This book is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia province. We call this book

Galatians

1

Galatians 1:1-5

I, Paul, as God’s chosen apostle, am sending this letter to the churches in Galatia and asking God’s blessings on you.

1I, Paul, write this letter to you. I remind you that I am an apostle. That is not because a group of people appointed me, nor because a human being sent me to be an apostle. Instead, Jesus Christ and God our heavenly Father, who caused Jesus to become alive again after he died, have appointed and sent me to be an apostle. 2All the fellow believers who are here with me approve of this message that I am writing. I am sending this letter to the congregations that are in Galatia province. 3I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will kindly help you and enable you to have inner peace. 4Christ offered himself as a sacrifice in order that he might remove the guilt for our sins. He did that in order that he might enable us to not do the evil things that people who do not know him do. He did this because God, who is our Father, wanted it. 5I pray that people will praise God forever. ◄May it be so!/Amen!►

I am disappointed that you are believing a message that is not the good news about Christ, and I ask God to eternally punish those who are teaching such a message.

Galatians 1:6-10

6I am very disappointed [IRO] that so soon after you trusted in Christ you have turned away from God. He chose you in order that you might have what Christ freely/kindly gives. I am also disappointed that so soon you are believing a different message which some say is “good news.” 7Their message is not a true message. What is happening is that certain persons are confusing your minds. They are desiring to change the good message ◄that Christ revealed/about Christ► and are creating another message. 8But even if we (exc) apostles or an angel from heaven would tell you a message that is different from the good message that we told you before, I appeal to God that he punish such a person forever. 9As I told you previously, so now I tell you this once more: Someone is telling you what he says is a good message, but it is a message that is different from the good message that I gave you. So I appeal to God that he severely punish that person. 10I said that because [RHQ] I do not desire that people approve me, contrary to what some have said about me. It is God whom I desire to approve me. Specifically, I do not say and do [RHQ] things just to please people. If it were still people whom I was trying to please, then I would not be one who willingly and completely serves Christ.

It was Jesus Christ, not any human, who revealed the message that I proclaim.

Galatians 1:11-12

11My fellow believers, I want you to know that the message about Christ that I proclaim to people is not one that some person created/thought up. 12I did not receive this message from a human messenger, and no human being taught it to me. Instead, Jesus Christ revealed it to me.

For 17 years after God showed his Son to me, I had no contact with the apostles.

Galatians 1:13-24

13People have told you how I used to behave when I practiced the Jewish religion. They told you that I continually did very harmful things to the groups of believers that God established, and they told you that I tried to get rid of those people. 14I practiced the Jewish religion more thoroughly than many other Jews who were my age practiced it. I much more enthusiastically tried to get others to obey the traditions that my ancestors kept. 15Nevertheless, before I was born, God ◄set me apart/selected me►. He chose me to live eternally, something that I did not deserve. 16He wanted me to know that Jesus is ◄his Son/the man who is also God►, so that I would tell others the message about him in regions where non-Jews live. But I did not immediately go to any human beings [SYN] in order to gain an understanding of that message. I received it directly from Christ!! 17I did not immediately leave Damascus and go to Jerusalem for that purpose to those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away to Arabia region, a desert area. Later I returned once more to Damascus city. 18Then three years after God revealed this good message to me, I went up to Jerusalem in order that I might meet Peter. But I stayed with him for only 15 days, which was not long enough for him to teach me thoroughly about Christ. 19I also saw James, the brother of our Lord Jesus and the leader of the believers there, but I did not see any other apostle. 20God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true [LIT]! 21After I left Jerusalem, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22At that time, people in the Christian congregations that are in Judea province still had not met me [SYN] personally. 23They only heard others say about me repeatedly, “Paul, the one who was formerly doing harmful things to us, is now telling the same message which we believe and which formerly he was trying ◄to destroy/to cause people to stop believing►!” 24And they praised God because of what had happened to me.

2

Finally, when I returned to Jerusalem and told Peter, James, and John what I always proclaim, they agreed that Barnabas and I were preaching the same message and serving the Lord just like they were.

