Greeting

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

To ^ethe churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who ^fgave himself ^gfor our sins to deliver us from the ^hpresent evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

6 I am astonished that ⁱyou are so quickly deserting him who ^jcalled you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a ^kdifferent gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who ^ltrouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to ^mthe one we preached to you, let him be ⁿaccursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

10 For am I now ^oseeking the ^papproval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant² of Christ.

Paul Called by God

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is ^qnot ^rman’s gospel.³ 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I ^sreceived it through a ^trevelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in ^uJudaism, how I ^vpersecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And ^wI was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the ^xtraditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had ^yset me apart ^zbefore I was born,⁴ and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased ^ato reveal his Son to⁵ me, ^bin order that 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.

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

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem ^jwith Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a ^krevelation and set before them (though privately before ^lthose who seemed influential) ^mthe gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run ⁿin vain. 3 ^oBut even Titus, who was with me, ^pwas not ^qforced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers ^rsecretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our ^sfreedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might ^tbring us into ^uslavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the ^vtruth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God ^wshows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that ^xI had been ^yentrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who ^zworked through Peter for his ^aapostolic ministry to the circumcised ^bworked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived ^cthe grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to ^dremember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

11 ^eBut when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, ^fhe was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^gthe circumcision party.⁷ 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

15 We ourselves are ^hJews by birth and not Gentile ⁱsinners; 16 yet we know that ^ja person is not justified⁸ by works of the law but ^kthrough ^lfaith 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, because by works of the law ^mno one will be justified.

17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law ⁿI died to the law, so that I might ^olive to God. 20 I have been ^pcrucified with Christ. It is ^qno longer ^rI who live, ^sbut Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me ^tand gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness⁹ were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.