Chapter 1

¹ I am Paul, and I write to you the words Jesus Christ has commissioned me to write. The

words I am writing to you in this letter are words and ideas that do not come from any

person other than Jesus Christ and from God His Father who has raised Him up out of

death. ² And with me are a whole group of Christian brothers who testify to the authority

and authenticity of this letter written to the churches in the region of Galatia.

³ The purpose of this letter is to give you a better grasp of how very much God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ favor you, and that they are intent on giving you wholeness in your souls, filling in all the gaps with the goodness of Christ.

⁴ Because Jesus Christ has sacrificed Himself to cover for our sins, God, who is our real

Father, has committed Himself to rescue and deliver us from the eternal harm this fallen

world wants to inflict on us.⁵ It is important to understand that ALL the credit for our

deliverance from sin and its eternal consequences goes to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE. ONLY Them! Because They have done ALL the work to deliver us. And this will continue to be true throughout all the ages to come.

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^{6 & 7}You have really surprised me, and not in a good way! It astonishes me to see that you are so quickly deserting the One who has called you. For you were originally called into such an extraordinary measure of God’s favor and mercy and blessing, and you have now abandoned that. And what have you abandoned it for? For a set of false promises! Yes, it seems you are turning your backs on the reality of what Christ has accomplished for you and grabbed a set of empty promises instead.

Whoever has incited you to do this is bringing a LOT of trouble your way. ⁸ No matter who is doing this to you, even if it was an angel or even us, let that person be treated as though they were doomed by God to eternal destruction. They are not preaching a better way for you to get God’s blessings, but they are actually perverting the truth and purity and magnitude of what Jesus Christ has already fully accomplished for you. ⁹ Just to be clear, I repeat myself and this is no exaggeration. Anyone who is preaching something different from what you originally heard from us, that person is doomed by God to bear the full weight of their own sin forever!

¹⁰ What do you think? Am I seeking an endorsement from people, or from God? Because if what I am preaching sounded good and acceptable to people in general, then I would not be serving Christ.

^{11 & 12}I think you know the Gospel I’ve been preaching to you is not something I learned

from other people. No, I did not get it from others, not even from some Biblical scholar. The Gospel I have been preaching to you came to me by direct revelation from Jesus Christ Himself.

¹³You know that before I met Christ, I was fully immersed in the teachings and practices of the Jewish religious scholars. At that time, I was famous for being very passionate about the Jewish party line—so much so, that I was one of Judaism’s chief persecutors of the

Christian Church and quite intent on destroying the Church. ¹⁴ Everyone knew I was a rising star among the Jewish elite. I had the well-earned reputation for being the most passionate advocate for the time-tested traditions of the Jewish religion. [Just like those who are troubling you now.]

^{15 & 16}But God had other plans in mind for me. He had already selected me before I was born and still in my mother’s womb to be a favored chosen instrument of His. It was God’s plan to reveal His son in me so that I might go to the nations to proclaim Him among those

who are not Jews.

Upon meeting the risen Christ, my first response was not to consult with any other human, ¹⁷not even to go consult with the other apostles in Jerusalem, but I went instead into the desert (to be alone with God). After that, I returned to Damascus (not Jerusalem).

¹⁸It wasn’t until three years later that I finally went to Jerusalem and spent 15 days consulting with the Apostle Peter. ¹⁹ During that visit, I didn’t meet with any other apostles except for James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (If some of you find any of this hard to believe, I assure you, with God as my witness, all of this is absolutely true.)

²¹After that short 15 days with Peter and James, I went directly into the regions of Syria and Cilicia (which you know are even farther away from Jerusalem than Damascus is).

²²Consequently, almost no Christian in the region of Judea around Jerusalem even knew what I looked like. ²³ The only thing they knew about me was that the one who used to be persecuting them (me) was now preaching and advocating the very faith he once was destroying. ²⁴ And so they were glorifying God because of me.

Chapter 2

¹ It wasn’t until 14 years after that, that I went back to Jerusalem. That was when I also took Barnabas and Titus with me. [You can read all about that visit in Acts 15.]

 ² The reason I went to Jerusalem at that time was because the Lord told me to go and present the Gospel I had been preaching so it could be scrutinized by the senior leadership of the Church.

³ Significantly, the apostles in Jerusalem did not think it was important that Titus needed to be circumcised. Yes, they knew he was not circumcised because he was born a Greek and not a Jew. But as they scrutinized my whole ministry, they were clear about the fact that there was no need for Titus, who has an influential position in my ministry—there was no good reason to require Titus to be circumcised.

⁴ And this decision to not circumcise Titus was despite the fact that some pseudo-christian religious people wormed their way into our conference. They were critical of the freedom we have in Christ, wanting instead to enslave us to their bondage (of strict adherence to the Mosaic covenant and circumcision). ⁵ But we were careful not to allow them to compromise our convictions even in the slightest way, in order that the full truth of the Gospel would remain pure for you.

 ⁶ In contradiction to the pseudo-christians, the most respected Christian leaders in our meeting did not suggest even the smallest change to the Gospel of freedom I have been preaching to you. (Not that I had any doubt, because I was taught by the Lord Himself, and

His truth is not subject to the opinions of men.)

