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 --

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

I am astonished that you are beginning so soon to turn away from Him who called you by the favor of Christ, to a different good news,

which is not really another one; only there are certain people who are trying to unsettle you and want to turn the good news of Christ upside down.

Am I now trying to win men's favor, or God's? Or, am I trying to be pleasing to men? If I were still trying to be pleasing to men, I would not be a slave of Christ at all.

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.

they did not try it even for the sake of the false brothers who had been smuggled in, who stole in to spy out the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus, so as to make us slaves again.

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.

Now if, in our efforts to come into right standing with God through union with Christ, we have proved ourselves to be sinners like the heathen themselves, does that make Christ a party to our sin? Of course not.

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.

I never can nullify the unmerited favor of God. For if right standing with God could come through law, then Christ died for nothing.

O senseless Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was pictured as the crucified One?

Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us -- for the Scripture says, "Cursed be everyone who is hanged on a tree" --

that the blessing promised to Abraham might through Jesus Christ come to the heathen, so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

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.

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.

So the law has been our attendant to lead us to Christ, so that we might through faith obtain right standing with God.

For all of you are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

For all of you who have been baptized into union with Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is no room for Jew or Greek, no room for slave or freeman, no room for male or female, for you are all one through union with Christ Jesus.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are real descendants of Abraham, and heirs in accordance with the promise made to him.

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.

O my dear children, I am suffering a mother's birth pangs for you again, until Christ is formed in you.

This is the freedom with which Christ has made us free. So keep on standing in it, and stop letting your necks be fastened in the yoke of slavery again.

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

You people, whoever you are among you, who try to get into right standing with God, through law have cut yourselves off from Christ, you have missed the way of God's favor.

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.

And those who belong to Jesus the Christ have crucified the lower nature with its passions and evil cravings.

Practice bearing one another's burdens, and in this way carry out the law of Christ.

These men who are trying to force you to let yourselves be circumcised simply want to make a fine outward show, only to keep you from being persecuted for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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!

The spiritual blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.