A "Grain Of Wheat" Ministries publication

Translated by David W. Dyer

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The Letter of Paul to the Galatians

GALATIANS CHAPTER 1

1:1Paul, a sent one – not sent by men, neither through any human means but by Jesus the Anointed One and God the Father who raised him from the dead – 1:2and all the brethren who are with me, to the gatherings of the called-out ones in Galatia:

1:3Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, 1:4who offered himself up for our sins in order to be rescuing us out of this present degenerate age according to the will of our God and Father, 1:5to whom is the glory for all eternity. Amen.

1:6I am amazed that you are so quickly exchanging your calling, which is through the grace of the Anointed One, to an altered message, 1:7which is not a completely different message but there are some who are causing trouble for you by corrupting the good news message concerning the Anointed One.

1:8But though we or an angel from heaven proclaims to you any message alongside of that which we announced to you, let him be set aside for destruction. 1:9As we have said before, so I now repeat: if anyone proclaims to you any message concerning the Anointed One alongside of that which you received from us, let him be set aside for destruction.

1:10For am I now seeking God’s favor or am I striving to please men? If I were still pleasing men I would not be a servant of the Anointed One.

1:11For I want you to know, brethren, concerning the good news which was proclaimed by me that it is not of human origin. 1:12For neither did I receive it from any man nor was I taught it by men but it came to me directly through revelation from Jesus the Anointed One.

1:13For you have heard of my conduct in the past while I was still in Judaism, how excessively I persecuted the community of God’s called-out ones and devastated it. 1:14And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

1:15But when it pleased God – who set me apart even from my mother’s womb – he called me through his grace 1:16for the purpose of revealing his Son in me so that I might proclaim him among the nations. From the beginning I did not consult with flesh and blood, 1:17neither did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were sent ones before me, but I went away into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

1:18Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 1:19But I saw none of the other sent ones except James the Lord’s brother. 1:20(Now concerning these things which I am writing to you, look, before God, I am not lying).

1:21Next I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 1:22My face was still unknown to the gatherings of the called-out ones of Judea which are in the Anointed One, 1:23but they only heard it said that “He who once persecuted us now proclaims the faith which he tried to destroy,” 1:24and they glorified God because of me.

GALATIANS CHAPTER 2

2:1Then fourteen years later I went up to Jerusalem again, this time with Bar-Nabas, also taking Titus with me. 2:2I went up concerning the revelation which was given to me and I laid before them the good news message which I proclaim among the Gentiles. But I did this privately before those who seemed to have a reputation, in case in some way I was running or had run in vain.

2:3But not even Titus who was with me, who is a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 2:4But this became an issue because of some false brethren who were secretly brought in to spy out our liberty which we have in the Anointed One, Jesus, so that they might enslave us to the law. 2:5But we did not yield in subjection to them, no, not even for an hour so that the truth of the good news might continue with you.

2:6Now from those who seemed to be something special (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t recognize such human distinctions) they, I say, who seemed to be important imparted nothing to me.

2:7But, on the contrary, they realized that I had been entrusted with the good news to the uncircumcised just as Peter was with the good news to those who are circumcised. 2:8(For he who works in Peter as a sent one to the “circumcision” works in me also towards the Gentiles.)

2:9When they saw the grace that was given to me, James, Cephas, and John – those who had the reputation of being pillars – gave to Bar-Nabas {son of encouragement} and me the right hand of fellowship that we should go to the nations but they would go to those who are circumcised. 2:10They only emphasized that we should remember the poor, which very thing I was also zealous to do.

2:11But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face because of his wrong behavior. 2:12For before certain brothers had come from James, he ate with the Gentiles, but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who emphasized circumcision. 2:13And the rest of the Jews also betrayed their convictions along with him so much so that even Bar-Nabas was carried away with their duplicity.

2:14But when I saw that they did not act correctly according to the truth of the good news message, I said to Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to judaize?”

2:15We, being Jews by nature and not Gentile sinners, 2:16realize that a man is not made just by keeping the law but through the faith of Jesus the Anointed One. We Jews also believe into the Anointed One, Jesus, so that we would be being made righteous by the faith of the Anointed One and not by practicing the law. This is because by keeping the ordinances of the law no one will be made righteous.

2:17But if, while we sought to be made righteous in the Anointed One [instead of by the law], we ourselves sometimes sin, is the Anointed One a minister of sin? Never! 2:18But if I try to rebuild those things which were destroyed in the Anointed One [i.e. the law], this is how I really make myself a sinner [by striving in the flesh to be righteous].

2:19For since I “legally” died with the Anointed One, I died to the law also, in order that God would now be my life source. 2:20I am [and am being] crucified with the Anointed One. Therefore, I no longer live by my own life but I live by the life of the Anointed One who is in me and the life which I now live in the physical body, I live through the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

2:21In this way I do not make the grace of God void, for if righteousness could be achieved through keeping the law, then the Anointed One died for nothing.

