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.

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.

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.

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.

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?”

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.

1 O foolish Galatians! ^uWho has bewitched you? It was ^vbefore your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you ^wreceive the Spirit by works of the law or by ^xhearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? ^yHaving begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by¹⁰ the flesh? 4 Did you suffer¹¹ so many things ^zin vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and ^aworks ^bmiracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham ^c“believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

7 Know then that ^dit is ^ethose of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that ^fGod would justify¹² the Gentiles by faith, ^gpreached the gospel ^hbeforehand to Abraham, saying, ⁱ“In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10 For all who rely on works of the law are ^junder a curse; for it is written, ^k“Cursed be everyone who does not abide by ^lall things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that ^mno one is justified before God by the law, for ⁿ“The righteous shall live by faith.”¹³ 12 But the law is not of faith, rather ^o“The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ ^predeemed us from the curse of the law by ^qbecoming a curse for us—for it is written, ^r“Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a ^stree”— 14 ^tso that in Christ Jesus the ^ublessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive ^vthe promised Spirit¹⁴ through faith.

15 ^wTo give a human example, brothers:¹⁵ even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now ^xthe promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, ^y“And to your offspring,” ^zwho is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: ^athe law, which came ^b430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the ^cinheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

19 Why then the law? ^dIt was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ^eput in place through angels ^fby an ^gintermediary. 20 Now an ^hintermediary implies more than one, but ⁱGod is one.

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then ^jrighteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture ^kimprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by ^lfaith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive ^munder the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian ⁿuntil Christ came, in order that we might be ^ojustified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were ^pbaptized into Christ have ^qput on Christ. 28 There is ^rneither Jew nor Greek, there is ^sneither slave¹⁶ nor free, there is ^tno male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And ^uif you are ^vChrist’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.