Which is really no Good News at all. But then, I know that there are people who are harassing you, and who want to pervert the Good News of the Christ.

It was in obedience to a revelation that I went; and I laid before the Apostles the Good News that I am proclaiming among the Gentiles. I did this privately before those who are thought highly of, for fear that I might possibly be taking, or might have already taken, a course which would prove useless.

Of those who are thought somewhat highly of--what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not recognize human distinctions--those, I say, who are thought highly of added nothing to my Message.

But, when I saw that they were not dealing straightforwardly with the Truth of the Good News, I said to Peter, before them all, "If you, who were born a Jew, adopt Gentile customs, instead of Jewish, why are you trying to compel the Gentile converts to adopt Jewish customs?"

We, though we are Jews by birth and not outcasts of Gentile origin, know that no one is pronounced righteous as the result of obedience to Law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus.

You see, then, that those whose lives are based on faith are the Sons of Abraham.

And, therefore, those whose lives are based on faith share the blessings bestowed upon the faith of Abraham.

All who rely upon obedience to Law are under a curse, for Scripture says--'Cursed is every one who does not abide by all that is written in the Book of the Law, and do it.'

But the Law is not based on faith; no, its words are--'Those who practice these precepts will find Life through them.'

For you are all Sons of God, through your faith in Christ Jesus.

All distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female, have vanished; for in union with Christ Jesus you are all one.

And, since you belong to Christ, it follows that you are Abraham's offspring and, under the promise, sharers in the inheritance.

And it is because you are sons that God sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, with the cry--'Abba, our Father.'

You, therefore, are no longer a slave, but a son; and, if a son, then an heir also, by God's appointment.

But now that you have found God--or, rather, have been found by him--how is it that you are turning back to that poor and feeble puerile teaching, to which yet once again you are wanting to become slaves?

You are scrupulous in keeping Days and Months and Seasons and Years!

Certain people are seeking your favor, but with no honorable object. No, indeed, they want to isolate you, so that you will have to seek their favor.

(The word Hagar meaning in Arabia Mount Sinai) and it ranks with the Jerusalem of to-day, for she and her children are in slavery.

For Scripture says--'Rejoice, thou barren one, who dost never bear, Break into shouts, thou who art never in labor, For many are the children of her who is desolate--aye, more than of her who has a husband.'

As for ourselves, brothers, we, like Isaac, are children born in fulfillment of a promise.

And so, Brothers, we are not children of a slave, but of her who is free.

You have severed yourselves from Christ--you who are seeking to be pronounced righteous through Law; you have fallen away from love.

For we, by the help of the Spirit, are eagerly waiting for the fulfillment of our hope--that we may be pronounced righteous as the result of faith.

I could even wish that the people who are unsettling you would go further still and mutilate themselves.

But, if you are continually wounding and preying upon one another, take care that you are not destroyed by one another.

For these cravings of our earthly nature conflict with the Spirit, and the Spirit with our earthly nature--they are two contrary principles--so that you cannot do what you wish.

But, if you follow the guidance of the Spirit, you are not subject to Law.

The sins of our earthly nature are unmistakable. They are sins like these--unchastity, impurity, indecency,

Brothers, even if a man should be caught committing a sin, you who are spiritually minded should, in a gentle spirit, help him to recover himself, taking care lest any one of you also should be tempted.

Those who wish to appear to advantage in regard to outward observances are the very people who are trying to compel you to be circumcised; and they do it only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Jesus, the Christ.

Even these men who are circumcised do not themselves keep the Law; yet they want you to be circumcised, so that they may boast of your observance of the rite.

May all who rule their conduct by this principle find peace and mercy--they who are the Israel of God.