Galatians

Chapter 1

^1-2 Dear Brothers and sisters of the faith in every church in the province of Galatia:

Greetings from me, Paul, and from all of the brothers in the faith who are with me.

I became an apostle, not because I was appointed or sent out by man, but I received this position directly from Christ Jesus, and from God the Father who has raised Jesus up from death.

³ I pray that God the Father and our Lord Christ Jesus will always be kind to each of you, and watch over you so that you live calmly under God’s protection! ⁴ According to the will of God the Father, Jesus has sacrificed Himself to erase our sins and save us from this evil age. ⁵ Give glory to God forever and ever! Amen!

The Good News from God doesn’t change

⁶ I’m so amazed because in such a short time you’ve turned away from God, who called you because of His kindness to be at peace with Him through Christ! And now you’ve followed a new kind of ‘good news’, ⁷ which actually isn’t the Good News! That happened just because you were influenced by some people who want to change the original Good News about Christ. ⁸ Don’t be influenced by that! Whoever tells you good news about Christ that’s different from what we’ve told you, even if it’s me, another apostle or an angel from heaven, should be thrown into the lake of fire! ⁹ I’m repeating and emphasizing what we’ve told you, whoever tells you good news about Christ that’s different than what you’ve received from us, should be thrown into the lake of fire!

¹⁰ It’s clear through what I’ve just written to you that I don’t change my teaching to please men’s hearts. I try to please the heart of God only! If I try to please man, it means I’m no longer Christ’s servant.

How Paul was called by God to become an apostle

¹¹ Brothers and Sisters, it’s important for you to know that the Good News that I tell doesn’t come from men. ¹² For I didn’t receive that news about salvation from men, and I wasn’t taught by anyone. Christ Jesus Himself told me that Good News.

¹³ You’ve known of my former way of life in the Jewish religion, of course, and you’ve heard how severely I persecuted all of the followers of Christ who are the members of God’s unified church, and I tried to destroy them. ¹⁴ And compared to most Jewish people my age, I studied the Jewish religion more in depth and tried more zealously to obey all the rules that were given by our forefathers.

^15-16 But I wasn’t aware that for a long time God had an amazing plan for me, even from the time I was still in my mother’s womb. So according to the generosity of His heart, He allowed me to see and know His Son. Then God called me so that I could tell the Good News about His Son to you who aren’t Jewish. After that, I didn’t immediately go to anyone and ask for their advice. ¹⁷ I didn’t go to Jerusalem to ask the advice of those who had become apostles of Christ much earlier. It happened that at that time, I went to the land of Arabia, and from there I returned to the city of Damascus.

¹⁸ Then, three years later, I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter. ^[1] And I had the opportunity to stay with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ At that time, I didn’t have the opportunity to meet the other apostles except James, the brother of the Lord Jesus. ²⁰ God knows that what I’m writing is the truth! I’m not lying to you. ²¹ After that, I went to several regions in the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. ²² At that time, the members of the churches who were followers of Christ in Judea hadn’t met me in person yet. ²³ They had just heard this about me many times, “He who used to persecute us so harshly has now repented, and he is even telling the Good News that we have believed, that is the news of salvation, which he once tried to do away with!” ²⁴ Then they praised God because of what God had done in me.

Chapter 2

The other apostles acknowledge Paul as an apostle

¹ After fourteen years, I went to Jerusalem again with Barnabas. Titus went with us too. ² I went there because God directly told me to go. At that time, I had the opportunity to explain in a personal way, to the most prominent people of the church there, about the Good News that I had told people who aren’t Jewish. I did that because I didn’t want all of my work to be considered useless, first of all in the Lord’s sight, but also in the sight of man.

³ But even though Titus, who accompanied us, was non-Jewish, they didn’t tell him to be circumcised. ⁴ That happened because several Jewish people had pretended to be fellow followers of Christ and entered the Lord’s churches secretly, with the intent of spying on us. For they wanted to spy on our freedom from Jewish religious rules which we have because of oneness with Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us to be bound again to various rules and to the Law. ⁵ But we didn’t give in and follow their influence in the least bit. For we wanted to maintain the true teaching that’s found in the Good News about Christ so that you can keep believing what we've taught you.

