I am ashamed to admit it, but we have been too weak for that. Whatever anyone else dares to claim I am talking like a fool I can claim it, too.

Are they the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.

If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show how weak I am.

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

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

was snatched away to Paradise and heard things that cannot be expressed in words, things that no human being has a right even to mention.

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.

That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for the Messiah's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

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

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

Have you been thinking all along that we are trying to defend ourselves before you? We are speaking before God in the authority of the Messiah, and everything, dear friends, is meant to build you up.

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.

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.

Keep examining yourselves to see whether you are continuing in the faith. Test yourselves! You know, don't you, that Jesus the Messiah lives in you? Could it be that you are failing the test?

I hope you will realize that we haven't failed our test.

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.

We are glad when we are weak and you are strong. That is what we are praying for your maturity.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of the Messiah and, instead, are following a different gospel,

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.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned!

What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that person be condemned!

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

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

I went in response to a revelation, and in a private meeting with the reputed leaders, I explained to them the gospel that I'm proclaiming to the gentiles. I did this because I was afraid that I was running or had run my life's race for nothing.

However, false brothers were secretly brought in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in the Messiah Jesus so that they might enslave us.

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

In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.

So when James, Cephas, and John (who were reputed to be leaders) recognized the grace that had been given me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.

The other Jews also joined him in this hypocritical behavior, to the extent that even Barnabas was caught up in their hypocrisy.

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?"

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!

For if I rebuild something that I tore down, I demonstrate that I am a wrongdoer.

For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with the Messiah.

I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me, and the life that I am now living in this body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham's real descendants.

Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, "Through you all nations will be blessed."

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!"

Now it is obvious that no one is justified in the sight of God by the Law, because "The righteous will live by faith."

This happened in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the gentiles through the Messiah Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

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.

For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.

Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.

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.

Now before faith came about, we were held in custody and confined under the Law in preparation for the faith that was to be revealed.

And so the Law was our guardian until the Messiah came, so that we might be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come about, we are no longer under a guardian.

Now what I am saying is this: As long as an heir is a child, he is no better off than a slave, even though he owns everything.

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

But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

You know that it was because I was ill that I brought you the gospel the first time.

What, then, happened to your positive attitude? For I testify that if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

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.

Indeed, I wish I were with you right now so that I could change the tone of my voice, because I am completely baffled by you!

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

For it is written, "Rejoice, you childless woman, who cannot give birth to any children! Break into song and shout, you who feel no pains of childbirth! For the children of the deserted woman are more numerous than the children of the woman who has a husband."

The Messiah has set us free so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. So keep on standing firm in it, and stop putting yourselves under the yoke of slavery again.

Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, the Messiah will be of no benefit to you.

Again, I insist that everyone who allows himself to be circumcised is obligated to obey the entire Law.

I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view of this. However, the one who is troubling you will suffer God's judgment, whoever he is.

As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching the necessity of circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

I wish that those who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!

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

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.

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.

so that we would praise his glorious grace that he gave us in the Beloved One.

that he lavished on us, along with all wisdom and understanding,

when he made known to us the secret of his will. This was according to his plan that he set forth in the Messiah

In the Messiah we were also chosen when we were predestined according to the purpose of the one who does everything that he wills to do,

so that we who had already fixed our hope on the Messiah might live for his praise and glory.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the most glorious Father, would give you a wise spirit, along with revelation that comes through knowing the Messiah fully.

Then, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the confidence that is produced by God having called you, the rich glory that is his inheritance among the saints,

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.

that you once practiced as you lived according to the ways of this present world and according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now active in those who are disobedient.

so that in the coming ages he might display the limitless riches of his grace that comes to us through his kindness in the Messiah Jesus.

For we are God's masterpiece, created in the Messiah Jesus to perform good actions that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.

So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth were called "the uncircumcised" by those who called themselves "the circumcised." They underwent physical circumcision done by human hands.

At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God.

For it is he who is our peace. Through his mortality he made both groups one by tearing down the wall of hostility that divided them.

That is why you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,

Surely you have heard about the responsibility of administering God's grace that was given to me on your behalf,

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:

I have become a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God's grace that was given me by the working of his power.

To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah

and help everyone see how this secret that has been at work was hidden for ages by God, who created all things.

He did this so that now, through the church, the wisdom of God in all its variety might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm

in keeping with the eternal purpose that God carried out through the Messiah Jesus our Lord,

I pray that he would give you, according to his glorious riches, strength in your inner being and power through his Spirit,

and that the Messiah would make his home in your hearts through faith. Then, having been rooted and grounded in love,

that is, you will know the love of the Messiah which transcends knowledge, and will be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to the one who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working among us

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

That is why God says, "When he went up to the highest place, he led captives into captivity and gave gifts to people."