Galatians 1–2

Chapter 1

Introduction

¹Paul, ^aan apostle (^bnot sent from men nor through the agency of man, but ^cthrough Jesus Christ and God the Father, who ^draised Him from the dead),

²and all ^athe brethren who are with me,

To ^bthe churches of Galatia:

^3aGrace to you and peace from ¹God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

⁴who ^agave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from ^bthis present evil ¹age, according to the will of ^cour God and Father,

^5ato whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Perversion of the Gospel

⁶I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting ^aHim who called you ¹by the grace of Christ, for a ^bdifferent gospel;

⁷which is really not another; only there are some who are ^adisturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

⁸But even if we, or ^aan angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel ¹contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be ^2baccursed!

⁹As we ^ahave said before, so I say again now, ^bif any man is preaching to you a gospel ¹contrary to what you received, he is to be ^2caccursed!

¹⁰For am I now ^aseeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a ^bbond-servant of Christ.

Paul Defends His Ministry

¹¹For ^aI would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is ^bnot according to man.

¹²For ^aI neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a ^brevelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³For you have heard of ^amy former manner of life in Judaism, how I ^bused to persecute ^cthe church of God beyond measure and ^dtried to destroy it;

¹⁴and I ^awas advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my ¹countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ^bancestral traditions.

¹⁵But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and ^acalled me through His grace, was pleased

¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might ^apreach Him among the Gentiles, ^bI did not immediately consult with ^1cflesh and blood,

^17anor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to ^bDamascus.

¹⁸Then ^athree years later I went up ^bto Jerusalem to ¹become acquainted with ^cCephas, and stayed with him fifteen days.

¹⁹But I did not see any other of the apostles except ^1aJames, the Lord’s brother.

²⁰(Now in what I am writing to you, ¹I assure you ^abefore God that I am not lying.)

²¹Then ^aI went into the regions of ^bSyria and ^cCilicia.

²²I was still unknown by ¹sight to ^athe churches of Judea which were ^bin Christ;

²³but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching ^athe faith which he once ^btried to destroy.”

²⁴And they ^awere glorifying God ¹because of me.

Chapter 2

The Council at Jerusalem

¹Then after an interval of fourteen years I ^awent up again to Jerusalem with ^bBarnabas, taking ^cTitus along also.

²¹It was because of a ^arevelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the ^bgospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be ^crunning, or had run, in vain.

³But not even ^aTitus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was ^bcompelled to be circumcised.

⁴But it was because of the ^afalse brethren secretly brought in, who ^bhad sneaked in to spy out our ^cliberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to ^dbring us into bondage.

⁵But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that ^athe truth of the gospel would remain with you.

⁶But from those who ¹were of high ^areputation (what they were makes no difference to me; ^bGod ²shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.

⁷But on the contrary, seeing that I had been ^aentrusted with the ^bgospel ¹to the uncircumcised, just as ^cPeter had been ²to the circumcised

⁸(for He who effectually worked for Peter in his ^aapostleship ¹to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles),

⁹and recognizing ^athe grace that had been given to me, ^1bJames and ^cCephas and John, who were ^dreputed to be ^epillars, gave to me and ^fBarnabas the ^gright ²hand of fellowship, so that we might ^hgo to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

¹⁰They only asked us to remember the poor—^athe very thing I also was eager to do.

Peter (Cephas) Opposed by Paul

¹¹But when ^aCephas came to ^bAntioch, I opposed him to his face, because he ¹stood condemned.

¹²For prior to the coming of certain men from ^1aJames, he used to ^beat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, ^cfearing ²the party of the circumcision.

¹³The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even ^aBarnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

¹⁴But when I saw that they ^awere not ¹straightforward about ^bthe truth of the gospel, I said to ^cCephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, ^dlive like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? ²

¹⁵“We are ^aJews by nature and not ^bsinners from among the Gentiles;

¹⁶nevertheless knowing that ^aa man is not justified by the works of ¹the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by ^bfaith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since ^cby the works of the Law no ²flesh will be justified.

¹⁷“But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found ^asinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? ^bMay it never be!

¹⁸“For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I ^aprove myself to be a transgressor.

¹⁹“For through ¹the Law I ^adied to the Law, so that I might live to God.

²⁰“I have been ^acrucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but ^bChrist lives in me; and ¹the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in ^cthe Son of God, who ^dloved me and ^egave Himself up for me.

²¹“I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^aif righteousness comes through ¹the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”