Chapter 1
1 I am Paul, an apostle. I received this ministry not because I was appointed by men. Instead, I was chosen not by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Christ from the dead.
2 All the brothers who are with me greet the churches in Galatia.
3 God is our Father, and Jesus Christ is our Lord. May God fill you with His grace, and may Jesus bring peace to your hearts.
4 Jesus sacrificed Himself and died for our sins to save us from the evil of this world. In this way, our God the Father fulfilled His plan.
5 So God is worthy to be praised forever. Amen.
6 Galatians, I am unpleasantly surprised. God called you to Himself through the grace He gave you in Christ. But you have quickly turned away from the truth and begun to follow a different teaching. It sounds like “good news about Christ,” but actually it is misleading people.
7 There is no other “good news.” But there are people who are confusing you and want to distort the Good News about Christ.
8 We have brought you the true message. But even if we or an angel from heaven started preaching something different to you and called it the Good News, we would bring a curse upon ourselves.
9 I have told you this before, and I repeat it now. If anyone preaches to you a different “good news” than the one we preached to you, he will bring a curse upon himself.
10 What do I want — God’s approval or people’s approval? Am I trying to please people now? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.
11 Brothers, I tell you that no one could have invented such Good News about Christ that I preached to you.
12 No one taught me this message. I received it through a revelation that Jesus Christ gave me.
13 You’ve heard about how I lived before, when I followed Judaism. At that time, I severely persecuted the Church of God and did everything I could to destroy it.
14 I dedicated myself to Judaism far more than many others of my age. So, I was especially zealous in observing the traditions that our fathers passed down to us.
15 But God chose me even before I was born. By His grace He called me so that I could serve Him.
16 God revealed His Son to me so that I might preach about Him to other nations. At that time, I did not seek the opinion of others about this revelation.
17 After this, I did not go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who had been appointed to this ministry before me. I went to Arabia, and then I returned to Damascus.
18 Three years later I went to Jerusalem. There I met the apostle Peter and spent fifteen days with him.
19 I did not meet with any of the other apostles, except for James, the brother of the Lord.
20 God knows that I am writing the truth to you and not lying.
21 After that, I traveled to Syria and Cilicia.
22 The churches in Judea that belong to Christ did not know me personally.
23 They had only heard that the one who had previously persecuted them was now preaching the faith he had once tried to destroy.
24 So the churches in Judea praised God for what He had done in my life.
Chapter 2
1 Fourteen years later I went again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. This time I also took Titus with me.
2 I went to Jerusalem because of a revelation. There I met with the key leaders of the church and told them how I was preaching the Good News of Christ to other nations. I wanted to make sure that we had no disagreements and they recognized my ministry.
3 My companion Titus was a Greek. But the Church leaders did not force him to be circumcised.
4 This is why the question of circumcision came up. People who pretended to be believers visited our meetings in Jerusalem. Actually, they wanted to take away the freedom that Christ has given us. These false brothers wanted to make us slaves to the Law of Moses again.
5 But we did not yield to them for a single moment. We did not allow them to distort the truth, so that you, Galatians, would continue to believe in the Good News about Christ.
6 The ministers of the Jerusalem Church have a good reputation, and they truly deserve respect. But God does not show favoritism based on achievements or position, so their status didn’t matter to me either. And even these respected ministers did not correct me or add anything to what I preached.
7 Instead, they compared me to Peter. They saw that God had entrusted us with working among different groups of people. Peter preaches about Christ to the Jews. In the same way, I preach the Good News to people of other nations.
8 God appointed Peter as an apostle to the Jews. And He works through Peter when he ministers to his people. But God appointed me as an apostle to other nations. And the same God works through me when I minister to these people.
9 James, Peter, and John are key ministers of the Church. When they saw the grace of God in my ministry, they acknowledged that we are working for the same goal. But they go to the Jews, and Barnabas and I go to other nations.
10 The only thing they asked us was that we should not forget to help the poor. But I have always tried to do that.
11 When Peter came to Antioch, I publicly opposed him because he was wrong.
12 At first, Peter ate with believers who were uncircumcised, because they were not Jews. But then people came from James. They believed that those who follow Jesus should be circumcised. Peter became afraid of criticism from these people, so he began to avoid the believers who had turned to Jesus from other nations and stopped eating with them.
