But when God, who had set me apart even before my birth, and who called me by his love,

All that they had heard was--'The man who once persecuted us is now telling the Good News of the very Faith of which he once made havoc.'

But, on account of the false Brothers who had stolen in, the men who had crept in to spy upon the liberty which we have through union with Christ Jesus, in order to bring us back to slavery--

On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Gentiles, just as Peter had been for the Jews.

Before certain persons came from James, he had been in the habit of eating with the Gentile converts; but, when they came, he began to withdraw and hold aloof, for fear of offending those who still held to circumcision.

It is just as it was with Abraham--'He had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.'

What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make men conscious of their wrong-doings, and intended to last only till the coming of that 'offspring' to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator.

Does that set the Law in opposition to God's promises? Heaven forbid! For, if a Law had been given capable of bestowing Life, then righteousness would have actually owed its existence to Law.

And as for what must have tried you in my condition, it did not inspire you with scorn or disgust, but you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God--or Christ Jesus himself!

What has become then, of your blessings? For I can bear witness that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me!

Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one the child of the slave-woman and the other the child of the free woman.