Galatians 1; Galatians 2; Galatians 3

Galatians 1

1 From Paul, an apostle. I was not chosen to be an apostle by human beings, nor was I sent from human beings. I was made an apostle through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead.

2 This letter is also from all those of God's familyn who are with me.

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

4 Jesus gave himself for our sins to free us from this evil world we live in, as God the Father planned.

5 The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.

6 God, by his grace through Christ, called you to become his people. So I am amazed that you are turning away so quickly and believing something different than the Good News.

7 Really, there is no other Good News. But some people are confusing you; they want to change the Good News of Christ.

8 We preached to you the Good News. So if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, should preach to you something different, we should be judged guilty!

9 I said this before, and now I say it again: You have already accepted the Good News. If anyone is preaching something different to you, he should be judged guilty!

10 Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

11 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the Good News I preached to you was not made up by human beings.

12 I did not get it from humans, nor did anyone teach it to me, but Jesus Christ showed it to me.

13 You have heard about my past life in the Jewish religion. I attacked the church of God and tried to destroy it.

14 I was becoming a leader in the Jewish religion, doing better than most other Jews of my age. I tried harder than anyone else to follow the teachings handed down by our ancestors.

15 But God had special plans for me and set me apart for his work even before I was born. He called me through his grace

16 and showed his son to me so that I might tell the Good News about him to those who are not Jewish. When God called me, I did not get advice or help from any person.

17 I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But, without waiting, I went away to Arabia and later went back to Damascus.

18 After three years I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days.

19 I met no other apostles, except James, the brother of the Lord.

20 God knows that these things I write are not lies.

21 Later, I went to the areas of Syria and Cilicia.

22 In Judea the churches in Christ had never met me.

23 They had only heard it said, "This man who was attacking us is now preaching the same faith that he once tried to destroy."

24 And these believers praised God because of me.

Galatians 2

1 After fourteen years I went to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas. I also took Titus with me.

2 I went because God showed me I should go. I met with the believers there, and in private I told their leaders the Good News that I preach to the non-Jewish people. I did not want my past work and the work I am now doing to be wasted.

3 Titus was with me, but he was not forced to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

4 We talked about this problem because some false believers had come into our group secretly. They came in like spies to overturn the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves.

5 But we did not give in to those false believers for a minute. We wanted the truth of the Good News to continue for you.

6 Those leaders who seemed to be important did not change the Good News that I preach. (It doesn't matter to me if they were "important" or not. To God everyone is the same.)

7 But these leaders saw that I had been given the work of telling the Good News to those who are not Jewish, just as Peter had the work of telling the Jews.

8 God gave Peter the power to work as an apostle for the Jewish people. But he also gave me the power to work as an apostle for those who are not Jews.

9 James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be the leaders, understood that God had given me this special grace, so they accepted Barnabas and me. They agreed that they would go to the Jewish people and that we should go to those who are not Jewish.

10 The only thing they asked us was to remember to help the poor -- something I really wanted to do.

11 When Peter came to Antioch, I challenged him to his face, because he was wrong.

12 Peter ate with the non-Jewish people until some Jewish people sent from James came to Antioch. When they arrived, Peter stopped eating with those who weren't Jewish, and he separated himself from them. He was afraid of the Jews.

13 So Peter was a hypocrite, as were the other Jewish believers who joined with him. Even Barnabas was influenced by what these Jewish believers did.

14 When I saw they were not following the truth of the Good News, I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said, "Peter, you are a Jew, but you are not living like a Jew. You are living like those who are not Jewish. So why do you now try to force those who are not Jewish to live like Jews?"

15 We were not born as non-Jewish "sinners," but as Jews.

16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God not by following the law, but by trusting in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be made right with God because we trusted in Christ. It is not because we followed the law, because no one can be made right with God by following the law.

17 We Jews came to Christ, trying to be made right with God, and it became clear that we are sinners, too. Does this mean that Christ encourages sin? No!

18 But I would really be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up.

19 It was the law that put me to death, and I died to the law so that I can now live for God.

20 I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore -- it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.

21 By saying these things I am not going against God's grace. Just the opposite, if the law could make us right with God, then Christ's death would be useless.

Galatians 3

1 You people in Galatia were told very clearly about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But you were foolish; you let someone trick you.

2 Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No, you received the Spirit because you heard the Good News and believed it.

3 You began your life in Christ by the Spirit. Now are you trying to make it complete by your own power? That is foolish.

4 Were all your experiences wasted? I hope not!

5 Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you follow the law? No, he does these things because you heard the Good News and believed it.

6 The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham: "Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham's faith, and that faith made him right with God."

7 So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith.

8 The Scriptures, telling what would happen in the future, said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. This Good News was told to Abraham beforehand, as the Scripture says: "All nations will be blessed through you."

9 So all who believe as Abraham believed are blessed just as Abraham was.

10 But those who depend on following the law to make them right are under a curse, because the Scriptures say, "Anyone will be cursed who does not always obey what is written in the Book of the Law."

11 Now it is clear that no one can be made right with God by the law, because the Scriptures say, "Those who are right with God will live by trusting in him."

12 The law is not based on faith. It says, "A person who obeys these things will live because of them."

13 Christ took away the curse the law put on us. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse. It is written in the Scriptures, "Anyone whose body is displayed on a treen is cursed."

14 Christ did this so that God's blessing promised to Abraham might come through Jesus Christ to those who are not Jews. Jesus died so that by our believing we could receive the Spirit that God promised.

15 Brothers and sisters, let us think in human terms: Even an agreement made between two persons is firm. After that agreement is accepted by both people, no one can stop it or add anything to it.

16 God made promises both to Abraham and to his descendant. God did not say, "and to your descendants." That would mean many people. But God said, "and to your descendant." That means only one person; that person is Christ.

17 This is what I mean: God had an agreement with Abraham and promised to keep it. The law, which came four hundred thirty years later, cannot change that agreement and so destroy God's promise to Abraham.

18 If the law could give us Abraham's blessing, then the promise would not be necessary. But that is not possible, because God freely gave his blessings to Abraham through the promise he had made.

19 So what was the law for? It was given to show that the wrong things people do are against God's will. And it continued until the special descendant, who had been promised, came. The law was given through angels who used Moses for a mediatorn to give the law to people.

20 But a mediator is not needed when there is only one side, and God is only one.

21 Does this mean that the law is against God's promises? Never! That would be true only if the law could make us right. But God did not give a law that can bring life.

22 Instead, the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ.

23 Before this faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming.

24 In other words, the law was our guardian leading us to Christ so that we could be made right with God through faith.

25 Now the way of faith has come, and we no longer live under a guardian.

26

27 You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This means that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

28 In Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.

29 You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham's descendants. You will inherit all of God's blessings because of the promise God made to Abraham.