13 Other Jewish believers behaved as hypocritically as Peter. Even Barnabas fell under their influence and began to avoid fellowship with believers from other nations.
14 I saw that their behavior contradicted the truth that God revealed to us through the Good News of Christ. Then I said in front of everyone: “Peter, what are you doing? You are a Jew, but you no longer live according to Jewish laws. You live like those nations who do not follow the Law of Moses. So why do you demand that people of other nations observe Jewish traditions?”
15 We are Jews by birth. So, we fulfilled what the Law of Moses required. But people from other nations did not follow this Law, so we called them sinners.
16 But now we know that a person cannot receive freedom from sin and God’s righteousness by observing the Law of Moses. God sets free from sin only those who believe in Jesus Christ, and to such a person God gives His righteousness. When we believed in Christ, God freed us from sin and gave us His righteousness. No one can fulfill the Law of Moses. So, no one can receive freedom from sin and God’s righteousness on the basis of the Law of Moses.
17 We want to receive God’s righteousness through Christ. But now the Jews consider us the same sinners as people from other nations, because we no longer follow the Law of Moses. But does this mean that Christ made us sinners? Of course not!
18 Instead, I would become a sinner if I started following the Law of Moses again.
19 This Law showed that I was spiritually dead. But when I believed in Jesus, God gave me life, and now I live for God, not for the Law of Moses. I crucified my sinful nature with Christ.
20 I have left my old way of life. Now Christ lives in me. He loves me and gave His life for me. I still live on earth in a physical body, but I live by faith in the Son of God.
21 I do not reject God’s grace. I completely rely on it, not on the Law of Moses. If God freed from sin those who follow the Law of Moses and gave them His righteousness, then Christ would have had no need to die for our sins.
Chapter 3
1 O foolish Galatians! Who influenced you so strongly that you, as if under a spell, began to go against the truth that Christ brought to you? You understood so clearly that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross, as if you had seen it with your own eyes!
2 Answer me only this question: did you receive the Holy Spirit because you kept the Law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Holy Spirit because you heard about Christ and believed in Him.
3 How can you be so foolish? You began to live a new life through the Holy Spirit. But now you want to live according to the Law of Moses and rely on your own human strength?
4 You have experienced so much since you turned to Christ. Has all this been in vain? I hope not.
5 God gave you His Spirit and performed His miracles among you. Tell me, did He do this because you kept the Law of Moses? Of course not! God did this because you heard about Christ and believed in Him.
6 When Abraham believed God, God saw his faith and gave Abraham His righteousness.
7 Understand that those who believe are the children of Abraham.
8 The Scriptures say that the time will come when people from different nations will turn to God. Through faith, God will free them from sin and give them His righteousness. God proclaimed this Good News to Abraham in advance. He said, “Abraham, through you I will bless all nations” (Genesis 12:3).
9 Abraham believed God, and God blessed him. We have also believed God, and He has blessed us in the same way as Abraham.
10 The Scripture says, “The one who does not keep everything that is written in the Law of Moses falls under a curse.” (Deuteronomy 27:26). So, all who follow this Law and expect to receive righteousness fall under a curse.
11 It is obvious that God does not free from sin the one who keeps the Law. So, God does not give him His righteousness. The Scripture says, “The righteous person will live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). A person receives life and God’s righteousness through faith, not through the Law of Moses.
12 The Law of Moses has nothing to do with faith. You do not need to believe in the Law, you need to obey it. The Scripture says, “The one who obeys the Law will live by it” (Leviticus 18:5). But no one can fulfill the entire Law of Moses.
13 Christ fulfilled the prophecy written in this Law, “Everyone who is executed on a wooden crossbar falls under a curse” (Deuteronomy 21:23). Only Christ was able to fulfill the entire Law of Moses, so He alone did not deserve the curse. But on the cross, Christ took the curse upon Himself instead of us. With His blood He paid for our freedom and saved us from the curse of the Law.