Galatians 2:1-10

1After 14 years passed, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. I took Titus also. 2But I tell you that I went up there because of what God revealed to me. It was not because someone there asked me to come. I told people what was the good message that I was preaching in regions where non-Jews live. But I talked privately to those whom your new teachers highly respect. I did that in order that what I was doing and what I had done [MET] might not become useless [MET] as a result of people rejecting my message because they thought that I was teaching something that was not true. 3But even though the leaders of the believers usually insisted that when non-Jews trusted in Christ someone must circumcise them, they did not even insist that Titus be circumcised, even though he was a Greek man who was with me. 4I talked to them privately because some people successfully pretended that they were fellow believers and associated with the true believers. They did that in order that they might observe closely what we do because we are free from having to obey all the Jewish laws and rituals because of our close relationship with Christ Jesus [MET]. Those people wanted to make us like slaves [MET] of those rituals by convincing us that we cannot trust Christ solely but that we must also obey all the Jewish rituals. 5But not even briefly did we (exc) do what they wanted about circumcision. We(exc) resisted them in order that the truth of the message about Christ might continue to benefit you. 6The leaders in Jerusalem, whom your new teachers respect, did not add anything to what I preach. And I would add that what status those leaders had did not influence me, because God does not favor certain/important persons [IDM] more than others. 7Instead of those leaders adding to the message that I tell people, they understood that I had been given the good message {God had given the good message to me} so that I might proclaim it to the non-Jews [MTY], just like God had given the good message to Peter so that he might tell it to those who are Jews [MTY]. 8That is, just like God had empowered/authorized Peter in order that he might be an apostle to bring God’s message to the Jews [MTY], he also had empowered/authorized me in order that I might be an apostle to bring his message to the non-Jews. 9And those leaders knew that God had kindly given to me this special work. So James, Peter, and John, the ones whom your new teachers respect because they are leaders [MET] of the believers, shook hands with us [IDM] to show that they agreed that Barnabas and I are serving the Lord just like they are, and that we are preaching the same message that they are preaching. They also agreed that we (exc) are the ones whom God was sending to tell his message to non-Jews, but that God is sending them to tell his message to Jews [MTY]. 10They merely urged that we (exc) still remember to help the poor fellow believers who live in Jerusalem. That is exactly what I have been eager to do.

Later I rebuked Peter for not behaving according to the gospel, in that he was encouraging non-Jews to adopt Jewish laws and rituals.

Galatians 2:11-21

11But later while I was at Antioch city, after Peter came there, I told him directly [SYN] that what he was doing was wrong. 12This is what happened: Peter went to Antioch and started eating regularly with non-Jewish believers there. Later there were certain Jewish believers who came to Antioch who claimed that James, the leader of the congregations in Jerusalem, had sent them. But when those certain men came, Peter gradually quit eating with the non-Jewish believers and would not associate with them. He was afraid that the Jewish believers from Jerusalem would criticize him for associating with non-Jews. 13Also, the other Jewish believers who were in Antioch [SYN] acted ◄insincerely/in a way that they knew was not right► along with Peter. The result was that they convinced even Barnabas to stop associating with the non-Jewish believers! 14But when I realized that they were not acting according to the truth of the message about Christ, when all the fellow believers there were present, I told Peter the following: “Although you (sg) are a Jew, you often conduct yourself like non-Jews do by disregarding Jewish laws about food. When you are among non-Jews, you (sg) do not customarily conduct yourself at all like Jews do. So, ◄now it is wrong that you (sg) are causing non-Jews to think that they must obey all the Jewish rituals and customs!/why are you (sg) causing non-Jews to think that they must obey all the Jewish rituals and customs?► [RHQ]” 15Some of us believers were born as Jews. We (exc) were not born as non-Jews.We Jews have always considered non-Jews to be‘sinners’because they do not obey the Jewish rituals and laws. 16But we (exc) now know that it is not because some person obeys the laws that God gave to Moses that God erases the record of that person’s sins. God erases the record of a person’s sins only if that person trusts in what Jesus Christ has done. Even we (exc) Jews trusted Christ Jesus. We (exc) did that in order that God would erase the record of our sins because of our trusting Christ, and not because of our obeying the laws that God gave to Moses. God has said that he will never erase the record of people’s sins just because of their obeying those laws.17Furthermore, because we (exc) Jews desired that God would erase the record of our sins because of our relationship with Christ, it means that we realized that we ourselves were sinners like non-Jews, whom we called sinners, because we(exc) also were not obeying the Jewish rituals and laws. But ◄we(inc) certainly cannot conclude that it is Christ who causes us to sin./ should we conclude that it is Christ who causes us to sin?► [RHQ] No, Christ certainly does not cause anyone to sin.