⁶ Then those who were considered to be the most prominent didn’t suggest any addition at all to the Good News that I announce. (But I actually don’t care about a person’s status, whether they’re prominent or not. And of course God isn’t partial to anyone.) ⁷ In the end, those men realized that the ministry God gave to me was different from that given to Peter, specifically that God had given a special task to me to tell the Good News to people who aren’t Jewish, ^[1] whereas Peter was given the task of telling the Good News to the Jews. ⁸ For it has been proven that the God who gave Peter the special ability to be an apostle ^[2] to the Jewish people, also gave the same ability to me to be an apostle to people who aren’t Jewish. ⁹ So, when James, Peter and John, who were included in that group of prominent men, realized that this special task was given to me based on God’s kindness, they shook hands with Barnabas and I in agreement, “May you serve the people who aren’t Jews, and we’ll keep serving the people who are Jews.” ¹⁰ The one and only request that they made of us was that we remember our poor brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who need help. And from the beginning, I have always been ready to help them.

Paul rebukes Peter

¹¹ But when Peter visited Antioch, I felt it necessary to rebuke him directly because his behavior was wrong. ¹² This is what happened: At the beginning of his visit to Antioch, he ate with people who weren’t Jewish. Then when a group sent by James arrived, Peter separated himself and distanced himself from the non-Jewish people. He didn’t want to offend the feelings of the Jewish group because the men in that group were those who insist on circumcising all of our brothers who aren’t Jewish. ¹³ Then some other Jews followed Peter’s way of just pretending to be good. They also stopped eating with the people who weren’t Jews who were present there, and even Barnabas was influenced. ¹⁴ So when I saw that their attitude wasn’t in agreement with the true teaching in the Good News about Christ, I directly rebuked Peter before them all, like this, “Even though you’re a Jew, just recently you behaved like a non-Jew when you associated with them. So it isn’t proper for you to associate with that group now who want to force non-Jews to live according to Jewish rules!”

Jews and non-Jews are saved only through fully believing in Christ

¹⁵ Our ^[3] brothers and sisters who were born Jewish, including myself, have at times of course followed the tradition of the Jews by calling people who aren’t Jews ‘sinners’ because they don’t obey the Law. ¹⁶ But now we know that no man can be made right before God by obeying the Law. The only way to be made right before God is by believing in Christ Jesus, both for non-Jews and for Jews! Before now we who are Jews were evidently ‘sinners’ also, but now we have fully believed in Christ Jesus to be made right before God. It isn’t possible to be made right in God’s eyes by obeying the Law, because no one is able to obey the whole Law.

¹⁷ But there are Jews who fully believe in Christ, who still don’t understand the way we’re made right in God’s eyes, which is only through oneness with Christ. For them, if we no longer depend on the Law to become right before God, we’ve become ‘sinners’. That’s definitely wrong! Becoming a follower of Christ definitely doesn’t mean that we’ve become ‘sinners’! ¹⁸ For in the past we taught, “Let’s become right in God’s sight by depending on Christ.” If we now teach, “Turn away from Christ and depend on the Law again,” it’s very obvious that we’re ‘sinners’! ^{[4] 19} And this is what I’ve experienced, when I tried in my own strength to obey the whole Law, I finally realized that I’m not able to do it and would die in my sin. But it was precisely in giving up that I received Christ and the gift of God, which is eternal life. Now I consider that I’ve been crucified with Christ. ²⁰ And I don’t control my life anymore, but Christ who lives in me does. I live my whole life in this worldly body only through faith in the Son of God, who loved me so much that He gave Himself to redeem me. ²¹ So I don’t want to turn away from God’s kindness, which we receive because of oneness with Christ, in order to return to trying to be made right before God based on the Law. For if we think that a person can be made right by obeying the Law, then Christ died to redeem us for no reason.

Chapter 3

We receive God’s promises only through fully believing and not because of our good deeds

¹ Brothers and Sisters in Galatia, why are you so stupid!? How can you be deceived so quickly, even though I very clearly explained to all of you about how Christ Jesus died on the cross for us! ² Just answer this question of mine: Did you receive the Holy Spirit because you obeyed the Law of Moses, or was the Holy Spirit given to you when you heard the news of salvation and believed in Christ? ³ It certainly was when you believed, right?! If so, why are you so stupid as to think like this, “I don’t need the leading of the Holy Spirit anymore. I'll become perfect by my own ability to carry out the Law.” ⁴ Just remember that as soon as you believed in Christ you experienced persecution. Don’t waste that suffering of yours by turning away from believing and becoming nonbelievers! ⁵ And think about your daily experiences too. When God helped you through the Holy Spirit by doing various miracles among you, did that happen as a reward for obeying the Law, or did those various miracles happen because you heard the Good News and continued to fully believe in Christ?