14 Through Jesus Christ, the blessing of Abraham has spread to all nations. God promised to give us the Holy Spirit, and we received Him through faith.
15 Brothers, let me give you a simple example. People recognize a contract that is drawn up according to all the rules. No one changes such a contract or adds anything to it.
16 God made an Unbreakable Agreement with Abraham and gave promises to Abraham and his only son. God did not speak of many sons. He spoke of the only Son, that is Christ. Christ inherited all the promises that God gave to Abraham.
17 I am saying that God first made an Unbreakable Agreement with Abraham, and at that time He told Abraham about Christ. 430 years passed, and only after that God gave His Law to the Israelite people through Moses. But the Law does not cancel the Unbreakable Agreement that God made with Abraham long before that.
18 Suppose that God would give His inheritance to those who keep the Law of Moses. Then God would have to take this inheritance away from Abraham. But 430 years ago God had already made an Unbreakable Agreement with Abraham. In this Agreement, God promised that He would give Abraham His inheritance.
19 Why then did God give the Law to the Israelite people? First, God promised Abraham that He would give him a Son. God spoke about Christ. But people sinned, so later God gave them the Law. The Law of Moses was at work only until the promised Son of Abraham came. God instructed His angels to deliver the Law to Moses. Moses wrote down the Law and became a mediator between God and people.
20 A mediator represents the interests of two parties. But when God made the promise to Abraham, He did not use a mediator. God spoke about Christ, and it means that God spoke about Himself.
21 So, Moses says that we must keep the Law. But Abraham says that we must believe in God’s promises. Do these contradict each other? No! Suppose God had given a Law that brought life. Then God would have set free from sin those who kept the Law and would have given them His righteousness.
22 Scripture says that all people are under the power of sin, so God gave the Law. According to the Law, people offered sacrifices for their sins. The sacrifices did not set them free from sin, but the sacrifices pointed to Christ. God spoke about Christ to Moses. God spoke about Christ to Abraham. In Christ, God fulfilled the promise He made to Abraham. We believe in Jesus Christ. So, God sets us free from sin and gives us His righteousness through faith.
23 Until a certain time, we were under the authority of the Law of Moses. But when the time of faith came, the Law came to an end.
24 The Law of Moses led us to Christ. Now we believe in Jesus, so God sets us free from sin and gives us His righteousness.
25 Now the time of faith has come, and the Law of Moses has no authority in our lives.
26 When you believed in Jesus Christ, you were born of God and became His children.
27 All of you were baptized with water in the name of Christ. In Christ, all of you put on the new nature of God in your inner person.
28 Now Jesus Christ has united all of us in Himself. In Christ there are no national distinctions, so it doesn’t matter who you are—a Jew or a person of another nationality. In Christ there is no difference between slave and free. In Christ it doesn’t matter whether you are male or female.
29 Now you all belong to Christ. So you are descendants of Abraham and his heirs. So you receive what God promised to give to Abraham.
Chapter 4
1 Here’s something else I want to say. Suppose a father dies in a family. Then all the inheritance goes to his child. But while the child is young, he is no different from a slave, even though all the inheritance already belongs to him.
2 The child is subject to his guardians and managers. He will only come into his inheritance when he reaches the age that his father has set.
3 The same was true for people before Christ came to earth. At that time, we had not yet reached maturity to receive the inheritance, and we were like children. So we were subject to traditions and rules.
4 But God appointed the perfect time and sent His Son to earth. Mary gave birth to Him, and He lived under the authority of the Law of Moses.
5 We were under the authority of this Law. But Christ fulfilled the entire Law and paid for our sins with His blood. He acquired freedom for us and redeemed us from the power of the Law of Moses. God adopted us, and we received all the rights that children have.
6 You have become God’s sons. So God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. This Spirit calls out to God, “Father, Father!”
7 Now God calls you not a slave, but a son. If you are a son of God, then through Jesus Christ you have become an heir of God.
8 When you lived without Christ, you did not know God. And like slaves, you served idols that cannot be God.
9 Now you know God. I will say even more: now God knows you. Traditions did not make you strong, yet you are still returning to them. You observe rules that have brought you no benefit. Why do you want to become slaves again to what once held you in bondage?