GALATIANS CHAPTER 3

3:1Oh foolish Galatians, who has brought you under their evil spell before whose eyes Jesus the Anointed One was revealed as having been crucified? 3:2I only want to know this from you. Did you receive the Spirit by obeying the law or by hearing and then believing? 3:3Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now going to be perfected through fleshly effort? 3:4Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it really was in vain?

3:5Therefore, he who ministers the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by keeping the law or by hearing from God and then acting in faith? 3:6Consider the example of Abraham who believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

3:7Therefore, understand that those who live according to faith are the true sons of Abraham. 3:8And the scripture predicted that God would make the Gentiles just by faith when he announced the good news beforehand to Abraham saying, “All the nations will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18). 3:9So then those who are living according to faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

3:10For everyone who depends on the works of the law to be right with God is under a curse, for it is written, “Everyone who does not continue to practice all things that are written in the book of the law is cursed” (Deut 27:26).

3:11Now the fact that no one is considered just before God by keeping the law is obvious, for: “The one who exhibits righteous character is the one who conducts his life by faith” (Hab 2:4). 3:12And keeping the law is not faith. Instead, “He who keeps the laws will live by them” (Lev 18:5).

3:13The Anointed One liberated us from the curse of the law, having become cursed for us, for it is written, “Everyone who hangs on a wooden beam is cursed” (Deut 21:23). 3:14In this way the blessing of Abraham can come upon the Gentiles in the Anointed One, Jesus, so that they might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

3:15Brethren, I am going to use a human example here: Even when men make a covenant {contract}, once it has been agreed upon, no one makes it void or adds to it. 3:16Now the heavenly promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He did not say, “And to your seeds,” as if there were many, but only one: “And to your seed,” which is the Anointed One.

3:17Now I say this: Since a covenant {contract} had already been ratified by God, the law which came four hundred and thirty years later does not make it void so as to abolish the promise. 3:18For if the inheritance is through the law it is not any longer by a promise. But God granted it to Abraham through a promise.

3:19Of what use then is the law – which was set in order by angels and given by the hand of a mediator? It was added to make men conscious of their sins until the Seed would come concerning whom the promise had been made. 3:20(Now mediation involves more than one person, but God is one.)

3:21Is the law then against the promises of God? Never! For if there had been a law given which could impart God’s life, truly, righteousness would have been produced through the law. 3:22But the scriptures show that everyone is guilty of sin so that the promise which comes by the faith of Jesus the Anointed One might be being supplied to those who are believing.

3:23But before faith came, we were kept protected under the law, being held by it for the faith which would be revealed later. 3:24So the law has become our tutor to bring us to the Anointed One so that we might be being made righteous through faith. 3:25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor, (the law). 3:26For you are all children of God through faith in the Anointed One, Jesus.

3:27For as many of you as are being immersed into the Anointed One, are putting on the Anointed One as a garment. 3:28In Him there can be neither Jew nor Greek. There can be neither bondslave nor free. There can be no male and female, for you all are one in the Anointed One, Jesus. 3:29And if you are the Anointed One’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

GALATIANS CHAPTER 4

4:1But I say that as long as the heir is an infant, he is no different from a slave, even though he is the master of all, 4:2but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. 4:3So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the earthly principles of the law.

4:4But when the time came for the fulfillment of his promises, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 4:5so that he could release, by full payment of the ransome price, those who were under the law in order that we might receive the special placement in God’s family as mature sons.

4:6And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, which is crying “Abba, Father.” 4:7The result is that now you are no longer a slave to the law but a son, and if a son, then also an heir of God.

4:8However, at that time not knowing God, you submitted yourselves to the religious regulations of those “gods” that by nature are not gods at all. 4:9But now knowing God, or rather being known by God, how is it that you turn back again to practice a weak and useless series of regulations to which you desire to be enslaved as you were before?

4:10For example, you observe special religious days, months, seasons, and years. 4:11I am worried about you if, in some way, I have labored among you in vain. 4:12I beg you brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

You have never treated me badly. 4:13You remember that because of an infirmity of the flesh I proclaimed the good news message to you the first time. 4:14You didn’t despise or reject that which was an annoyance in my physical body but you received me as a messenger of God, as if I were the Anointed One, Jesus himself.

4:15Where then did your joy go? For I testify that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 4:16So have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

4:17They (the Judaizers) zealously seek you, but not for your benefit. Instead, they want to alienate you from your sole dependence on Jesus so that you would be zealous for them. 4:18But it is good to be zealous for a good thing always and not only when I am present with you.

4:19My little children, for whom I labor in birth pains again until the Anointed One is fully formed in you, 4:20I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

4:21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, don’t you understand what the law says? 4:22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the maidservant and one by the free woman.