18So if I should again believe that God would erase the record of my sins because of my obeying the laws that he gave to Moses [MET], I would be like a man who rebuilds an old building that he tore down. It would soon be clear that I am one who disobeys those same laws that God gave to Moses. 19When I realized that I could not earn God’s favor by obeying the laws that he gave to Moses, I decided not to respond to what those laws demanded [MET], just like a dead person does not respond to anything. Now I live to honor/serve God. 20It is as though I was with Christ when he was crucified {died on the cross} [MET] (OR, It is as though my old way of life ended when Christ died on the cross.) No longer am I directing the way I behave as I did before I believed in Christ. Now Christ is directing how I behave. And whatever I do now while I live, I do it trusting in God’s Son. He is the one who loved me and offered himself as a sacrifice for me. 21I am not rejecting as useless what God did for me ◄kindly/that I did not deserve►, as my opponents are doing. I fully accept that God saved me by acting kindly towards me. If it is because people obey the laws that God gave to Moses that God erases the record of their sins, then Christ died ◄for nothing/needlessly►.

3

Because you trusted in Christ, not because you obeyed the laws God gave Moses, you received the Holy Spirit and now experience his working among you.

Galatians 3:1-5

1You fellow believers who live in Galatia are very foolish! ◄Someone must have put an evil spell on you!/Did someone put an evil spell on you?► [RHQ] I clearly explained to you [SYN] what Jesus Christ accomplished when he was crucified {he died on the cross}. 2So, I want you to tell me one thing: Do you think that it was because you obeyed the laws God gave Moses that you received the Holy Spirit? Do you not know that [RHQ] it was because when you heard the good message concerning Christ, you trusted in him? 3◄You are acting so foolishly/Why are you being so foolish?► [RHQ]! You first became Christians as a result of God’s Spirit enabling you. So, ◄you should not now think that it is by what you yourselves do that you will continue to grow spiritually/do you now think it is by your own human efforts that you will continue to grow spiritually?!► [RHQ] 4Keep in mind that if what God has done for you was because of your obeying the laws that God gave to Moses and not because of trusting in Christ, when others caused you to suffer, you suffered many things needlessly! [RHQ] I certainly hope that you did not suffer like that needlessly. 5When God now generously gives to you his Spirit and performs miracles among you, do you think that it is [RHQ] because you obey the laws that God gave to Moses? Surely you know that it is because when you heard the good message about Christ, you trusted in him [RHQ]!

It is those Jews and non-Jews who trust Christ who are Abraham’s spiritual descendants, because those who seek to be justified by obeying the laws that God gave Moses are condemned by God.

Galatians 3:6-12

6What you have experienced is as Moses wrote in the Scriptures about Abraham. He wrote that Abraham trusted God, and as a result, he was considered as being righteous {God erased the record of his sins}. 7You must realize, therefore, that it is those who trust in what Christ has done who are like Abraham’s descendants [MET] because they trust in God as Abraham did. 8Furthermore, God planned beforehand that it was when non-Jews trusted him that he would erase the record of their sins. Moses wrote in the Scriptures [PRS] this good message that God told Abraham: “Because of what you did, I will bless people in [MTY] all nations.” 9So, we can conclude that it is those who trust in what Christ has done whom God blesses. That includes all non-Jews and Jews who trust him, along with Abraham, the one who trusted him long ago. 10That is, God will eternally punish all those who mistakenly think that God will erase the record of their sins as a result of their obeying the laws that God gave to Moses. What is written in the Scriptures is that God will eternally punish everyone who does not continuously and completely obey all the laws that Moses wrote. 11But God has declared that if he erases the record of anyone’s sins, it will not be as a result of their obeying the laws God gave Moses. This is evident because the Scriptures say, “Every person whose record of sins God erases because that person trusts God will live spiritually.” 12But when God gave his laws to the Jews, he did not say that a person must trust him. Instead, God said that it is those who obey all God’s laws, continuously and completely, who will live.

