Galatians 1–2

Greeting

1Paul, an ^aapostle—^bnot from men nor through man, but ^cthrough Jesus Christ and God the Father, ^dwho raised him from the dead— ²and all ^ethe brothers¹ who are with me,

To ^fthe churches of Galatia:

^3gGrace to you and peace ^hfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ⁱwho gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present ^jevil age, according to the will of ^kour God and Father, ⁵to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

⁶I am astonished that you are ^lso quickly deserting ^mhim who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to ⁿa different gospel— ^7onot that there is another one, but ^pthere are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or ^qan angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, ^rlet him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, ^rlet him be accursed.

¹⁰For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying ^sto please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a ^tservant² of Christ.

Paul Called by God

¹¹For ^uI would have you know, brothers, that ^vthe gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.^{3 12w}For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it ^xthrough a revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³For you have heard of ^ymy former life in Judaism, how ^zI persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely ^azealous was I for ^bthe traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵But when he ^cwho had set me apart ^dbefore I was born,⁴ and who ^ecalled me by his grace, ¹⁶was pleased to reveal his Son to⁵ me, in order ^fthat I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;^{6 17}nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸Then ^gafter three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James ^hthe Lord’s brother. ²⁰(In what I am writing to you, ⁱbefore God, I do not lie!) ^21jThen I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²And I was still unknown in person to ^kthe churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those ^lwho seemed influential) the gospel that ^mI proclaim among the Gentiles, ⁿin order to make sure I was not running or had not ^orun in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, ^pwas not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ^4qYet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^rslipped in to spy out ^sour freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^tso that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^uthe truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶And from those ^vwho seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; ^wGod shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential ^xadded nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, when they saw that I had been ^yentrusted with ^zthe gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹and when James and Cephas and John, ^vwho seemed to be ^apillars, perceived the ^bgrace that was given to me, they ^cgave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰Only, they asked us to remember the poor, ^dthe very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹But ^ewhen Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him ^fto his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, ^ghe was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^hthe circumcision party.^{1 13}And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that their ⁱconduct was not in step with ^jthe truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^kbefore them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^llive like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ^mGentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that ⁿa person is not justified² by works of the law ^obut through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, ^pbecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found ^qto be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I ^rdied to the law, so that I might ^slive to God. ²⁰I have been ^tcrucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives ^uin me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, ^vwho loved me and ^wgave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^xif righteousness³ were through the law, ^ythen Christ died for no purpose.