4:23However, the son by the maidservant was born through the efforts of the flesh but the son by the free woman was born through the promise. 4:24These things contain an allegory. For these women represent two covenants. One is from mount Sinai, bearing children for bondage to the law,* which is Hagar.

*Mount Sinai is where Moses was given the law.

4:25Now this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is, for she is in bondage to the law with her children. 4:26But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. 4:27For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren one who has never given birth. Break out and shout, you who have never had birth pangs. For the children of the woman who is left alone are more than she who has a husband” (Is 54:1).

4:28Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 4:29But just as it was then, he who was born through the efforts of the flesh persecuted him who was fathered by the Spirit. It is the same way today.

4:30However, what does the scripture say? “Send away the maidservant and her son, for the son of the maidservant will not inherit with the son of the free woman” (Gen 21:10). 4:31Therefore, brethren, we are not children of the maidservant but of the free woman.

GALATIANS CHAPTER 5

5:1For freedom the Anointed One set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and don’t be tangled up again in a yoke of bondage to the law. 5:2Understand this: I, Paul, say to you, that if you are circumcised, the Anointed One ceases to be of any benefit to you. 5:3Now I affirm to everyone who receives circumcision that he is under an obligation to practice the entire law. 5:4But when you want to be made righteous by keeping the law, grace becomes ineffective for you and so the Anointed One becomes inoperative in you.

5:5For our confidence is in the expectation of righteousness, which is produced in you by the Spirit through faith. 5:6For in the Anointed One, Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision can empower anyone to live righteously, but faith operating through love does.

5:7You were running well. Who has driven you back from being persuaded by the truth? 5:8This gullibility did not come from the One who called you. 5:9A little yeast* leavens the whole lump of dough.

*In this context, this means a little law keeping.

5:10I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will not think in any other way. But he who troubles you will one day face the judgment, whoever he is. 5:11But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, i.e. the law, why am I still persecuted? For then the offense of the cross has been taken away. 5:12I wish that those who are causing you these problems would just cut themselves off {Gk amputate, castrate}.

5:13For you, brethren, were called to freedom. Only don’t use your freedom as an opportunity to gratify the flesh, but through love serve each other as slaves. 5:14For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). 5:15But if you bite and devour each other, be careful that you are not consumed by one another.

5:16But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not perform the carnal desires of the flesh. 5:17For the flesh yearns for what is against the nature of the Spirit and the Spirit for what is against the nature of the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other. The result is that you must not practice everything you desire to do. 5:18Now when you are being directed by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

5:19Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are these: sex outside of the marriage bond, impure relationships, unholy sexual behavior, 5:20worshipping anything other than God, witchcraft and drug use, holding onto anger, arguments, jealousies, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, excluding others, separating into special, select groups, 5:21envying others, drunkenness, wild parties, and such similar things of which I warn you right now, even as I already warned you, that those who practice such things will in no way inherit the coming kingdom of God [the Milennium].

5:22But the fruit which the Spirit produces is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 5:23meekness, self-control. There is no law against such virtues. 5:24Furthermore, those who of the Anointed One, Jesus, crucify the flesh with its appetites and impure desires. 5:25Since we have God’s life in our spirit, we should walk by the spirit.

5:26Let us not become proud, competing with each other and envying each other.

GALATIANS CHAPTER 6

6:1Brethren, if anyone is caught in any sin, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness, being careful yourself so that you don’t become tempted also. 6:2Carry each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of the Anointed One.

6:3If a man thinks of himself as something special when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 6:4But let each man critically examine his own work. Then he will keep his boasting to himself and not seek for the approval of others. 6:5For everyone will be responsible for his own works. 6:6But let the one who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.

6:7Don’t be deceived! Don’t imagine you can fool God! For whatever a man sows is exactly the same thing which he will reap. 6:8For he who sows by following the desires of his flesh will, from this fleshly activity, reap destruction. But he who sows by submitting to the Spirit will, from the Spirit, reap increasingly more of the eternal life of God.

6:9And let us not become discouraged in doing good, for at the appointed time we will reap if we don’t grow weary. 6:10Therefore, since we still have some time left, let us do good to all men and most of all to the members of the family of the faith.

6:11Notice how large the letters are which I write to you in my own handwriting. 6:12Those who want to make a good show to others in the flesh are the ones who compel you to be circumcised so that they won’t be persecuted for the cross of the Anointed One. 6:13Yet even those who receive circumcision don’t keep the law themselves but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.*

*These liked to brag about how many “converts” they made by having them circumcised.

6:14But I will not boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, through which the world is crucified to me and I to the world. 6:15For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision can empower anyone to live righteously, but the new creation in our spirit does. 6:16And as many as walk by this standard, may peace and mercy be upon them, even upon the Israel of God.

6:17From here on, let no one trouble me, for I carry the scars of Jesus “branded” on my body. 6:18The grace of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.

End of The Letter of Paul to the Galatians

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