⁶ It was because you fully believed, of course, wasn’t it?! And that’s what happened to Abraham. For the Holy Bible says,

     “Abraham fully believed in God’s promise, and that's why God accepted him as a righteous man.” ^[1]

⁷ Because of that, you should know that we who believe like Abraham will be accepted by God as descendants of Abraham in a spiritual way. ⁸ And because of that, the Holy Bible expresses God’s will way in advance by prophesying that non-Jewish people would be made right by God based on fully believing. That’s why God revealed the Good News to Abraham,

     “By following your example, every people group will be blessed by God.” ^[2]

⁹ So whoever believes in God’s promise like Abraham, our hero of the faith, also participates in being blessed like him.

¹⁰ For people who try to make themselves right before God by means of obeying the Law of Moses are cursed! For the Holy Bible says,

     “Everyone who fails to obey all the commands that are written in the Book of the Law is cursed.” ^[3]

¹¹ So it’s clear that no one at all can be accepted as a righteous person before God because of obeying the Law of Moses. For the Holy Bible says,

     “The one who is considered righteous by the Lord will live forever because he fully believes in Him.” ^[4]

¹² Whereas the Law of Moses isn’t based on believing, but it's based on deeds. For it’s written,

     “A person’s life is blessed only if he does everything according to all the commands of the Law.” ^[5]

¹³ So we are all “cursed” because each of us “fails to obey all the commands that are in the Law.” ^[6] But Christ redeemed us from that curse by taking our place Himself as the one cursed. For it’s written in the Holy Bible,

     “The one who dies hanging on a wooden post is cursed.” ^[7]

¹⁴ That was God’s plan, so that the blessings promised to Abraham could be given to “every non-Jewish people group” too, not just to the Jewish people, that is to each of us who are one with Christ Jesus through completely believing. And through that faith we also receive the Holy Spirit according to God’s promise. ^[8]

¹⁵ Brothers and Sisters, let me give a simple example. If a person has made a promisory letter or a will, and the letter has been made official, then no one may cancel it or add other conditions to the letter. ^16-17 In the same way, the promise that God made official with Abraham and his descendants can’t be changed. And at the time God promised this to Abraham. He didn’t say, “to you and all of your descendants.” But He said to him, “to you and your descendant”, meaning Descendant, singular. ^[1] And the Descendant that is meant is Christ. So what I mean is, the promise that was given by God to Abraham had long been official before the Law existed, exactly 430 years before God gave the Law to Moses. Because of that, by giving the Law to Moses, God didn’t cancel or change the promise that He made official with Abraham. ¹⁸ So the blessing that we inherit from Abraham because of becoming one with Christ who’s the Descendant of Abraham, is not based on obeying the Law. For if it’s based on our own deeds, then it isn’t based on a promise. But of course the blessing was given by God because of His kindness to Abraham through the promise mentioned.

^19-20 Because of that, people will ask, of course, “If man can only be made right by God by believing God’s promise, then why did He give the Law too?” My answer is that the Law was also given so that each of us would be aware of our transgressions. And the Law was in effect as long as man was waiting for the coming of the Descendant of Abraham who had been promised. And note that God Himself didn’t give the Law directly to man, like when He gave His promise to Abraham. But the angels gave it to Moses, ^[2] and Moses gave it to the people of God. Whereas with His promise to Abraham, God Himself gave it directly without an intermediary.

²¹ So some people will certainly want to ask, “If so, is the Law given by God in conflict with His promises to Abraham?” Certainly not! We must understand that the Law of Moses doesn’t have power to give eternal life to anyone. The Law God gave is not a means for us to become right before God. ²² And even the Holy Bible says that sin has control over the lives of all men. ^[9] So the only way to be saved is by fully believing in Christ Jesus, and by believing we receive the blessing that God promised to Abraham.

²³ But while people were waiting for the coming of Christ, who was that Descendant of Abraham, and before we could be made right before God by believing as mentioned, God gave the Law to control people. At that time, the Law of Moses became like a fence that confined us until the way was opened for us to believe and be given spiritual life. ²⁴ The Law of Moses can also be illustrated as a guardian who oversees, disciplines and guides us to Christ so that we have the opportunity to be made right by God through fully believing in Christ. ^25-27 But for those of us who now have believed and are one with Christ, we no longer need to be overseen and guided by that guardian.