Christ was condemned instead of us, so that God might bless the non-Jews just as he blessed Abraham, and so that we might receive the Spirit.

Galatians 3:13-14

13Even though we humans have not continuously and completely obeyed God’s laws, Christ rescued us from God punishing us eternally. Christ rescued us by his being the one God condemned instead of God condemning us. What is written {someone/Moses wrote} in the Scriptures shows that this is true. It is written {He wrote}, “God has cursed anyone whom people have executed for his crimes and whose body they have hung on a tree.” 14Jesus Christ rescued us in order that as a result of what he has done, God might bless the non-Jews, in a way similar to the way God blessed Abraham. He also desired that as a result of our trusting Christ, we all might receive the Spirit whom God promised to give to us.

By giving his laws to the Jews, God has not canceled what he promised to Abraham much earlier concerning his descendant, Christ. Just like God gave his blessings to Abraham just because he promised to do so, he freely gives his blessings to us.

Galatians 3:15-18

15My fellow believers, I will now illustrate by referring to human relationships. After an agreement is confirmed by two people {two people have signed an agreement}, no one can reject it or add to it. 16God declared to Abraham and his descendant that he was promising to give blessings to Abraham. The words that God spoke were not “and your descendants.” He was not referring to many persons. Instead, he was referring to one person, who is Christ, because the words that God spoke were, “and your descendant.” 17This is what I am saying: Since God gave the laws to the Jews 430 years after he declared to Abraham what he was promising to do for Abraham, those laws do not cancel that agreement with Abraham that God himself had previously agreed about [PRS]. 18Remember that if it is because we obey God’s laws that he gives to us what he has promised to give to us, then it is not just because he has promised that he would give those things to us. God freely gave to Abraham what he had promised to give to him, just because God had promised that he would give it to him. Similarly, it is not because we obey God’s laws that God gives to us what he has promised to give to us.

God gave his laws to supervise us sinful Jews until Christ, Abraham’s promised descendant, would come.

Galatians 3:19-25

19So, if someone should ask, “Why did God later give his laws to Moses?” I would reply that it was in order that people might realize how sinful they were. Those laws were valid until Jesus came. He was the descendant that God was referring to when he made the promises to Abraham. The laws were given {God gave his laws} to Moses by God’s causing angels to speak to him. Moses was the mediator, the one who told the laws to the people. 20Now, when a mediator functions, one person is not speaking with another directly; but God himself made his promises directly to Abraham.

21If someone should ask, “When God gave his laws to Moses long after he told Abraham what he was promising to give to him, was he changing his mind?” I would reply that God certainly did not change his mind when he did that! If God had given a law that could enable people to live eternally, then it actually would be because of people obeying that law that God would erase the record of their sins. 22But instead, what we read in the Scriptures [PRS] is that God caused all people to be unable to escape being punished for their sins [MET], just like people in prison are unable to escape [PRS, MET]. God did that in order that he might give what he promised to those who trust Jesus Christ, just because they trust him. 23Before God revealed the good message about trusting in Christ, the laws [PRS] that God gave to Moses were confining/imprisoning us Jews [MET], as a prisoner in jail is confined. We were unable to escape obeying those [MET] laws. This happened in order that we might believe the good message concerning Christ, the message that God would reveal later. 24Like a father supervises his immature son by appointing a servant to take care of him [MET], God was supervising us by his laws [MET, PRS] until Christ came. He did this in order that he might erase the record of our sins only because we trust Christ. 25But now that God has revealed the message about trusting in Christ, the laws that God gave to Moses are no longer supervising us Jews [PRS, MET].

Because of our relationship with Christ, we are Abraham’s spiritual descendants, and God’s heirs, no longer like slaves.

