Galatians 1–2

GREETING

1Paul,^a an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father^b who raised him from the dead^c—²and all the brothers who are with me:

To the churches of Galatia.^d

³Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord^A Jesus Christ, ⁴who gave himself for our sins^e to rescue us from this present evil age,^f according to the will of our God and Father.^{g 5}To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

NO OTHER GOSPEL

⁶I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called^h you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—⁷not that there is another gospel,ⁱ but there are some^j who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel^k from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you,^l a curse be on him!^{B 9}As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received,^m a curse be on him!

¹⁰For am I now trying to persuade people,^C or God?ⁿ Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

THE ORIGIN OF PAUL’S GOSPEL

¹¹For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. ¹²For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation^o of Jesus Christ.^p

¹³For you have heard about my former way of life^q in Judaism:^r I intensely persecuted^s God’s church and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.^{t 15}But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called^u me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal his Son^v in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.^{D 17}I did not go up to Jerusalem^w to those who had become apostles^x before me; instead I went to Arabia^y and came back to Damascus.^z

¹⁸Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem^aa to get to know Cephas,^Eab and I stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James,^ac the Lord’s brother. ²⁰I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.

²¹Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria^ad and Cilicia.^{ae 22}I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. ²³They simply kept hearing, “He who formerly persecuted^af us now preaches the faith^ag he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.^A

PAUL DEFENDS HIS GOSPEL AT JERUSALEM

2Then after fourteen years I went up again^ah to Jerusalem with Barnabas,^ai taking Titus^aj along also. ²I went up according to a revelation^ak and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those recognized as leaders. I wanted to be sure I was not running, and had not been running, in vain. ³But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. ⁴This matter arose because some false brothers^al had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us. ⁵But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth^am of the gospel would be preserved for you.

⁶Now from those recognized as important (what they^B once were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism^Can)—they added nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised,^ao just as Peter^ap was for the circumcised, ⁸since the one at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles. ⁹When James,^a Cephas,^Db and John^c—those recognized as pillars^d—acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰They asked only that we would remember the poor,^e which I had made every effort to do.

FREEDOM FROM THE LAW

¹¹But when Cephas^D came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.^{E 12}For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. ¹³Then the rest of the Jews^f joined his hypocrisy,^g so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas^D in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile^h and not like a Jew,ⁱ how can you compel Gentiles to live^j like Jews?”

¹⁵We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,” ¹⁶and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law^k but by faith in Jesus Christ,^G even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ^H and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will^I be justified. ¹⁷But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ,^l is Christ then a promoter^Am of sin? Absolutely not!^{n 18}If I rebuild^o those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.^{p 19}For through the law I died to the law,^q so that I might live for God.^{r 20}I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.^s The life I now live in the body,^B I live by faith in the Son of God,^t who loved^u me^v and gave himself^w for me.^{x 21}I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law,^y then Christ died^z for nothing.