All of us who are one with Christ Jesus through baptism have experienced new spiritual life, as if the character traits of Christ Himself cover us like new clothes. And through fully believing in God’s Son, we all become God’s children. ²⁸ So for us brothers and sisters in the faith, it isn’t proper for us to distinguish any longer between Jews and people who aren’t Jews, or between slaves and free men, or between men and women. For we’ve all been united because of oneness with Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And as possessions of Christ, through Him we all then become descendants of Abraham who inherit God’s promises.

Chapter 4

¹ As an illustration for us, when a father who has made a will dies before his child is an adult, then the status of that child isn’t much different than the status of a slave, even though the child owns all of his father's estate. ² For until the child has reached the age that was specified by his father in the will, he has to obey the overseers and managers who were appointed to meet all of his needs. ³ It’s the same for us. Before we were spiritually mature, we needed the Law which became like our overseer, because we were still enslaved by the dark forces that rule this world. ⁴ But at the exact time determined by God our Father in heaven, He sent His Son into this world. And according to God’s plan, Jesus was born to a young woman like a normal human being and from birth lived obeying the whole Law. ⁵ In that way, Jesus was prepared to be able to redeem us and free us who lived as slaves in the past under the oversight of the Law. He did that so that we were spiritually adopted to become God’s children. ^[1]

⁶ So because we are His sons, He sent His Son’s Spirit into each of our hearts. Because of that, we cry out to God with all our hearts, “Oh, Abba, my Daddy,” ^[2] because we pray according to the leading of Christ’s Spirit. ⁷ That’s proof that we’re no longer like slaves but are accepted as legitimate children of God. And as His children, we also have the right to inherit everything that has been promised to His children.

Paul feels like a father who worries about his children

⁸ In general, you who are in Galatia aren’t Jewish. So before you knew God, you had become slaves to many different false gods which are idols and spiritual beings that are called divine beings, even though they aren’t. ⁹ That’s why it doesn’t make sense that you who’ve known God, and in fact whom He acknowledges as His children, turn back to become slaves to things that are weak and useless, even to the powers of darkness which rule this world! ¹⁰ The proof is that I hear that you’ve begun to perform various old religious requirements about certain days or celebrations that are connected with the months, season, or years. ^{[3] 11} If so, I’m worried about you! Don’t let all of my hard work to win many souls among you be for nothing. ^12-13 So Brothers and Sisters, I request that you be free from those old religious rules, just like I adapted myself and didn’t follow all of the Jewish rules while I lived with you.

Certainly you still remember that my first visit to you happened because I was sick. But that was what became the opportunity for me to tell the Good News to you. Remember the way you welcomed me and never made fun of me. ¹⁴ Even though my physical condition was so disgusting, you didn’t reject or insult me. But you accepted me as a messenger of God, like receiving an angel or Christ Jesus Himself. ^15-16 But now, I feel that your opinion about me has really changed! You used to feel blessed because of my presence. But now perhaps you consider me like an enemy because I've written these true things to you! I remind you that you used to feel really sorry for me to the point that you were ready to pluck out your own eyes in place of mine, if that were possible! ^[4]

¹⁷ Those false teachers are trying hard to influence you so that you’ll be on their side, but that’s not good because it's not done with sincere hearts. They want to distance you from us so that you’re inspired to follow only them. ¹⁸ Of course I’m happy if you’re inspired, but it has to be for a good thing, whether I’m there or not. ¹⁹ My beloved children, because I’m worried about you my emotion is like a mother suffering when giving birth to her child. Of course I’ve become your spiritual father, but I’m very burdened again because you aren’t yet mature in oneness with Christ! ²⁰ Yes, because of that I long so much to be with you again! If we could talk, I would know if your thoughts about following that misleading teaching have changed or not. If so, that means I could stop urging you to repent.

Hagar and Sarah are illustrations about the two promises of God

²¹ Now let me speak to you who want to turn back and live under the Law again, when will you understand what’s written in the Book of the Law?! ^22-23 For it’s written there that Abraham had two sons. The one son, Ishmael, was the son of a slave woman named Hagar. Ishmael was born as usual, according to the plan of man. Whereas the other son, Isaac, was the son of a free woman named Sarah. The birth of Isaac happened in an amazing way according to God’s promise to Abraham.

