I live for God as the fragrance of Christ breathed alike on those who are being saved and on those who are perishing,

I am, for I am not like most, adulterating the word of God; like a man of sincerity, like a man of God, I speak the word in Christ before the very presence of God.

you make it obvious that you are a letter of Christ which I have been employed to inscribe, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of the human heart.

Such is the confidence I possess through Christ in my service of God.

Besides, their minds were dulled, for to this very day, when the Old Testament is read aloud, the same veil hangs. Veiled from them the fact that the glory fades in Christ!

there the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to prevent them seeing the light thrown by the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

(It is Christ Jesus as Lord, not myself, that I proclaim; I am simply a servant of yours for Jesus' sake.)

For God who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," has shone within my heart to illuminate men with the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Christ.

for we have all to appear without disguise before the tribunal of Christ, each to be requited for what he has done with his body, well or ill.

for I am controlled by the love of Christ, convinced that as One has died for all, then all have died,

Once convinced of this, then, I estimate no one by what is external; even though I once estimated Christ by what is external, I no longer estimate him thus.

There is a new creation whenever a man comes to be in Christ; what is old is gone, the new has come.

It is all the doing of the God who has reconciled me to himself through Christ and has permitted me to be a minister of his reconciliation.

For in Christ God reconciled the world to himself instead of counting men's trespasses against them; and he entrusted me with the message of his reconciliation.

So I am an envoy for Christ, God appealing by me, as it were ??be reconciled to God, I entreat you on behalf of Christ.

What harmony can there be between Christ and Beliar, or what business has a believer with an unbeliever?

(You know how gracious our Lord Jesus Christ was; rich though he was, he became poor for the sake of you, that by his poverty you might be rich.)

Titus is my colleague, he shares my work for you, and these brothers of mine are apostles of the church, a credit to Christ.

This service shows what you are, it makes men praise God for the way you have come under the gospel of Christ which you confess, and for the generosity of your contributions to themselves and to all;

I appeal to you myself by the gentleness and consideration of Christ ??the Paul who is 'humble enough to your face when he is with you, but outspoken enough when he gets away from you.'

the weapons of my warfare are not weapons of the flesh, but divinely strong to demolish fortresses ??5 I demolish theories and any rampart thrown up to resist the knowledge of God, I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ,

Look at this obvious fact. So-and-so is perfectly sure he 'belongs to Christ'? Well then, let him understand, on second thoughts, that I 'belong to Christ' as much as he does.

I am not overstepping the limit, as if you lay beyond my sphere; I was the very first to reach you with the gospel of Christ.

for I feel a divine jealousy on your behalf; I betrothed you as a chaste maiden to present you to your one husband Christ,

but I am afraid of your thoughts getting seduced from a single devotion to Christ, just as the serpent beguiled Eve with his cunning.

By the truth of Christ within me, I am going to make this my pride and boast unchecked throughout the regions of Achaia!

'Apostles'? They are spurious apostles, false workmen ??they are masquerading as 'apostles of Christ.'

Ministers of Christ? yes perhaps, but not as much as I am (I am mad to talk like this!), with all my labours, with all my lashes, with all my time in prison ??a record longer far than theirs. I have been often at the point of death;

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. In the body or out of the body? That I do not know: God knows.

but he told me, "It is enough for you to have my grace: it is in weakness that [my] power is fully felt." So I am proud to boast of all my weakness, and thus to have the power of Christ resting on my life.

It makes me satisfied, for Christ's sake, with weakness, insults, trouble, persecution, and calamity; for I am strong just when I am weak.

You think all this time I am defending myself to you? No, I am speaking in Christ before the presence of God, and speaking every word, beloved, in order to build you up.

That will prove to you that I am indeed a spokesman of Christ. It is no weak Christ you have to do with, but a Christ of power.

Put yourselves to the proof, not me; test yourselves, to see if you are in the faith. Do you not understand that Christ Jesus is within you? Otherwise you must be failures.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with you all.

PAUL an apostle ??not appointed by men nor commissioned by any man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, ??2 with all the brothers who are beside me, to the churches of Galatia;

grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

I am astonished you are hastily shifting like this, deserting Him who called you by Christ's grace and going over to another gospel.

It simply means that certain individuals are unsettling you; they want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Now is that 'appealing to the interests of men' or of God? Trying to 'satisfy men'? Why, if I still tried to give satisfaction to human masters, I would be no 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.