Galatians 3:26-29

26Now all of you Jews and non-Jews are as though you are God’s children because you trusted Christ Jesus. 27That is, you who began a relationship with Christ when you were baptized identified yourselves [MET] with Christ. 28If you are believers, it does not matter to God if you are Jews or non-Jews; slaves or ones who are not slaves; males or females, because all of you are as one sort of person because of your relationship with Christ Jesus. 29Furthermore, since you belong to Christ, you are like Abraham’s descendants because you trust God as Abraham did, and you will possess/receive all that God has promised [MET].

4

Each of you is no longer like a slave, but a child of God and an heir of what he has promised.

Galatians 4:1-7

1Now, I will further discuss children and heirs: An heir is a person who will later control all that his father has. But as long as that heir is a child, others control him, with the result that he is just like a slave [MET]. 2Until the day that his father previously determined, other persons supervise him and manage his father’s property. 3Likewise, when we (inc) (OR, we (exc) Jews) were like young children [MET], we were controlled by the spiritual powers of this world. They controlled us like masters control their slaves [MET]. 4But exactly at the time [MTY] that God had previously determined, he sent Jesus, who is ◄his Son/the man who is also God►, into the world. Jesus was born to a human mother. He had to obey the laws that God gave to Moses. 5God sent Jesus in order that he might redeem us who had to obey God’s laws. God wanted us all to receive from God the status of being his children [MET]. 6Furthermore, we know that we are God’s children because God sent the Spirit, who is intimately related to Jesus, to live in our ◄inner beings/hearts►. The Spirit enables us to pray fervently, “Daddy, Father!” This shows that we are God’s children. 7So, because of what God has done, no longer is each of you like a slave. Instead, each of you is a child of God. Furthermore, since each of you is God’s child, God has also made you his heir, one who will receive all that he has promised.

I plead with you to do as I did when I was with you, and not obey all the Jewish rules and rituals.

Galatians 4:8-20

8When you did not have a relationship with God [MET], you served gods that really did not exist [MET]. You were their slaves. 9But now you have come to know God. Perhaps it would be better to say that now God knows you. So now you are acting foolishly! ◄You are again believing that by obeying rules and rites you will benefit spiritually! [RHQ] Those rules are ineffective and inadequate! You are wanting to obey them again [MET] like slaves obey their masters. [RHQ] 10You non-Jews are carefully practicing Jewish rules and rituals about what you should do ◄on Sabbaths/on Jewish days of rest► and on the first day of each month and on special seasons and years.

11I ◄worry/am concerned► about your mistaken ideas. I do not want to have so strenuously served you in vain. 12My fellow believers, I strongly urge you that you do as I do. Stop thinking that you have to obey ◄Jewish rules and rituals/ceremonial laws►. When I was with you, I did not obey all the Jewish rules and rituals, just like you did not obey them.

At that time you treated me entirely as you should have [LIT]. 13You know that the first time I preached to you, I went to your area to regain my health, because I was physically weak. 14Although you might have despised me because I was physically weak, you did not despise me or act contemptuously/disrespectfully toward me. Instead, you welcomed me like you would welcome an angel from God. You welcomed me like you would welcome Christ Jesus! 15◄I am disappointed that you have forgotten that then you declared that you were pleased with me./Have you forgotten that then you declared that you were pleased with me?► [RHQ] I can testify that you would have done anything to help me. You would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me, if that would have helped me! 16So I am very disappointed that you now act as though [RHQ] I have become hostile to you because I have kept speaking the true message about Christ to you. 17Those who are insisting on obeying Jewish rules are eagerly showing interest in you, but what they are doing is not good. They even want you not to associate with me and other true believers, because they want you to eagerly show interest in them, not in us. 18But just like it always feels good to have others show that they appreciate you, I would like you always to appreciate me, and not only when I am with you. 19You who are like my children, once again I am very worried/concerned about you [MET], and I will continue to be worried/concerned until Christ’s nature becomes developed in you completely and wholeheartedly [MET] as a child becomes developed in his mother’s womb. 20But I do wish that I could be with you now and that I might talk more gently with you, because I do not know what to do about you while we are apart.

