And it is manifest that by the Law no man is justified in the sight of God. because The just shall live by faith,

and the Law has nothing to do with faith, but declares, The man that has done these things shall live therein.

Christ, hath redeemed, us, out of the curse of the law, having become, in our behalf, a curse; - because it is written - Cursed, is every one that hangeth upon a tree; -

to the end that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

Brothers, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant that has been ratified.

Now it was to Abraham that the promises were spoken, and to his offspring. God did not say, "offsprings" as if speaking of many, but "and to your offspring," as of one; and this is Christ.

I mean to say that the testament which God has already ratified could not be annulled by the Law which came four hundred and thirty years later, so as to make the Promise void.

For if our inheritance depends on the law, it can no longer depend on the promise. But it was by promise that God so graciously bestowed it upon Abraham.

To what end then was the law given? It was given on account of transgressions, until that seed should come to whom the promise was made, being delivered through the ministry of angels into the hand of a mediator.

(Now a mediator implies more than one person, but God is only one.)

Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law.

but the Scripture has shut up the whole world in prison together under sin, in order that the promise due to faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who have faith.

Before that faith came, we were kept and shut up under the law, unto the faith which should afterward be declared.

So the Law has been our tutor-slave our pedagogue to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith;

but now that the Faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor-slave.

For all ye that are baptised, have put on Christ.

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

But I say that as long as the son is a child, he is in no way different from a servant, though he is lord of all;

to redeem from captivity those under law, in order that we might receive our sonship.

and because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, that is, father;

So that you are no longer a servant, but a son; and if a son, then the heritage of God is yours.

But at that time, having no knowledge of God, you were servants to those who by right are no gods:

Now, however, when you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you are beginning to turn back to those weak and beggarly externalities, eager to be in bondage to them again?

I am in fear of you, that I may have been working for you to no purpose.

My desire for you, brothers, is that you may be as I am, because I am as you are. You have done me no wrong;

on the contrary, you know that although it was illness which brought about my preaching the gospel to you at my first visit,

and my trial that is in my flesh ye did not despise nor reject, but as a messenger of God ye did receive me -- as Christ Jesus;

Why then did you account yourselves so happy? (For I bear you witness that if you could you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me.)

so that your enemy have I become, being true to you?

These men are courting your favor to no good purpose. They want to isolate you, so that you will be courting their favor.

But it is good to be zealously affected always in that which is good, and not only when I am present with you.

How I wish I could be with you now, that I might change my tone; for I am perplexed about you.

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman;

But, he that was of the bondmaid, after the flesh, had been born, whereas, he that was of the free woman, through means of a promise.

This is spoken as an allegory. For these women are two covenants, one coming from Mount Sinai, bearing children that are to be slaves;

for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now is, and is in servitude with her children,

But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.

For it is written, Rejoice, O thou barren one who dost never bear, Break forth in joy, thou that dost not travail; For the children of the desolate woman are many. Yea, more than hers who has a husband.

But, just as, then, he that after the manner of the flesh had been born, did persecute him who had been born after the manner of the Spirit, thus, also now.

so then, my brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free-woman, by virtue of that freedom which Christ has procur'd for us.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Listen to me! I, Paul, declare to you that if you are to continue to follow the rite of circumcision, Christ will be no profit to you.

I solemnly testify to every man who submits to circumcision that he obligates himself to keep the whole Law.

You that are justified by law, have withdrawn from Christ: you have fallen from grace.

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.

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.

Ye were running well: - who hath hindered you, that, by truth, ye are not to be persuaded?

The persuasion, is not of him that calleth you: -

As for me, I am fully trusting you in the Lord that you will be no otherwise minded; but he who is trying to unsettle you will have to bear his punishment, whoever he may be.

Now brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

Would to God that those who are trying to unsettle you would even have themselves mutilated.

For ye have been called unto liberty, brethren; only use not that liberty as a pretext for carnality, but in love be subject one to another.

But if you are given to fighting with one another, take care that you are not the cause of destruction one to another.

For the desire of the flesh is against that of the Spirit, and the desire of the Spirit is against that of the flesh, for they two are antagonistic, so that you may not do those things that you wish.

envy, drunkenness, revellings, and things like these. I tell you beforehand, as I have already told you, that those who practise such sins shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Even if any one should be overtaken in a fault, brothers, you that are spiritual ought, in a gentle spirit, to restore such a one, each one of you looking to himself, lest you too be tempted.

Bear one another's burdens, and in that way carry out the law of the Christ.

For if a man has an idea that he is something when he is nothing, he is tricked by himself.

But let each person test his own accomplishments so that he can determine if he should get credit for them or if his neighbor should.

Howbeit, let him who is being orally instructed in the word, have fellowship with him that is so instructing him, in all good things.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap.

Because, he that soweth into his own flesh, out of the flesh, shall reap corruption, whereas, he that soweth into the Spirit, out of the Spirit, shall reap age-abiding life.

And, in doing that which is honourable, let us not be fainthearted; for, in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.

Look at how large the letters are that I am using in writing this, and I am writing them myself.

Those who want to make a good impression in public [before the Jews] try to compel you to be circumcised, just so they will escape being persecuted for [faithfulness to] the cross of Christ.

For even the circumcised [Jews] themselves do not [really] keep the Law, but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh [that is, in the fact that they convinced you to be circumcised].

God forbid that I should glory in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which the world has been crucified to me and I have been crucified to the world.

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation!

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon Israel that pertaineth to God.

Let nobody trouble me after this, for I carry on my body the scars that mark me as Jesus' slave.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:

just as [in His love] He chose us in Christ [actually selected us for Himself as His own] before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy [that is, consecrated, set apart for Him, purpose-driven] and blameless in His sight. In love

And ordained us before unto himself that we should be chosen before, through Jesus Christ, to be heirs unto himself according to the pleasure of his will,

to the praise of His glorious grace and favor, which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved [His Son, Jesus Christ].

By whom we have redemption through his blood, that is to say, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace,

that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

when he made known to us, I say, that good pleasure which he purposed in himself

for the government of the fulness of the ages, that all things in heaven and earth are alike should be gathered up in Christ, as Head.

It is by him, that we have a share in the inheritance, which was before allotted to us, in consequence of his design, who executes the whole plan, as he himself had contriv'd it:

so that we who were the first to hope in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him as our Lord and Savior] would exist to the praise of His glory.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

The Spirit is the guarantee [the first installment, the pledge, a foretaste] of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own [purchased] possession [His believers], to the praise of His glory.

For this cause, I also, - having heard of the faith on your part in the Lord Jesus, and that towards all the saints,

[I always pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him [for we know the Father through the Son].

And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people),

and [so that you will begin to know] what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength

Over-above all principality, authority, and power, and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the coming one,

which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills and completes all things in all [believers].

When you were in that destructive state of transgression and sin,

In which at one time ye walked, according to the age of the world, according to the prince of the authority of the air, of the spirit that now energiseth in the sons of disobedience,

And it was among them that we all once lived our lives, indulging the cravings of our earthly nature, and carrying out the desires prompted by that earthly nature and by our own thoughts. Our very nature exposed us to the Divine Wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, through his great love that he loved us,

even when we were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of our sins, He made us [spiritually] alive together with Christ (for by His grace—His undeserved favor and mercy—you have been saved from God’s judgment).

So that we came back from death with him, and are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus;

That he might point out, in the oncoming ages, the surpassing riches of his favour in graciousness upon us, in Christ Jesus;

For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God;