Each of you must give what you have decided in your heart, not with regret or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.

Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.

since this ministry you render is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, it is also overflowing with more and more prayers of thanksgiving to God.

I beg you that when I come I will not need to be courageous by daring to oppose some people who think that we are living according to the flesh.

Of course, we are living in the world, but we do not wage war in a world-like way.

For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments

So if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down, I will not be ashamed of it.

I do not want you to think that I am trying to frighten you with my letters.

Someone like this should take note of the following: What we say by letter when we are absent is what we will do when present!

We would not dare put ourselves in the same class with, or compare ourselves to, those who recommend themselves. Whenever they measure themselves by their own standards or compare themselves among themselves, they show how foolish they are.

We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you.

For it is not as though we were overstepping our limits when we came to you. We were the first to reach you with the gospel of the Messiah.

We are not boasting about work done by others that cannot be evaluated. On the contrary, we cherish the hope that your faith may continue to grow and enlarge our sphere of action among you until it overflows.

It is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person whom the Lord commends.

I do not think I'm inferior in any way to those "super-apostles."

Even though I may be untrained as an orator, I am not so in the field of knowledge. We have made this clear to all of you in every possible way.

When I was with you and needed something, I did not bother any of you, because our brothers who came from Macedonia supplied everything I needed. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

As surely as the truth of the Messiah is in me, my boasting will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their doom will match their deeds!

When I talk as a confident boaster, I am not talking with the Lord's authority but like a fool.

Three times I was beaten with a stick, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a day and a night.

in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger, thirst, many periods of fasting, coldness, and nakedness.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

I must boast, although it does not do any good. Let's talk about visions and revelations from the Lord.

I know a man who belongs to the Messiah. Fourteen years ago whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows that man was snatched away to the third heaven.

I know that this man whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows

However, if I did want to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I am not going to do it in order to keep anyone from thinking more of me than what he sees and hears about me.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of the exceptional nature of these revelations, a thorn was given to me and placed in my body. It was Satan's messenger to keep on tormenting me so that I would not become conceited.

but he has told me, "My grace is all you need, because my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the Messiah's power may rest on me.

I have become a fool. You forced me to be one. Really, I should have been commended by you, for I am not in any way inferior to your "super-apostles," even if I am nothing.

How were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I did not bother you for help? Forgive me for this wrong!

Now I'm ready to visit you for a third time, and I will not bother you for help. I do not want your things, but rather you yourselves. Children should not have to support their parents, but parents their children.

Granting that I have not been a burden to you, was I a clever schemer who trapped you by some trick?

I did not take advantage of you through any of the men I sent you, did I?

I am afraid that I may come and somehow find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me. Perhaps there will be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly conduct.

I am afraid that when I come my God may again humble me before you and that I may have to grieve over many who formerly lived in sin and have not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity that they once practiced.

I have already warned those who sinned previously and all the rest. Although I am absent now, I am warning them as I did on my second visit: If I come back, I will not spare you,

since you want proof that the Messiah is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is making his power felt among you.

We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong not to show that we have not failed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even if we seem to have failed.

For this reason I am writing this while I am away from you: When I come I do not want to be severe in using the authority the Lord gave me to build you up and not to tear you down.

From: Paul an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead

not that another one really exists. To be sure, there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about the Messiah.

Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be the Messiah's servant.

For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin.

For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah.

to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with another human being at any time,

But I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord's brother.

But the churches of the Messiah that are in Judea did not yet know me personally.

But not even Titus, who was with me, was forced to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

But we did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.

Until some men arrived from James, he was in the habit of eating with the gentiles, but after those men came, he withdrew from the gentiles and would not associate with them any longer, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.

But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, "Though you are a Jew, you have been living like a gentile and not like a Jew. So how can you insist that the gentiles must live like Jews?"

We ourselves are Jews by birth, and not gentile sinners,

yet we know that a person is not justified by doing what the Law requires, but rather by the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. We, too, have believed in the Messiah Jesus so that we might be justified by the faithfulness of the Messiah and not by doing what the Law requires, for no human being will be justified by doing what the Law requires.

Now if we, while trying to be justified by the Messiah, have been found to be sinners, does that mean that the Messiah is serving the interests of sin? Of course not!

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

You foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus the Messiah clearly portrayed before your very eyes as having been crucified?

Certainly all who depend on the actions of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, "A curse on everyone who does not obey everything that is written in the Book of the Law!"

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.

So is the Law in conflict with the promises of God? Of course not! For if a law had been given that could give us life, then certainly righteousness would come through the Law.

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.

However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.

I beg you, brothers, to become like me, since I became like you. You did not do anything wrong to me.

Even though my condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. On the contrary, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, or as if I were the Messiah Jesus.

These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

(Now it is always good to be devoted to a good cause, even when I am not with you.)

So then, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

Such influence does not come from the one who calls you.

For you, brothers, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity to gratify your flesh, but through love make it your habit to serve one another.

But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you are not destroyed by each other.

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 being led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

envy, murder, drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Brothers, if a person is caught doing something wrong, those of you who are spiritual should restore that person gently. Watch out for yourself so that you are not tempted as well.

Each person must examine his own actions, and then he can boast about his own accomplishments and not about someone else.

Stop being deceived; God is not to be ridiculed. A person harvests whatever he plants:

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.

Why, not even those who are circumcised obey the Law! They simply want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your external appearance.

He is far above every ruler, authority, power, dominion, and every name that can be named, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come.

For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God

and not the result of actions, to put a stop to all boasting.

which in previous generations was not made known to human beings as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This is that secret:

So then, I ask you not to become discouraged because of my troubles on your behalf, which work toward your glory.

Therefore, I tell you and insist on in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts.

However, that is not the way you came to know the Messiah.

"Be angry, yet do not sin." Do not let the sun set while you are still angry,

and do not give the Devil an opportunity to work.

Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment. This way you will administer grace to those who hear you.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

Do not let sexual sin, impurity of any kind, or greed even be mentioned among you, as is proper for saints.

Do not let anyone deceive you with meaningless words, for it is because of these things that God becomes angry with those who disobey.

So do not be partners with them.

So, then, be careful how you live. Do not be unwise but wise,

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up by training and instructing them about the Lord.

Do not do this only while you're being watched in order to please them, but be like slaves of the Messiah, who are determined to obey God's will.

Serve willingly, as if you were serving the Lord and not merely people,

Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm.