. There is no place for Jew or Greek, there is no place for slave or freeman, there is no place for 29 male and female: all of you are one being in Christ Jesus. Now, if you are Christ's, why then, you are Abraham's offspring, heirs owing to the 41 promise. As long as the heir is a child, I mean, he does not differ at all from 2 a slave, though he is lord of all. He is under guardians and trustees until 3 the term previously fixed by his father. So also with us: when we were 4 children we were held in slavery under the elements of the world; but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, 5 born under law, that he might ransom those who are under law, that we 6 might get our sonship. And because you are sons God sent forth the 7 Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" So thou art a slave no longer, but a son; and if a son, an heir also through God. 8 But at that time, since you did not know God, you were in servitude 9 to gods which by nature are no gods. Now that you have come to know God, however, or rather to be known by God, how is it you are turning back again to the weak and beggarly elements, desiring to be slaves to 10 them once more? Observe days and months and festal seasons and 11 years! You!—I am afraid, after all, I may have laboured on you in vain. 12 Turn to be like me, brothers, I entreat you; I also have turned to be like 13 you. You have done me no wrong. Rather, though (as you are aware) it was owing to bodily sickness that I preached the gospel to you on my 14 former visit, and though my flesh was a trial to you, you did not despise nor spurn me. Nay, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 You pronounced yourselves "happy." Then where is that happiness? (I bear you witness, you would have plucked out your very eyes and given 16 them to me, had it been possible.) So I have become your enemy by 17 dealing honestly with you? These men are not paying you court with any honourable zeal! Nay, they would shut you out from others in order 18 that you may have to pay court to themselves. It is a capital thing to be courted zealously in an honourable cause, and that at all times, not merely 19 when one is with you, O my children-you with whom I am once more in 20 travail, until Christ be formed in you! Would that I could be with you just now, and alter my tone! for I am perplexed about you. 21 Tell me, you who would fain be under law, do you not understand 22 the law? Surely it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the 23 bondmaid and one by the free woman; but while the son of the bondmaid was born after the flesh, the son of the free woman was born through 24 the promise. This is allegorical. These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for bondage; that is Hagar 25 (Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia). She corresponds to the present 26 Jerusalem, for she is in bondage along with her children. But the 27 Jerusalem on high is free; and she is our mother. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren who bearest not: Burst out with joyful cry, thou who travailest not; For many are the children of the desolate, Many more than hers who is married. 28, 29 Now you are like Isaac, brothers, children of promise. But as at that time he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born 30 after the Spirit, so is it now. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondmaid and her son, for the son of the bondmaid shall not be heir 31 along with the son of the free woman. Therefore, brothers, we are children not of a bondmaid but of the free woman. 51 It was for freedom that Christ freed us. Stand firm then, and be not 2 caught once more in a yoke of bondage.-Behold, I Paul tell you; if you 3 have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be no use to you. Again I protest to everyone who has himself circumcised, he is under obligation 4 to obey the whole law. You who would fain be justified by law, you are 5 done with Christ, you are fallen from grace. For by faith we wait in the 6 Spirit for uprightness, our hope. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision 7 is of any avail in Christ Jesus, but only faith that works through love. You 8 were running nobly. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? The 9 persuasion to that does not come from him who calls you. (A little 10 leaven leavens the whole lump.) For myself, I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not go wrong. But as for him who is troubling 11 you, he will have to bear the doom, whoever he may be. As for me, brothers, if I am" still preaching circumcision," why am I still persecuted? 12 In that case the hindrance of the cross is abolished! O that those who are unsettling you would have themselves mutilated also! 13 You were called to be free, brothers. Only, do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the command: Thou shalt love 15 thy neighbour as thyself. But if you "bite and devour one another," take 16 care that you do not consume one another. I tell you, walk by 17 the Spirit: then you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (these are opposed to one another), in order that you may not do the things that you would. 18, 19 And if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: they consist of fornication, impurity, 20 sensuality, idolatry, magic, enmities, quarrelling, jealousy, angry passions, 21 factions, dissensions, parties, envies, bouts of drunkenness, of revelry, and such like. I tell you beforehand as I already told you beforehand, that those 22 who practise such things shall not inherit the reign of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith23, 24 fulness, gentleness, self-control: against such things there is no law. And those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and 25, 26 lusts. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us walk. Let us 61 have no empty pride, nettling one another, envying one another. Brothers, even though a man is detected in some trespass, do you as spiritual people restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness: look to thyself lest 2 thou also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of 3 Christ. For if a man imagines himself to be something great when he is 4 a mere nobody, he is cheating himself. Let each man test his own work, and then he shall have something to exult about in himself, and not 5 in comparison with his neighbour. For each shall bear his own load. Let him who is instructed in the word share with his instructor, 6 7 in all good things. Be not misled: God is not to be mocked, 8 For whatever a man sows that shall he also reap. He who sows to his flesh shall from the flesh reap destruction, But he who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap life eternal. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good for we shall reap in due season, 10 if we faint not. So then while we have time, let us work at what is good toward all men, but especially toward those who belong to the household of the faith. 11 =2 12 Look, with what large letters I write you, with my own hand. The men who are compelling you to be circumcised are those who would like to make a fine display in the flesh; it is only to avoid being 13 persecuted for the cross of Christ. Why, even those who get circumcised do not observe the law themselves! Nay, they would have you circum14 cised so as to exult in your flesh! But never be it mine to exult save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been 15 crucified to me and I to the world. For circumcision is nothing and 16 uncircumcision is nothing, but a new creation is everything. And as for all who walk by this principle, peace be on them and mercy, yea on the 17 Israel of God. In future let no man molest me, for I bear on my body the brands of Jesus. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers : Amen. 1 Reading έχομεν. |