but even if we or a messenger out of heaven may proclaim good news to you different from what we did proclaim to you -- anathema let him be!

as we have said before, and now say again, If any one to you may proclaim good news different from what ye did receive -- anathema let him be!

For am I seeking [to gain] the favor of men or of God? Or, am I striving to please people [by what I do]? If I were still [trying] to please people, I would not be a [true] servant of Christ.

no man put it into my hands, no man taught me what it meant, I had it by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

For ye have heard what was my conversation formerly in Judaism, that I excessively persecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it;

and how I surpassed many of my own age among my people in my devotion to Judaism, I was so fanatically devoted to what my forefathers had handed down.

(Before God, what I'm writing to you is the truth.)

So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me.

I went up [to Jerusalem] because of a [divine] revelation, and I put before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so in private before those of reputation, for fear that I might be running or had run [the course of my ministry] in vain.

Of them which seemed to be great - what they were in time passed it maketh no matter to me: God looketh on no man's person - nevertheless they seemed great, added nothing to me:

For, before certain [leaders] came from James [i.e., Jesus' brother, a leader of the Jerusalem church, See Acts 12:17; 15:13-22], he had eaten [a social meal] with some Gentiles. But when these men came, he abruptly discontinued this practice out of fear of the circumcised ones [i.e., out of concern for what the Jews would think of him].

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.

For if I try to build again what I tore down, I really prove myself to be a wrongdoer.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And what I now live in flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

I do not misapply God's grace, for if righteousness comes about by doing what the Law requires, then the Messiah died for nothing.

O foolish Galatians, by what strange powers have you been tricked, to whom it was made clear that Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross?

I want to ask you only this one thing: Did you receive the Spirit by doing what the law commands, or by believing the message you heard?

Can you be so foolish? After beginning with what is spiritual, do you now end with what is external?

Now when He supplies you with the Spirit and performs His wonder-works among you, does He do it because you do what the law commands, or because you believe the message that you heard --

For those who depend on what the law commands are under a curse, for the Scripture says, "Cursed be everyone who does not continue in all the commands that are written in the book of the law, to do them."

Brethren, I speak according to what is practised among men; no one sets aside even a human covenant, or makes additions to it, after it has been ratified.

This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified.

Then what about the law? It was added later on to increase transgressions, until the descendant to whom the promise was made should come, enacted through the agency of angels in the person of an intermediary.

But the Scripture has captured everything by means of sin's net, so that what was promised by the faithfulness of the Messiah might be granted to those who believe.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are [truly] Abraham's seed [i.e., his spiritual descendants] and thereby [you will] inherit what was promised to him [i.e., God's blessings].

Now what I am saying is this: As long as an heir is a child, he is no better off than a slave, even though he owns everything.

So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir because of what God did.

It is not you that have done me any injury: tho' you knew through what infirmity of the flesh I heretofore preached the gospel to you,

And you did not despise or disdain [what was] a trial for you in my flesh, but you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus.

what then was your happiness? for I testify to you, that if possible, your eyes having plucked out, ye would have given to me;

These men [the Judaizers] eagerly seek you [to entrap you with honeyed words and attention, to win you over to their philosophy], not honorably [for their purpose is not honorable or worthy of consideration]. They want to isolate you [from us who oppose them] so that you will seek them.

and it is good to be zealously regarded, in what is good, at all times, and not only in my being present with you;

I wish I could be present this very moment with you, and suit my discourse accordingly, for I stand in doubt what to think of you.

Tell me, you who want to be subject to law, will you not listen to what the law says?

Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? "Put away the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman."

Here is what I am saying to you: If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ can do you no good.

for in union with the Messiah Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. What matters is faith expressed through love.

You were going on well; who was the cause of your not giving ear to what is true?

This is what I have to say--Let your steps be guided by the Spirit, and then you will never gratify the cravings of your earthly nature.

For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do.

But, if you are led by [what] the Holy Spirit [wants you to do], you are not under [obligation to meet the requirements of] the law of Moses.

Worship of images, use of strange powers, hates, fighting, desire for what another has, angry feelings, attempts to get the better of others, divisions, false teachings,

But what the Spirit produces is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Carry one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the requirements of the law of Christ [that is, the law of Christian love].

but let each prove his own work, and then he will have his boast in what belongs to himself alone, and not in what belongs to another.

But the person who is taught the word [of God] should provide his teacher with what he needs.

Do not be deceived anymore; God is not to be scoffed at. A person will reap just what he sows, whatever it is.

Let's not get tired of doing what is good, for at the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Hence, then, as we have opportunity, let us be working what is good, towards all, - but, especially, towards the family of the faith.

See what large letters I make, when I write to you with my own hand!

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.