Galatians Chapters

1 | • ¹From Paul, an apostle sent, not by humans nor by human mediation,

but by Christ Jesus and by God the Father who raised him from the dead;

²I, and all the brothers and sisters who are with me, greet the churches in Galatia: ³May you receive grace and peace from God, our Father and from Christ Jesus, our Lord.

⁴He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this evil world in fulfillment of the will of God the Father:

⁵Glory to him forever and ever. Amen.

There Is No Other Gospel

•  ⁶I am surprised at how quickly you have abandoned God, who called you according to the grace of Christ and have gone to another gospel. ⁷Indeed, there is no other gospel, but some people who are sowing confusion among you want to turn the gospel of Christ upside down.

⁸But even if we, ourselves, were giving you another gospel different from the one we preached to you, or if it were an angel from heaven, I would say: let God’s curse be on him! ⁹As I have said, I now say again: if anyone preaches the gospel in a way other than you received it, fire that one! ¹⁰Are we to please humans or obey God? Do you think that I try to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul Teaches What he Received from God

•  ¹¹Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, that the gospel we preached to you is not a human message, ¹²nor did I receive it from anyone. I was not taught about it, but it came to me as a revelation from Christ Jesus. ¹³You have heard of my previous activity in the Jewish community; I furiously persecuted the Church of God and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴For I was more devoted to the Jewish religion than many fellow Jews of my age, and I defended the traditions of my ancestors more fanatically.

¹⁵But one day, God called me, out of his great love, he, who had chosen me from my mother’s womb; and he was pleased ¹⁶to reveal in me his Son, that I might make him known among the pagan nations. Then, I did not seek human advice, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. I immediately went to Arabia, and from there, I returned again to Damascus. ¹⁸Later, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw no other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰On writing this to you, I affirm before God that I am not lying.

²¹After that, I went to Syria and Cilicia. ²²The churches of Christ in Judea did not know me personally; ²³they had only heard of me: “He, who once persecuted us, is now preaching the faith he tried to uproot.” ²⁴And they praised God because of me.

Paul With the Apostles

2 | • ¹After fourteen years, I, again, went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and Titus came with us. ²Following a revelation, I went to lay before them the gospel that I am preaching to the pagans. I had a private meeting with the leaders—lest I should be working, or have worked, in a wrong way. ³But they did not impose circumcision, not even on Titus, who is Greek, and who was with me. ⁴But some intruders and false brothers had gained access to watch over how we live the freedom Christ has given us. They would have us enslaved by the law, ⁵but we refused to yield, even for a moment, so that the gospel's truth remains intact for you.

⁶The others, the more respectable leaders—it does not matter what they were before: God pays no attention to the status of a person—gave me no new instructions. ⁷They recognized that I have been entrusted to give the Good News to the pagan nations, just as Peter has been entrusted to give it to the Jews. ⁸In the same way that God made Peter the apostle of the Jews, he made me the apostle of the pagans.

⁹James, Cephas, and John acknowledged the graces God gave me. Those men, who were regarded as the pillars of the Church, stretched out their hand to me and Barnabas as a sign of fellowship; we would go to the pagans, and they, to the Jews. ¹⁰We should only keep in mind the poor among them. I have taken care to do this.

The Conflict with Peter

•  ¹¹When, later, Cephas came to Antioch, I confronted him since he deserved to be blamed. ¹²Before some of James’ people arrived, he used to eat with non-Jewish people. But when they arrived, he withdrew and did not mingle anymore with them for fear of the Jewish group. ¹³The rest of the Jews followed him in this pretense, and even Barnabas was part of this insincerity. ¹⁴When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas publicly: If you, who are Jewish, agreed to live like the non-Jews, setting aside the Jewish customs, why do you now compel the non-Jews to live like Jews?

•  ¹⁵We are Jews by birth; we are not pagan sinners. ¹⁶Yet, we know that a person is justified, not by practicing the law, but by faith in Christ Jesus. So we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may receive the true righteousness from faith in Christ Jesus, and not from the practices of the law because the works of the law will justify no one.

¹⁷Now, if in our own effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, then Christ would be at the service of sin. Not so! ¹⁸But look: if we do away with something and then restore it, we admit we did wrong.

¹⁹As for me, the very law brought me to die to the law that I may live for God. I am crucified with Christ. ²⁰Do I live? It is no longer me; Christ lives in me. My life in this body is life through faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹In this way, I don’t ignore the gift of God, for if justification comes through the practice of the law, Christ would have died for nothing.