^24-25 We can illustrate those two women as symbols of the two promises of God, the old one and the new one. The first, who is Hagar, can also be illustrated by Mount Sinai in the land of Arabia, where God gave the Law to Moses. So all of those who still live bound to the Law are like spiritual descendants of Hagar, that is they live in a state as slaves. As another illustration, the children of Hagar are all of those who consider the present Jerusalem to be the capitol city of their country. That means they don’t consider themselves to be freed yet from the bonds of the Law. ²⁶ But the capitol city of our country is the heavenly Jerusalem! ^[5] This means that we’re like children of Sarah who are not children of a slave. ²⁷ So because Sarah is considered to be our mother, then it will happen as what was prophesied about her in the Holy Bible,

     “Oh woman who was barren in the past, rejoice!

         Shout for joy, you who’ve never experienced the pains of childbirth!

     For you who didn’t have any descendants earlier

         will have many more descendants than the woman who wasn’t considered to be barren by her husband.” ^[10]

²⁸ So Brothers and Sisters, we can be illustrated by Isaac, who was born according to God’s promise. We also become Abraham’s descendants according to God’s promise to Abraham, ^[11] and like Isaac, we aren’t living bound by the Law. ²⁹ But like the conflict which happened between Ishmael, who was born according to the plan of man, and Isaac, who was born according to the will and power of God’s Spirit, the same thing is happening now between people who are still bound by the Law and we who are freed by God’s Spirit. That’s why they persecute us. ³⁰ But listen to what the Holy Bible says:

     “Drive out the slave woman and her son too! For the son born by the slave woman cannot receive the inheritance with the son born by the mother who was free.” ^[12]

³¹ So Brothers and Sisters, I need to emphasize this. We aren’t like descendants of the slave woman who are obligated to live as slaves, but we’re like descendants of the woman who was free.

Chapter 5

We’ve been set free by Christ

¹ Christ has freed us from the obligation to live like slaves, so let us continue to be free! For that reason, stand strong and don’t return to living like slaves still bound by the Law.

^2-4 Listen to what I’m stressing. If you (men who aren’t Jewish) follow the urging of those false teachers and allow yourselves to be circumcised by them, it’s as if you’re saying to God, “I don’t need the salvation Christ accomplished on the cross anymore.” It’s as if you’ve left Christ and are making an effort to save yourself according to Jewish religious rules. And I need to tell you that everyone who’s circumcised by them is obligated to obey all the commands and all the rules that are found in the Law. For if you try to make yourself right before God by the Law, it’s like you’re breaking off your relationship with Christ and as if you’re telling God, “I don’t need Your kindness!”

⁵ But this is the right way: We depend on the help of God’s Spirit, and we truly wait for everything that’s promised to those who fully believe God’s promises. It's because of this that He accepts us as righteous people! ⁶ Because for us who are one with Christ Jesus, there’s no difference between people who are circumcised or uncircumcised. What’s important is that we love our brothers and sisters in the faith because we completely believe in Christ!

⁷ I saw that you had progressed well earlier and were becoming more mature spiritually. Don’t listen to people who persuade you to stop following true teaching anymore. ⁸ What those people teach doesn’t come from God who called you to follow Christ. ⁹ Remember this proverb, “A little yeast makes all of the dough rise” ^{[1] 10} Because I know that you’re the Lord’s own possessions, I’m also certain that you’ll change your opinion like I’ve advised in this letter. But the people who confuse your thinking will be punished by God!

¹¹ Pay attention, Brothers and Sisters, if I change my teaching by teaching that each of our male organs must first be circumcised in order to be accepted by God, then I won’t be persecuted anymore by the Jewish people. But I teach that we’re made right before God only through what Christ did for us on the cross. That’s what has become a huge issue for them. ¹² Circumcision alone isn’t enough for the teachers who have confused you. Each of them should cut off his whole sexual organ!

Let’s live by depending on the Holy Spirit

¹³ So Brothers and Sisters, we’ve been called by God to a life that’s free from the bonds of the Law. But let’s not use our freedom as an excuse to satisfy our bodily desires. Instead we must serve each other because we’re motivated by the bond of brotherly love. ¹⁴ For the whole law has been summed up in one command which is, “Love your fellowman like you love yourself.” ^{[13] 15} But beware that you aren’t like wild animals that keep biting and eating each other to the point that you destroy each other!

¹⁶ So this is my advice to each of you, live in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. In that way, you won’t satisfy your evil bodily desires. ¹⁷ For the evil desires that come from our bodies always oppose the desires of the Holy Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit oppose our desires. For both of them oppose each other and both of them are in each of us. So we can’t live as we please. ¹⁸ But in every situation where we’re led by the Holy Spirit, we don’t need to be supervised by the Law anymore.

