for He who had been at work in Peter for his apostleship to the Jews had been at work in me too for the apostleship to the heathen --

and when they recognized the grace which had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, then thought to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and to me the right hand of fellowship. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews.

only desiring that we would remember the poor??he very thing which I have also been diligent to perform.

Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision.

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?"

But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves also have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? Far from it!

For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ

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

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?

Have you endured such sufferings to no purpose--if indeed it has been to no purpose?

for as many as are of works of law are under a curse, for it hath been written, 'Cursed is every one who is not remaining in all things that have been written in the Book of the Law -- to do them,'

Christ did redeem us from the curse of the law, having become for us a curse, for it hath been written, 'Cursed is every one who is hanging on a tree,'

Our freedom has been thus purchased in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing belonging to Abraham may come upon the nations, so that through faith we may receive the promised Spirit.

Brothers, as men would say, even a man's agreement, when it has been made certain, may not be put on one side, or have additions made to it.

And, this, I say - a covenant previously confirmed by God, the law which, after four hundred and thirty years, hath been brought into being, doth not annul, so as to do away with the promise.

To what purpose, then, was the Law? It was imposed later for the sake of transgressions, until the "Offspring" should come to whom the promise had been made. It was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator.

Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not; for if a law had been given which could make alive, then righteousness would actually have come from law;

But before faith came we were kept in custody under law, having been confined for faith that was going to be revealed.

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

For ye, as many as, into Christ, have been immersed, have put Christ, on:

Whereas, now, having acknowledged God, - or rather, having been acknowledged by God, how turn ye back again unto the weak and beggarly elementary principles, unto which, over again, ye are wishing, to come into servitude?

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

And when you could have been tempted to look down on me [because of the nature of my affliction], instead you welcomed me as [if I were] an angel, or even Christ Jesus Himself!

Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

Have I then been your enemy, speaking truth to you

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.

my children, of whom I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you:

for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, 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.

For it is in the Writings, You who have never given birth, be glad; give cries of joy, you who have had no birth-pains; for the children of her who has been given up by her husband are more than those of the woman 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.

Ye have been set aside from Christ, ye who, by law, are to be declared righteous, - out of his favour, ye have fallen;

But I, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still attacked? then has the shame of the cross been taken away.

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

For the whole Law has been fulfilled in this one precept, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

For not even those who have been circumcised themselves keep law, but they want you to be circumcised, so that they may boast in thy flesh.

But far be it from me to boast [in anything or anyone], except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved.

It is through union with him and through his blood that we have been delivered and our offenses forgiven,

and in arranging, when the time should have fully come, that everything in heaven and on earth should be unified in Christ??11 the Christ through whom it is our lot to have been predestined by the design of him who in everything carries out the purpose of his will,

In Him also we have received an inheritance [a destiny—we were claimed by God as His own], having been predestined (chosen, appointed beforehand) according to the purpose of Him who works everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His will,

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 you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope,

The eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that ye may know - what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

of which number we all have formerly been, leading our dissolute lives in gratifying the desires of our sensual imaginations: and were indeed obnoxious to the divine displeasure, as other. Gentiles were:

Although we were dead by our offences, gave us life together with the Christ, - by favour, ye have been saved, -

For, by his favour, have ye been saved, through means of faith, and this hath come to pass - not from you, of God, the free-gift!

It has not been earned, so that no one can boast of it.

For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.

that ye were at that time apart from Christ, having been alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope, and without God, in the world;

But now [at this very moment] in Christ Jesus you who once were [so very] far away [from God] have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who has made the two into one, and by whom the middle wall of division has been broken down,

and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.

Having been built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, there being, for chief corner stone, Jesus Christ himself, -

in whom every building having been fitly framed together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord;

by whom also ye have been built up together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

If at least ye have heard of the administration of the favour of God which hath been given unto me for you,

that by revelation the mystery has been made known to me, (according as I have written before briefly,

by reading which you can understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ,??5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,

Which, in other generations, had not been made known unto the sons of men, as it hath, now, been revealed by his holy apostles and prophets, in Spirit; -

I mean the truth that the Gentiles are joint heirs with us Jews, and that they form one body with us, and have the same interest as we have in the promise which has been made good in Christ Jesus through the Good News,

Of which I have been made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of his power.

To me, who am less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, that I should proclaim among the Gentiles the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ;

And to bring to light - what is the administration of the sacred secret which had been hidden away from the ages in God, who did all things create:

that the Christ may dwell through the faith in your hearts, in love having been rooted and founded,

having been rooted and grounded in love, so that ye may be able to grasp with all the sanctified what is the breadth and length and depth and height,

So I, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called [that is, to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior—a life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation],

There is one body and one Spirit, even as you have been marked out by God in the one hope of his purpose for you;

To each one of you, however, hath favour been given, according to the measure of the free-gift of the Christ;

Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;

That is not the way you have been taught what Christ means,

If, at least, it is, him, ye have heard, and, in him, ye have been taught - even as truth is in Jesus, -

And were to put on the man of new mould, who, after God, hath been created in his truthful righteousness and loving kindness.

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but rather must labor, doing useful work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with those in need.

And be not grieving the Holy Spirit of God, wherewith ye have been sealed unto a day of redemption;

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

So, it says, "You who are asleep, wake up and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you [i.e., illuminate you]." [Note: The foregoing words may have been an early saying, used at someone's immersion, which included the ideas of "rising up" (See Col. 2:12) and "illumination" (See Heb. 6:4)].

having been confident of this very thing, that He who did begin in you a good work, will perform it till a day of Jesus Christ,

having been filled with fruits of righteousness, through Jesus Christ, for glory and praise of God.

Now it is my purpose to make clear to you, brothers, that the cause of the good news has been helped by my experiences;

So that my bonds in Christ have been made manifest in the whole palace, and to all others:

And more of the brothers in Lord have been convinced by my bonds to be much more bold to speak the word fearlessly.

The latter are motivated by love, because they know that I have been appointed to defend the gospel.

And having been convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and will continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.

Because, unto you, hath it been given as a favour, in behalf of Christ, not only, on him, to believe, but also, in his behalf, to suffer: -

but did empty himself, the form of a servant having taken, in the likeness of men having been made,

And having been found in a form like a man, he lowered himself, having become obedient until death, even of death from a cross.

So, my dearly loved friends, as you have always been obedient, so now with reverence and awe keep on working clear down to the finishing point of your salvation not only as though I were with you but much more because I am away;

to hold up the message of life. That will give me ground for boasting on the day of Christ, because neither my career nor my labor has been a failure.

However, I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, [who has been] my brother and companion and fellow soldier, who was also sent as your messenger to take care of my needs.

For he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.

Therefore I have been the more eager to send him, in order that you may rejoice in seeing him again, and that I may have one sorrow less.

having been circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of Hebrews, with respect to the law a pharisee,

But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life].

But surely, I also think all things to be loss for the superiority of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have been made to lose all things, and I think to be offscourings, that I shall gain Christ,

Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own.

Brethren, I reckon not myself to have been overtaken: but one, truly forgetting things behind, and stretching still farther to things before,

Let us therefore, who have been instructed, have this in view: and if you are sollicitous about any thing else, God will reveal even that unto you.

For, many, are walking - of whom I have often been telling you, and, now, even weeping, am telling, - the enemies of the cross of the Christ;