10 Why do you observe religious rules on certain days, months, and seasons?
11 I have worked so hard among you. But I fear that my ministry has not brought any results.
12 I am a Jew, and you are people from other nations. I have stopped following Jewish traditions and have become like you. Brothers, I urge you to live in the same freedom as I do. You treated me so well when I first came to you!
13 You know that I was sick when I preached the Good News of Christ to you.
14 My physical condition was a test for you. But you did not treat me with contempt or look at me with disgust. Instead, you received me as an angel of God and treated me as if I were Jesus Christ Himself.
15 You were so kind to me! Of course, no one can give his eyes to another person. But I say with full confidence that you would have been willing to do even that for me.
16 Have I now become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 You have trusted false teachers who do not have good intentions. They jealously guard you from my influence and want to have your full attention.
18 Do what is right always, not only when I am with you.
19 My children, I am again worrying about you so much, as if I were giving birth to you in pain. I will continue to do so until I see the image of Christ in you.
20 I wish I could be with you and speak to you directly, because you are confusing me.
21 You want to live according to the Law of Moses. Tell me, do you understand what this Law says?
22 The Scripture says, “Abraham had two sons. Ishmael was born to the slave woman Hagar, and Isaac was born to Sarah, who was a free woman” (Genesis 16:1–16; 21:1–3).
23 Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, was born because of human desire. But Isaac, the son of the free woman, was born because God wanted to fulfill His promise that He had given to Abraham.
24 These two women represent two Agreements. The slave woman Hagar gives birth to slaves. She symbolizes the first Agreement that God made on Mount Sinai.
25 So Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. This Mount represents the earthly Jerusalem, which is in bondage to the Law of Moses along with its children.
26 The second woman is Sarah. She gives birth to free children. Sarah represents heavenly Jerusalem, where free people live.
27 The Scripture says, “Rejoice, barren woman, who has not given birth and has not experienced the pains of childbirth! Shout and cry out for joy, because the lonely woman will have more children than the married one” (Isaiah 54:1).
28 When Sarah gave birth to Isaac, it was a miracle. In this way God fulfilled the promise He made to Abraham. Brothers, because of God’s promise, we have become God’s children.
29 Ishmael was born because of human desire. But Isaac was born because of the desire of the Holy Spirit. At that time, Ishmael persecuted Isaac. The same thing is happening now.
30 But what does the Scripture say? “The son of the slave woman will not receive the inheritance. The son of the free woman will receive the inheritance. So, drive out the slave woman and her son” (Genesis 21:10).
31 So, brothers, we are children of the free woman, not of the slave woman.
Chapter 5
1 Live in the freedom that Christ has given us. Do not return to what made you slaves.
2 I, Paul, will tell you even more. If you undergo circumcision, you are making what Christ did for you meaningless.
3 I declare again to those who undergo circumcision: you must keep the entire Law of Moses.
4 The Law does not set people free from sin and does not give them God’s righteousness. If you try to obtain this righteousness through the Law, you are rejecting Christ and losing His grace.
5 But we rely on the Holy Spirit. So, with full confidence we expect that God will give us His righteousness through faith.
6 In Christ, circumcision has lost all its power. Now there is no difference between a circumcised and an uncircumcised person. In Christ, only faith that expresses itself through love matters. So love one another, and then you will have strong faith.
7 You were going in the right direction. Who stopped you? Who made you go against the truth that Christ brought you?
8 The One who called you to Himself revealed the truth to you, but you trusted false teachers.
9 False teaching acts like yeast. Although people add only a little yeast to the dough, the dough begins to rise.
10 The Lord gives me confidence that you will return to the truth. Whoever misleads you will answer for it before God.
11 Brothers, if I were preaching that circumcision is necessary, then the Jews would not be persecuting me. But I preach about the cross, and this makes them angry.
12 They insist on circumcision? Then let them cut off everything else as well! How I wish they would stop misleading you!