¹⁹ It’s already very clear that if we live according to our evil bodily desires, then we will fall into these sinful deeds:

     immorality, unnatural sexual relations, following lustful desires, ²⁰ worshiping idols, involvement in sorcery, hating other people,

     fighting, jealousy, getting angry easily,

     selfishness, causing division, being involved in groups teaching false things,

     ²¹ envy, drunkenness, partying without moral limits

     and all other sins.

Now I’m repeating what I had warned you when we were still together, people who do things like that won’t become citizens of God’s kingdom.

²² But if the Holy Spirit is leading our lives it will be shown through our

     loving each other, being joyful, living peacefully,

     being patient in troubles, being generous, helping our fellowman,

     keeping our promises, ²³ being gentle, and being able to control ourselves.

Things like this certainly aren’t forbidden by the Law!

²⁴ We who’ve becoming possessions of Christ are no longer controlled by lustful desires and all our bodily desires. It’s as if we’ve nailed our lusts and bodily desires to Christ’s cross. ²⁵ We were given new life by God’s Spirit. For that reason, let’s keep living in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit too. ²⁶ Let’s not become arrogant and say in our hearts, “I’m better than other brothers and sisters in the faith.” And don’t say directly to someone, “I’m better in the Lord’s eyes than you are!” And let’s not be envious thinking, “My brother in the faith has become greater in the church than me.”

Chapter 6

Live in brotherhood in the church

¹ Brothers and Sisters, if there’s someone within the church who’s known to have fallen into sin, then each of you whose lives are led by the Holy Spirit should lead him back to the right road. But do that with gentleness while continuing to guard yourself, so that you aren’t tempted to sin too. ² Each of us should help to lighten the burdens of our brothers and sisters in the faith who experience weakness and trouble. In that way we obey the Law of Love given by Christ. ^{[14] 3} For if you consider yourself to be too good to help those brothers and sisters of ours, you’ve deceived yourself. You aren’t any better than any other brothers in the faith! ⁴ Don’t compare yourself with other brothers and sisters in the faith, but you may evaluate your own deeds. Then you can be satisfied by the way you yourself serve Christ without thinking about other people. ⁵ For every one of us will face God and be accountable for our own deeds.

⁶ Each of us members of the church who receive the teaching of God’s Word should share part of our earnings with those whose duty is to teach us.

^7-8 Don’t be mistaken! Don’t think that you can play games with God’s justice and righteousness! For sooner or later each of us will reap what we’ve planted. I mean that if you live only to satisfy your bodily desires, you’ll receive destruction. But if you live depending on the leading of God’s Spirit, you’ll receive eternal life. ⁹ So let’s not give up doing good deeds. For the time will come later on when we’ll reap the results if we don’t give up. ¹⁰ For that reason, every time we have the opportunity, let’s keep doing good to everyone, especially to our brothers and sisters in the faith.

Final advice and closing words from Paul

¹¹ In this last part, notice how big the letters are that I’m writing to you with my own hand. ^{[1] 12} Once again, in regard to our brothers and sisters who used to be of the Jewish religion and who force you to be circumcised, they don't do it to help you, but they do it to please other Jews and also so that they aren’t persecuted because of our teaching about man being made right before God only through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. ¹³ Of course they are circumcised, but they themselves don’t obey the whole Law. However, what they want is for you to be circumcised so that they can brag about themselves by saying to other Jews, “Because of our teaching, the people in Galatia have now joined the Jewish religion.”

¹⁴ But I won’t brag about anything except our Lord Christ Jesus who was crucified! For through Jesus’ crucifixion, for me all worldly things have also been crucified on His cross, and it’s as if I’ve also died with Him to all worldly things. ¹⁵ So there’s no difference anymore between circumcised people and uncircumcised people. What’s important is that each of our spirits have been renewed because of oneness with Christ, as if we’ve become new creations! ^{[15] 16} To each of you who live out your life as a new creation and don’t brag about yourself, may God always have compassion on you and guard you so that you live with calmness in His protection, because spiritually you’ve become citizens of the new Israel, which is God’s kingdom.

¹⁷ From now on, I won’t care about people who criticize me by saying, “You don’t serve God as well as I do.” And I'll answer them, “These scars on my body are signs which prove that I’m owned by Jesus and serve Him!”

¹⁸ Brothers and Sisters, I pray that our Lord Christ Jesus will always be kind to each of you and will always be with you. Amen.