Paul, an apostle sent not from men or by any man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead --

But even if I or an angel from heaven preach a good news that is contrary to the one which I have already preached to you, a curse upon him!

for I did not get it from any man; I was not taught it, but I got it through a revelation given by Jesus Christ.

But when God, who had already set me apart from my birth, and had called me by His unmerited favor,

Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas, but I spent only two weeks with him;

But I was personally unknown to the Christian churches in Judea;

I went up under the guidance of a divine revelation. Now I laid before them the good news that I was in the habit of preaching among the heathen, but first I did so privately before the leaders, for fear that my course might be or might have been to no purpose.

But they did not even try to compel my companion, Titus, although he was a Greek, to be circumcised --

But we did not for a moment yield them submission, in order that the truth of the good news might prevail for you.

For before the coming of certain people from James, he was in the habit of eating with heathen Christians, but after they came, he began to draw back and hold aloof from them, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.

But when I saw that they were not living up to the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas, and that before them all, "If you are living like a heathen and not like a Jew, although you are a Jew yourself, why do you try to make the heathen live like Jews?"

because we know that a man does not come into right standing with God by doing what the law commands, but by simple trust in Christ, we too have trusted in Christ Jesus, in order to come into right standing with God by simple trust in Christ and not by doing what the law commands, because by doing what the law commands no man can come into right standing with God.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live, but Christ is living in me; the life I now live as a mortal man I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Are you so senseless? Did you begin by the Spirit, but are now approaching perfection by fleshly means?

and the law has nothing to do with faith, but it says, "It is the man who does these things that will live by doing them."

Now the promises were made to Abraham and his descendant. It does not say, "and to your descendants," in the plural, but in the singular, "and to your descendant," that is, Christ.

For if our inheritance depends on the law, it can no longer depend on the promise. But it was by promise that God so graciously bestowed it upon Abraham.

But the Scripture pictures all mankind as prisoners of sin, so that the promised blessing through faith in Christ might be given to those who have faith.

But before this faith came, we were kept locked up under the law, in preparation for the faith which was to be unveiled.

But now that this faith has come, we are no longer in the charge of the attendant.

but he is under guardians and trustees until the time fixed by the father.

but when the proper time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to law,

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir by God's own act.

But at that former time, as you did not know the true God, you were slaves to gods that do not really exist,

but now, since you have come to know God, or rather have come to be known by Him, how can you turn back to your own crude notions, so weak and worthless, and wish to become slaves to them again?

but still you did not scorn the test my illness made of you, nor did you spurn me for it; on the contrary, you welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.

These men are paying you special attention, but not sincerely. They want to shut you off from me, so that you may keep on paying them special attention.

But the child of the slave girl was born in the ordinary course of nature, while the child of the free woman was born to fulfill the promise.

But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.

But just as then the child born in the ordinary course of nature persecuted the one born by the power of the Spirit, so it is today.

But what does the Scripture say? "Drive off the slave girl and her son, for the slave girl's son shall never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman."

So, brothers, we are children, not of a slave girl but of a free woman.

For in union with Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor lack of it counts for anything; but only faith that is spurred on to action by love.

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; only you must not let your freedom be an excuse for the gratification of your lower nature, but in love be slaves to one another.

But if you continue to bite and eat one another, beware lest you are destroyed by one another.

But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

But the product of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

So then whenever we have an opportunity, let us practice doing good to everybody, but especially to the members of the family of faith.

Indeed, the very men who let themselves be circumcised do not themselves observe the law. But they simply want you to let yourselves be circumcised, so that they can boast of you as members of their party.

But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!

For neither circumcision nor the lack of it has any value, but only a new creation.