We Are Saved by Faith

3 | • ¹How foolish you are, Galatians! How could they bewitch you after Jesus Christ has been presented to you as crucified? ²I shall ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by practicing the law or by believing the message? ³How can you be such fools: you begin with the Spirit and end up with the flesh!

⁴So, you have experienced all this in vain! Would that it were not so! ⁵Did God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because of your observance of the law, or because you believed in his message? ⁶Remember Abraham: he believed God, and because of this, was held to be a just man. ⁷Understand, then, that those who follow the way of faith are sons and daughters of Abraham.

⁸The Scriptures foresaw that God would give true righteousness to the non-Jewish nations by the way of faith. For God’s promise to Abraham was this: In you shall all the nations be blessed. ⁹So now those who take the way of faith receive the same blessing as Abraham, who believed; ¹⁰but those who rely on the practice of the law are under a curse, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not always fulfill everything written in the law.

¹¹It is plainly written that no one becomes righteous in God’s way, by the law: by faith, the righteous shall live. ¹²Yet the law gives no place to faith, for according to it, the one who fulfills the commandments shall have life through them.

¹³Now Christ rescued us from the curse of the law by becoming cursed himself, for our sake, as it is written: there is a curse on everyone who is hanged on a tree. ¹⁴So the blessing granted to Abraham reached the pagan nations in and with Christ, and we received the promised Spirit through faith.

The Promise, Not the Law, Was the Gift of God

•  ¹⁵Brothers and sisters, listen to this comparison. When anyone has made his will in the prescribed form, no one can annul it or add anything to it. ¹⁶Well, now, what God promised Abraham was for his descendant. Scripture does not say for the descendants as if they were many. It means only one: this will be for your descendant, and this is Christ. ¹⁷Now I say this: if God has made a testament in due form, it cannot be annulled by the law which came four hundred and thirty years later; God’s promise cannot be canceled. ¹⁸But if we now inherit for keeping the law, it is not because of the promise. Yet, that promise was God’s gift to Abraham.

The Law Was Part of God’s Pedagogy

•  ¹⁹Why, then, the law? It was added because of transgressions but was only valid until the descendant came to whom the promise had been made, and a mediator ordained it through angels. ²⁰A mediator means that there are parties, and God is one.

²¹Does the law, then, compete with God's promises? Not at all! Only if we had been given a law capable of raising life could righteousness be the fruit of the law. ²²But the Scriptures have declared that we are all prisoners of sin. So, the only way to receive God’s promise is to believe in Jesus Christ.

We Are Now Sons and Daughters of God

²³Before the time of faith had come, the law confined us and kept us in custody until the time in which faith would show up. ²⁴The law was serving as a slave to look after us until Christ came so that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵With the coming of faith, we no longer submit to this guidance.

²⁶Now, in Christ Jesus, all of you are sons and daughters of God through faith. ²⁷All of you, who were given to Christ through Baptism, have put on Christ. ²⁸Here, there is no longer any difference between Jew or Greek, slave or freed, or between man and woman, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And because you belong to Christ, you are of Abraham’s race, and you are to inherit God’s promise.

4 | • ¹But listen, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. ²He is subject to those who care for him and who are entrusted with his affairs until the time set by his father comes. ³In the same way, we, as children, were first subjected to the created forces that govern the world. ⁴But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son. He came born of a woman and subject to the law, ⁵to redeem the subjects of the law, that we might receive adoption as children of God. ⁶And because you are children, God has sent into your hearts the spirit of his Son, who cries out: Abba! that is, Father!

⁷You are no longer a slave but a son or daughter; yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.

⁸When you did not know God, you served those not gods. ⁹But now that you have known God—or rather, he has known you—how can you turn back to weak and impoverished created things? Do you want to be enslaved again? ¹⁰Will you observe this and that day, the new moon, and this period and that year…? ¹¹I fear I may have wasted my time with you.

I Still Suffer for You

•  ¹²I implore you, dearly beloved, to do as I do, just as I became like you. You have not offended me in anything. ¹³ Remember that it was an illness that first allowed me to announce the gospel to you. ¹⁴Although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

¹⁵Where is this bliss? For I can testify that you would have even plucked out your eyes to give them to me. ¹⁶But now have I become your enemy for telling you the truth?

¹⁷Those who show consideration to you are not sincere; they want to separate you from me so that you may show interest in them. ¹⁸Would that you were surrounded with sincere care at all times and not only from me when I am with you!

