Chronological Plan

¹Paul, an apostle — not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead  —

²and all the brothers who are with me: To the churches of Galatia.

³Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁴who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

⁵To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

⁶I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel —

⁷not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!

⁹As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

¹⁰For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

¹¹For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin.

¹²For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it.

¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

¹⁵But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased

¹⁶to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

¹⁷I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.

¹⁸Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days.

¹⁹But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

²⁰I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.

²¹Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

²²I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ.

²³They simply kept hearing: “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.”

²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

¹Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.

²I went up according to a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those recognized as leaders. I wanted to be sure I was not running, and had not been running, in vain.

³But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

⁴This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us.

⁵But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.

⁶Now from those recognized as important (what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism ) — they added nothing to me.

⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised,

⁸since the one at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles.

⁹When James, Cephas, and John  — those recognized as pillars  — acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

¹⁰They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I had made every effort to do.

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

¹²For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.

¹³Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

¹⁴But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹⁵We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,”

¹⁶and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

¹⁷But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!

¹⁸If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God.

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

²¹I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

²I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

³Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?

⁴Did you experience so much for nothing — if in fact it was for nothing?

⁵So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard —

⁶just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?

⁷You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.

⁸Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.

⁹Consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

¹⁰For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.

¹¹Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.

¹²But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

¹⁴The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will.

¹⁶Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.

¹⁷My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise.

¹⁸For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

¹⁹Why then was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

²⁰Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one.

²¹Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.

²²But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.

²³Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.

²⁴The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.

²⁵But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

²⁶for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.

²⁷For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.

²⁸There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.