There were traitors of false brothers, who had crept in to spy out the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus; they did aim at enslaving us again.

but since we know a man is justified simply by faith in Jesus Christ and not by doing what the Law commands, we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus so as to get justified by faith in Christ and not by doing what the Law commands ??for by doing what the Law commands no person shall be justified.

If it is discovered that in our quest for justification in Christ we are 'sinners' as well as the Gentiles, does that make Christ an agent of sin? Never!

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

I do not annul God's grace; but if righteousness comes by way of the Law, then indeed Christ's death was useless.

O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you ??you who had Jesus Christ the crucified placarded before your very eyes?

Christ ransomed us from the curse of the Law by becoming accursed for us (for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a gibbet),

that the blessing of Abraham might reach the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

Now the Promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it is not said, 'and to your offsprings' in the plural, but in the singular and to your offspring ??which is Christ.

but Scripture has consigned all without exception to the custody of sin, in order that the promise due to faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who have faith.

the Law thus held us as wards in discipline, till such time as Christ came, that we might be justified by faith.

you are all sons of God by your faith in Christ Jesus

(for all of you who had yourselves baptized into Christ have taken on the character of Christ).

There is no room for Jew or Greek, there is no room for slave or freeman, there is no room for male and female; you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Now if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring; in virtue of the Promise, you are heirs.

and though my flesh was a trial to you, you did not scoff at me nor spurn me, you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus. You congratulated yourselves.

O my dear children, you with whom I am in travail over again till Christ be formed within you,

with the freedom for which Christ set us free. Make a firm stand then, do not slip into any yoke of servitude.

Here, listen to Paul! I tell you, if you get circumcised, Christ will be no use to you.

You are for justification by the Law? Then you are done with Christ, you have deserted grace,

in Christ Jesus circumcision is not valid, neither is uncircumcision, but only faith active in love.

Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its emotions and passions.

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

These men who are keen upon you getting circumcised are just men who want to make a grand display in the flesh ??it is simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

But no boasting for me, none except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I crucified to the world.

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

PAUL, by the will of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints who are faithful in Jesus Christ:

grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who in Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly sphere!

destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ. Such was the purpose of his will,

so to order it in the fulness of the ages that all things in heaven and earth alike should be gathered up in Christ ??11 in the Christ in whom we have had our heritage allotted us (as was decreed in the design of him who carries out everything according to the counsel of his will),

to make us redound to the praise of his glory by being the first to put our hope in Christ.

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, grant you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for the knowledge of himself,

which he exerted in raising Christ from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly sphere,

he made us live together with Christ (it is by grace you have been saved);

together with Christ he raised and seated us within the heavenly sphere in Christ Jesus,

to display throughout ages to come his surpassing wealth of grace and goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.

God has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus for the good deeds which are prepared beforehand by God as our sphere of action.

Remember, then, that once upon a time you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called 'the Uncircumcision' by that so-called 'Circumcision' which is itself the product of human hands in the flesh ??12 remember you were in those days outside Christ, aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the Promise, devoid of hope and God within the world.

Whereas now, within Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

you are a building that rests on the apostles and prophets as its foundation, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone;

you can understand my insight into that secret of Christ

namely, that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are co-heirs, companions, and co-partners in the Promise.

less than the least of all saints as I am, this grace was vouchsafed me, that I should bring the Gentiles the gospel of the fathomless wealth of Christ

in terms of the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

May Christ dwell in your hearts as you have faith!

by knowing the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge! May you be filled with the entire fulness of God!

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever: Amen.

But each one of us is granted his own grace, as determined by the full measure of Christ's gift.

for the equipment of the saints, for the business of the ministry, for the upbuilding of the Body of Christ,

till we should all attain the unity of the faith and knowledge of God's Son, reaching maturity, reaching the full measure of development which belongs to the fulness of Christ ??14 instead of remaining immature, blown from our course and swayed by every passing wind of doctrine, by the adroitness of men who are dexterous in devising error;

we are to hold by the truth, and by our love to grow up wholly into Him. For He, Christ, is the head, and under him,

That is not how you have understood the meaning of Christ

(for it is Christ whom you have been taught, it is in Christ that you have been instructed ??the real Christ who is in Jesus);

be kind to each other, be tender-hearted, be generous to each other as God has been generous to you in Christ.

and lead lives of love, just as Christ loved you and gave himself up for you to be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Be sure of this, that no one guilty of sexual vice or impurity or lust (that is, an idolater) possesses any inheritance in the realm of Christ and God.

Thus it is said, 'Wake up, O sleeper, and rise from the dead; so Christ will shine upon you.'

and render thanks to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ at all times and for all things.