Because of our relationship with Christ, we are not subject to Mosaic law; being Abraham’s spiritual descendants, we are free from such bondage.

Galatians 4:21-31

21Some of you desire to obey all the laws that God gave Moses. I say that you should consider [RHQ] the implications of what Moses wrote in the Scriptures. 22He wrote that Abraham became the father of two sons. His female slave, Hagar, bore one son, and his wife Sarah, who was not a slave, bore the other. 23Also, the sons differed. Ishmael, the son born by the female slave, was conceived naturally. But Isaac, the son born by his wife who was not a slave, was conceived miraculously as a result of what God had promised Abraham. 24I am telling you this as an illustration. These two women symbolize two agreements. God made the first agreement, which involved obeying the laws that God gave to Moses at Sinai Mountain. Because that agreement forces those who accept it to keep obeying all its rules [MET], it is like a slave mother who gives birth to slaves. So Hagar, the female slave, symbolizes that agreement. 25Also, the word ‘Hagar’ is associated with Sinai Mountain, which is in Arabia land. Hagar, the female slave, also represents Jerusalem as it is today. Jerusalem is like [MET] a slave mother, and those who live there [PRS] are like her slave children [MET] because they all must obey the laws that God gave to Moses. 26But there will be a new Jerusalem in heaven [MTY], and we who will go there are free from having to obey Jewish laws. We who belong to that city consider it to be our mother [MET] city because we are God’s true children. 27Our new city will have more people than those who live in Jerusalem now. It will be just like Isaiah foretold about the people whom he expected would come back to Jerusalem from exile. He expected that they would be more numerous than those who were taken into exile. He wrote:

You who live in Jerusalem, you will rejoice! Now you have no children, like a barren woman who does not give birth to children! But some day you will shout joyfully, ◄without restraint/as loudly as you can►, even though now you are few in number, like a woman who cannot give birth to children, and you feel deserted. You will be very happy because you will have many children who will come to you. Those children will be more than the children any woman with a husband could have borne.

28Now, my fellow believers, you have become children of God as a result of believing God’s promise to us, as Isaac was born as a result of Abraham believing what God promised to him [MET].

29Also, long ago Abraham’s son Ishmael, the one who was conceived naturally, caused trouble for Abraham’s son Isaac, who was conceived supernaturally [MET]. Similarly, now those who think that we must obey the laws that God gave Moses in order that God will save us are causing trouble for those who are trusting Abraham’s descendant, Christ. 30But these are [RHQ] the words in the Scriptures [PRS]: “The son of the woman who was not a slave will inherit what his father has. The female slave’s son will certainly not inherit those things. So send away from this place the female slave and her son [MET]!” That means that you should certainly expel from your groups those who insist that we obey all the laws God gave Moses [MET]. 31My fellow believers, Hagar symbolizes the laws that God gave to Moses. But we are not those who must obey all the laws that God gave to Moses [MET]. So we are not the female slave Hagar’s spiritual descendants [MET]. But Sarah’s descendants are those who were born as a result of believing what God promised to Abraham. So we are the spiritual descendants of Sarah, the woman who was not a slave [MET].

5

Reject the false teaching that you must be circumcised, and do not become enslaved to rules and rituals again, otherwise Christ will not benefit you at all.

Galatians 5:1-6

1It is in order that we might live without ◄being obliged to/having to► obey all the Jewish rituals that Christ freed us from God condemning us because of our disobeying those rituals. So, firmly reject the false teaching that someone must circumcise you, and do not live like slaves again [MET] by letting others force you to obey those rules and rituals again. 2Consider very carefully what I, Paul, an apostle, now tell you: If, to fulfill Jewish ritual laws, you are permitting yourself to be circumcised {someone to circumcise you}, what Christ has done for you will not benefit you at all. 3Instead, I solemnly declare again to every man who is circumcised {has someone circumcise him} in order for God to accept him, that you must perfectly obey all of the laws that God gave Moses, in order for God to save you. 4Those of you who are sure that God will erase the record of your sins because you obey the laws that God gave to Moses, you have separated yourselves from Christ. You have abandoned/rejected God’s true method of saving you, which was by kindly erasing the record of your sins, in a way that you did not deserve. 5But we who have a relationship with Christ and who trust in Christ are eagerly waiting to receive what God’s Spirit assures us that we can expect. We can expect to receive it because God has erased the record of our sins. 6As for us who have a relationship with Christ Jesus, God is not concerned whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. Instead, God is concerned about whether we trust in Christ, with the result that we love other people.