¹⁹My children! I still suffer the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. ²⁰How I wish I could be there with you now and find the right way of talking to you.

The Comparison of Sarah and Hagar

•  ²¹Tell me, you who desire to submit yourselves to the law, did you listen to it? ²²It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by the free woman, his wife. ²³The son of the slave woman was born in the ordinary way, but the son of the free woman was born in fulfillment of God’s promise.

²⁴Here we have an allegory and the figures of two Covenants. The first is the one from Mount Sinai, represented through Hagar: her children have slavery for their lot. ²⁵We know that Hagar was from Mount Sinai in Arabia: she stands for the present city of Jerusalem, which is in slavery with her children.

²⁶But the Jerusalem above, who is our mother, is free. ²⁷And Scripture says of her: Rejoice, barren woman without children, break forth in shouts of joy, you who do not know the pains of childbirth, for many shall be the children of the forsaken mother, more than of the married woman.

²⁸You, dearly beloved, are children of the promise, like Isaac. ²⁹But as at that time, the child born according to the flesh persecuted Isaac, who was born according to the spirit, so is it now. ³⁰And what does Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave cannot share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.

³¹Brethren, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

5 | • ¹Christ freed us to make us really free. So remain firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. ²I, Paul, say this to you: if you receive circumcision, Christ can no longer help you. ³Once more, I say to whoever receives circumcision: you are now bound to keep the whole law. ⁴All you who pretend to become righteous through the observance of the law have separated yourselves from Christ and have fallen away from grace.

⁵As for us, through the Spirit and faith, we eagerly await the hope of righteousness. ⁶In Christ Jesus, it is irrelevant whether we are circumcised or not; what matters is faith working through love.

⁷You had begun your race well; who then hindered you on the way? Why did you stop obeying the truth? ⁸This was not in obedience to God who calls you: ⁹In fact, a little leaven is affecting the whole of you. ¹⁰I am personally convinced that you will not go astray, but the one who confuses you, whoever he may be, shall receive punishment.

¹¹I, myself, brothers, could I not preach circumcision? Then, I would no longer be persecuted. But where would the scandal of the cross be? ¹²Would that those who confuse would castrate themselves!

True Freedom

•  ¹³You, brothers and sisters, were called to enjoy freedom; I am not speaking of that freedom which gives free rein to the desires of the flesh but of that which makes you slaves of one another through love. ¹⁴For the whole law is summed up in this sentence: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ¹⁵But if you bite and tear each other to pieces, be careful lest you all perish.

¹⁶Therefore, I say to you: walk according to the Spirit and do not give way to the desires of the flesh! ¹⁷For the desires of the flesh war against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh. Both are in conflict with each other, so you cannot do everything you would like. ¹⁸But when led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹You know what comes from the flesh: fornication, impurity and shamelessness, ²⁰idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions, ²¹and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. Again, I say what I have already said: those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, ²³gentleness and self-control. For such things, there is no law or punishment. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires.       

²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not be conceited; let there be no rivalry or envy of one another.

Mutual Help

6 | ¹Brethren, if someone falls into sin, you who are spiritual shall set him aright with the spirit of kindness. Take care, for you, too, may be tempted. ²Carry each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. ³If anyone thinks he is something when, in fact, he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴Let each one examine his own conduct and boast for himself if he wants to do so, but not before others. ⁵In this, let each one carry his own things.

⁶He who receives the teaching of the word ought to share his good things with the one who instructs him. ⁷Do not be fooled. God cannot be deceived. You reap what you sow. ⁸The person who sows for the benefit of his own flesh shall reap corruption and death from the flesh. He who sows in the spirit shall reap eternal life from the Spirit. ⁹Let us do good without being discouraged; in due time, we shall reap the reward of our constancy. ¹⁰So, while there is time, let us do good to all, especially our family in the faith.

I Am Crucified with Christ

•  ¹¹See these large letters I use when I write to you in my own hand!

¹²Those who are most anxious to put on a good show in life are trying to persuade you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³Not for being circumcised do they observe the law: what interests them is the external rite. What a boast for them if they had you circumcised!

¹⁴For me, I do not wish to take pride in anything except in the cross of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Through him, the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

¹⁵Let us no longer speak of the circumcised and of non-Jews but of a new creation. ¹⁶Let those who live according to this rule receive peace and mercy: they are the Israel of God! ¹⁷Let no one trouble me any longer: for my part, I bear in my body the marks of Jesus.

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