13 Brothers, God has called you to Himself and given you freedom. But this freedom does not mean that you can do whatever you want. So do not follow the desires of your sinful nature. Instead, serve one another with love.
14 The entire Law of Moses can be summarized in one commandment: “Love another person as yourself.”
15 If you torment one another with conflicts and attack one another like wild animals, you will destroy yourselves.
16 I tell you — think about spiritual things. Then you will follow the desires of the Holy Spirit. Do not think about sin. Then you will not follow the desires of your sinful nature.
17 There is a struggle going on within a person. The sinful nature rebels against the desires that the Holy Spirit gives. But the Holy Spirit fights against the desires that come from the sinful nature. These two forces oppose each other. So meditate on the desires that come from the Holy Spirit, then you will do what is right. But if you meditate on sin, you will do what is evil.
18 If the Holy Spirit leads you, you no longer live under the authority of the Law of Moses.
19 This is how people act when they meditate on sin and submit to their sinful nature. They are unfaithful to their spouses and live in sexual immorality. They do impure things and indulge in lustful pleasures.
20 They worship idols and engage in occult practices. They are hostile and quarrel with one another. They get upset when others succeed. They have outbursts of anger and ignore the needs of others. They cause division and are carried away by false teachings that distort the teaching of Christ.
21 They envy and murder. They get drunk, live an immoral lifestyle, and commit other sins like these. I warned you before, and I repeat it again. The one who does such things will not receive God’s inheritance and will not enter the Kingdom of God.
22 But those who meditate on spiritual things bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They develop qualities that reflect God’s character: love, joy, peace, great patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. They treat one another with love. They are full of joy and peace. They show great patience and do not refuse to help others. They do good, and people appreciate them for their faithfulness.
23 They are gentle and able to control themselves. The Law of Moses does not condemn such people.
24 We belong to Jesus Christ. We have crucified our old sinful nature with all its harmful habits and sinful desires.
25 The Holy Spirit has given us life. So, we must reflect on spiritual things and act as the Holy Spirit desires.
26 Do not boast to one another, do not stir up quarrels, and do not envy one another.
Chapter 6
1 Brothers, if someone among you stumbles or does something wrong, you who are spiritually mature should help him to correct himself, but do it with gentleness and kindness. Remember that each of you should watch over yourselves, so that you do not fall into the same temptation.
2 Help one another overcome difficulties. In this way you will fulfill the new law of love that Christ gave us.
3 If anyone thinks he is better than others, he is greatly mistaken.
4 Evaluate your own actions and enjoy what you do. Then you will not compare yourselves to others or seek their approval.
5 Remember that you are responsible for your own lives.
6 Support financially those who teach you God’s Word. Share with them everything you have.
7 You are greatly mistaken if you think that God does not notice your actions. Instead, God sees everything and knows what your actions will lead to. Every person will reap what he sows.
8 If you do what your sinful nature desires, you are sowing the seeds of sin and will reap a harvest of death. But if you act as the Holy Spirit desires, you are sowing the seeds of goodness and will reap a harvest of eternal life.
9 Keep doing good, even if it is difficult for you or you do not see quick results. At the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
10 So, whenever you have an opportunity, do good to everyone, especially to those who belong to God’s family.
11 Now I am writing to you with my own hand. Do you see the big letters I am writing?
12 There are those among you who want to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. But they are afraid of ruining their reputation, so they create the illusion of spirituality and pressure you to undergo circumcision.
13 Yet those who insist on circumcision do not keep the Law of Moses themselves. But when someone listens to them and gets circumcised, it fills them with pride.
14 But I do not want to boast about anything except the cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Now His cross stands between me and the world. The world no longer has any power over me, and I no longer belong to this world. The world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world.
15 Now you belong to Christ. It is not important who was circumcised and who was not. What really matters is that God has given your inner person His new nature. You are a new creation.
16 May God have mercy and give His peace to all who live by this rule. These are God’s new people, the true Israel of God.
17 Why do you oppose me and argue about circumcision and the Law of Moses? I have already suffered for the Lord Jesus, and I bear scars from wounds on my body.
18 Brothers, Jesus Christ is our Lord. May His grace fill your spirit. Amen.