Although someone has confused you, I am sure that you will not accept his false teaching, and that God will punish him.

Galatians 5:7-12

7You were progressing well spiritually [MET]. You should not have let someone influence you so that now you are not believing the true message about Christ [RHQ]! 8God, the one who chose you, is not the one who is persuading you to think like this! 9Remember that this false doctrine that someone is teaching you will affect all of you, just like [MET] a little yeast causes all of the dough to swell up. 10Nevertheless, because of my relationship with the Lord, I am certain that you will think only as I do about forcing people to obey rules and rituals. Furthermore, God will punish anyone who is confusing you by teaching this false message, even if he is an important person. 11But, my fellow believers, although someone claims that I am proclaiming that men must be circumcised, I certainly am not still proclaiming that. Remember that the Jews are still ◄persecuting me/causing me to suffer►. If I were still proclaiming that men must be circumcised in order for God to accept them, ◄the Jews would not be persecuting me./why would the Jews be persecuting me?► [RHQ] They would [RHQ] not be persecuting me/causing me to suffer because then the Jews would no longer be offended. They ◄are offended/do not want to accept what I teach► because I proclaim that Christ, the Messiah, died on the cross [MTY]. 12I would even wish that those who are disturbing you by insisting that men be circumcised would also emasculate [EUP] themselves, with the result that they would be expelled from your congregations!

Although you are free from having to obey Jewish rules, instead of doing what your self-directed nature desires, love and serve each other.

Galatians 5:13-15

13My fellow believers, God chose you in order that you might live without having to obey rules and rituals. But do not assume that because you are free from having to obey rules and rituals, God permits you to do whatever your self-directed nature desires. Instead, constantly, as you love each other, serve each other. 14Keep in mind that we can sum up all of the laws that God has given us in one law, which is: “You must love each person you come in contact with, just like you love yourself.” 15Since you are attacking and injuring [MET] each other by the things that you say [MET], I warn you that if you continue doing that, you will totally ruin each other spiritually.

Let God’s Spirit direct you, and then you will not do what your self-directed nature desires.

Galatians 5:16-18

16So I tell you this: Constantly let God’s Spirit direct you. If you do that, you will certainly not do the things that your self-directed nature wants you to do. 17Your self-directed nature ◄opposes God’s Spirit/does not want you to do what God’s Spirit wants you to do►, but also his Spirit opposes your self-directed nature. These two are always ◄fighting with/opposing► each other. The result is that you do not constantly do the good deeds that you truly desire to do. 18But when you are led by God’s Spirit {when God’s Spirit directs you}, you can do what pleases God, now that you are no longer obligated to obey all the laws that God gave Moses.

Those who think evil thoughts and do evil things will not receive the blessings of God’s rule, but God’s Spirit produces many good qualities in our lives.

Galatians 5:19-24

19You already know how people think and act [PRS] because of their self-directed nature. These are some of the things that they do: People are sexually immoral. People commit unnatural sexual acts. People act indecently. 20People worship false gods and things that represent those gods. People perform ◄rituals in order that evil spirits might act for them/sorcery►. People are hostile to others. People quarrel with each other. People are ◄jealous/resent other people’s status►. People behave angrily. People try ◄to get others to think highly of them/to exalt themselves► and ◄do not consider what others want/act selfishly►. People do not associate with others. People associate only with those who agree with them. 21People want what others have. People get drunk. People ◄revel/participate in wild parties►. And people do other things like these. I warn you now, just like I warned you previously, that the ones who constantly act and think like that will not receive what God has for his own people when he begins to rule over us. 22But God’s Spirit causes us to do these things: We love others. We are joyful. We are peaceful. We are patient. We are kind. We are good. We are ones whom others can trust. 23We are gentle. We control our behavior. There is no law that says people should not think and act in such ways. 24Furthermore, we who belong to Christ Jesus have stopped obeying our self-directed nature and stopped doing all the evil things that we desire to do [MET]. It is as though [MET] we nailed them to the cross!

