Paul, an Apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from among the dead--

May grace and peace be granted to you from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

who gave Himself to suffer for our sins in order to rescue us from the present wicked age in accordance with the will of our God and Father.

I marvel that you are so readily leaving Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are adhering to a different Good News.

For other "Good News" there is none; but there are some persons who are troubling you, and are seeking to distort the Good News concerning Christ.

But if even we or an angel from Heaven should bring you a Good News different from that which we have already brought you, let him be accursed.

What I have just said I repeat--if any one is preaching to you a Good News other than that which you originally received, let him be accursed.

For is it man's favour or God's that I aspire to? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still a man-pleaser, I should not be Christ's bondservant.

For I must tell you, brethren, that the Good News which was proclaimed by me is not such as man approves of.

For you have heard of my early career in Judaism--how I furiously persecuted the Church of God, and made havoc of it;

saw fit to reveal His Son within me in order that I might tell among the Gentiles the Good News concerning Him, at once I did not confer with any human being,

In making these assertions I am speaking the truth, as in the sight of God.

They only heard it said, "He who was once our persecutor is now telling the Good News of the faith of which he formerly made havoc."

And they gave glory to God on my account.

I went up in obedience to a revelation of God's will; and I explained to them the Good News which I proclaim among the Gentiles. To the leaders of the Church this explanation was made in private, lest by any means I should be running, or should already have run, in vain.

But not for an hour did we give way and submit to them; in order that the Good News might continue with you in its integrity.

From those leaders I gained nothing new. Whether they were men of importance or not, matters nothing to me--God recognizes no external distinctions. To me, at any rate, the leaders imparted nothing new.

Indeed, when they saw that I was entrusted with the preaching of the Good News to the Gentiles as Peter had been with that to the Jews--

As soon as I saw that they were not walking uprightly in the spirit of the Good News, I said to Peter, before them all, "If you, though you are a Jew, live as a Gentile does, and not as a Jew, how can you make the Gentiles follow Jewish customs?

for it is by the Law that I have died to the Law, in order that I may live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.

I do not nullify the grace of God; for if acquittal from guilt is obtainable through the Law, then Christ has died in vain."

even as Abraham believed God, and his faith was placed to his account as righteousness?

And the Scripture, foreseeing that in consequence of faith God would declare the nations to be free from guilt, sent beforehand the Good News to Abraham, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

It is evident, too, that no one can find acceptance with God simply by obeying the Law, because "the righteous shall live by faith,"

(Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say 'and to seeds,' as if speaking of many, but 'and to your seed,' since He spoke of only one--and this is Christ.)

I mean that the Covenant which God had already formally made is not abrogated by the Law which was given four hundred and thirty years later--so as to annul the promise.

For if the inheritance comes through obedience to Law, it no longer comes because of a promise. But, as a matter of fact, God has granted it to Abraham in fulfilment of a promise.

Why then was the Law given? It was imposed later on for the sake of defining sin, until the seed should come to whom God had made the promise; and its details were laid down by a mediator with the help of angels.

God, however, is only one. Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? No, indeed; for if a Law had been given which could have conferred Life, righteousness would certainly have come by the Law.

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus;

But, when the time was fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born subject to Law,

And because you are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of His Son to enter your hearts and cry "Abba! our Father!"

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

But at one time, you Gentiles, having no knowledge of God, were slaves to gods which in reality do not exist.

Now, however, having come to know God--or rather to be known by Him--how is it you are again turning back to weak and worthless rudimentary notions to which you are once more willing to be enslaved?

And you know that in those early days it was on account of bodily infirmity that I proclaimed the Good News to you,

and yet the bodily infirmity which was such a trial to you, you did not regard with contempt or loathing, but you received me as if I had been an angel of God or Christ Jesus Himself!

Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.

*We* have not, for through the Spirit we wait with longing hope for an acceptance with God which is to come through faith.

Would to God that those who are unsettling your faith would even mutilate themselves.

hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.

good faith, meekness, self-restraint.

Do not deceive yourselves. God is not to be scoffed at. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us labour for the good of all, and especially of those who belong to the household of the faith.

But as for me, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world.

And all who shall regulate their lives by this principle--may peace and mercy be given to them--and to the true Israel of God.