25Since God’s Spirit has caused us to be spiritually alive, we should conduct our lives the way the Spirit directs us. 26We should not be saying how great we are. We should not be making ourselves more important than others. We should not envy each other.

6

Gently correct anyone among you who is sinning, and help each other without thinking you are better than others.

Galatians 6:1-6

1My fellow believers, if you discover that a person among your congregation is sinning, those of you whom God’s Spirit is directing and empowering should gently correct that person. Furthermore, each of you who corrects another person should be very cautious in order that you might not sin like that when you are tempted {when something tempts you}. 2When there are ones who have problems, you should help each other. By doing that, you will complete what Christ requires. 3Keep in mind that those who refuse to help others because they think that they are more important than other people, although they are not really more important, are deceiving themselves. 4Instead, each of you should constantly test/judge and decide if you can approve what you yourself are doing and thinking. Then you can boast because of what you yourself are doing and thinking, and not because what you are doing is superior to what other persons are doing. 5Keep in mind that you must each perform your own individual tasks. 6You who are being taught {whom others are teaching} God’s truth should share your various material things [EUP] with your teachers.

We should not tire of doing good, but instead, we should do good to everyone, especially to believers.

Galatians 6:7-10

7You should not deceive yourselves. Remember that God is never outwitted {no one ever fools God}. Just like a farmer will reap exactly the kind of crop that he plants [MET], God will reward people according to what they have done [MET]. 8God will punish eternally those who do what their self-directed natures urge them to do. But those who please God’s Spirit will live forever with God because of what God’s Spirit does for them. 9But we should not ◄tire of/become discouraged while► doing what pleases God, because eventually, at the time that God has determined, we will receive a reward [MET], if we do not stop doing the good things that we have been doing. 10So, whenever we have opportunities, we should do what is good to all people. But especially we should do what is good to all our fellow believers.

Some people want you to be circumcised only so that they will not be persecuted for proclaiming what Christ accomplished for us on the cross, but that is the only thing that I will boast about.

Galatians 6:11-16

11I am now writing this last part of this letter to you in my own handwriting. Notice the large letters with which I am now writing. I am doing this in order that I might emphasize this: 12Some Jewish believers are trying to force you to perform certain rituals so that other Jews will think highly of them. They are insisting that you be circumcised {that someone must circumcise you}. They are doing that only in order that other Jews would no longer ◄persecute them/cause them to suffer► for proclaiming that God will save us because of our trusting in what Christ accomplished when he died on the cross [MTY, MET]. 13The reason that I say that is that the ones who are insisting that you be circumcised {that someone circumcise you} do not themselves fully obey the laws that God gave to Moses. Instead, they desire that you let someone circumcise you in order that they might boast to those Jews who would ◄persecute them/cause them to suffer► that you did that because they insisted [MTY] that you do it. 14I myself, however, strongly desire that I never boast about anything like that. The only thing I will boast about is what our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished by dying on the cross [MTY]. Because of what Christ did on the cross, I no longer am interested in the things that those who do not trust Christ [MTY] think are important, and those people are no longer interested in the things that I [MET] think are important. 15I will boast about Christ dying on the cross because God is concerned neither that people are circumcised nor that people are not circumcised. Instead, he is concerned only that people conduct their lives in a completely new way. 16I pray that God will give inner peace and act kindly towards all who will act according to this new way of life. It is all those who live according to this new way of life who are now truly God’s people [MET], as the Israeli people were God’s people previously.

I have suffered enough for declaring the truth about Jesus, so do not trouble me again.

Galatians 6:17

17Finally, I say that people have persecuted me/caused me to suffer for declaring the truth about Jesus, and as a result I have scars on my body. Your new teachers do not have scars like mine! So do not trouble/bother me about these matters again!

I pray that God may act kindly within you.

Galatians 6:18

18My fellow believers, I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will kindly accomplish what he desires within you. ◄Amen!/May it be so!►