⁷ Contrary to what the pseudo-christians wanted, the Christian brothers there thought it was obvious that I had been entrusted with taking the Gospel to the non-Jews, just as Peter had been entrusted with taking the Gospel to the Jews. ⁸ For the same God who worked through Peter to the Jews, who were circumcised, was at work through me to the non-Jews (who did not need to be circumcised).

⁹ And having experienced the same unmerited favor God has given me, Peter, James, and John, who are reputed pillars of the Church, publicly gave their full hardy approval to Barnabas and me. They acknowledged that we were partners in Christ with them to take the Gospel to the non-Jews as they took the Gospel to the Jews. ¹⁰ They gave us only one charge: to not forget to minister to those who are oppressed and helpless, which was no problem at all for us because I was already eager to do just that.

 ¹¹ But when Peter came to visit us in the city of Antioch, I had to publicly rebuke him because he did something that was very wrong! ¹²For before some Jewish Christians came who were associated with James (the Lord’s brother in Jerusalem), Peter was just fine with the practice of eating with non-Jewish Christians. But when the Jewish Christians from James came, Peter shunned the idea of eating with non-Jewish Christians and would only eat with the Jewish Christians. He did this because he was afraid of incurring disapproval from the Jewish Christians. [Jewish tradition does not condone Jews eating with non-Jews.] ¹³ Moreover, Peter’s hypocrisy was spreading to the other Jewish Christians, so that even Barnabas was infected with it!

 ¹⁴ So, when I saw all this behavior that was opposed to the truth of the Gospel, I called Peter out in front of everyone, saying:

“If you usually live in the freedoms of a non-Jewish Christian and not the traditional restrictions of a Jew under the Laws of Moses despite the fact that you are a Jew, then why do you compel the non-Jewish Christians to observe the rules of traditional Judaism? ^{15 & 16} We Jewish Christians know that we have no advantage over non-Jewish Christians just because we were born Jewish (and circumcised). For we know no one is approved and accepted by God on the basis of the good works they have done, even when those good works are prescribed by the Laws of Moses. We know that God’s approval and acceptance comes only by trusting in Jesus Christ. It does not come by doing the things prescribed by the Laws of Moses (even though those Laws come from God Himself). Because we know that living a life conformed to the Laws of Moses (or any other good works) doesn’t get anyone approval and acceptance from God.”

^{17 & 18} So, what do we say about the fact that those of us who are in Christ still sin? Are we to conclude that the freedom we have in Christ encourages Christians to sin? Wow! If that’s where your mind goes, then you are completely misunderstanding the ministry of Christ. If you think the bad things you do detract from God’s approval and acceptance of you, then you are just rebuilding the Mosaic covenant paradigm, and you are demonstrating that you are not really understanding or accepting the Gospel!

¹⁹ For by trying to live under the authority and practices of the Laws of Moses, that Law ended up killing me; but my death to the authority of that Law had to happen so that I would now be free to live to God. ²⁰ I have been crucified together with Christ! Consequently, the old me no longer lives. The new me has Christ living in me. And the life that I now live, I live by continually trusting in this: The Son of God prefers my benefit over his own, and He has surrendered Himself to the wrath of God in my place [so that my soul would no longer be subject to the wrath of God for the things I do]. ²¹ To see this any other way would be to nullify the grace of God, for if it were possible for me to gain God’s approval by the good things I do, then Christ’s death would be pointless.

Chapter 3

¹Oh people of Galatia, you are thinking about this all wrong! Who has lured you into this terrible deception? The meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ used to be so clear to you.

²So I just have this one question for you. Did you receive the Holy Spirit because of your good works, or was it by simply trusting what you heard [about what Jesus did for you]? ³Why are you being so wrong-headed about this? You already knew that your salvation was completely dependent on what the Holy Spirit did for and in you; why then would you switch to thinking your salvation will progress based on the good things you do?

⁴Are all the important things you experienced just to be wasted? Can you just forget them so quickly? ⁵Think about this. Did the Holy Spirit work miracles among you because you were obeying the Laws God gave you through Moses, or was it instead because you trusted in the truths you heard [about the works Jesus did]?

⁶You want to talk about identifying yourself as a Hebrew? Fine, let’s talk about the most Hebrew of them all, the father of the Hebrews, Abraham. Abraham trusted and relied on God to keep His promises, and this trust resulted in Abraham having God’s full acceptance and approval. [This trust, and not Abraham’s good works, is what made Abraham right with God.] ⁷Following this same line of reasoning, it should be evident to you that this kind of trust [and not the works of Moses’ Law] is what brings you into the full stature and standing as an heir of Abraham and a true Hebrew.

⁸Notice, the Scriptures foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles because of their trust in Him, and so God announced the Gospel ahead of time proclaiming that all the nations would be blessed by God in this same way that Abraham was blessed because of his trust. ⁹So, those who trust God like Abraham did, are blessed like Abraham was.

¹⁰ And on the other hand, those who are counting on their good works (prescribed by the Laws of Moses) to gain God’s approval are under a curse! For the Scriptures clearly state that anyone who doesn’t continually do everything required in the Law of Moses is doomed to destruction.

¹¹So, since it is a fact that no one can gain God’s approval by doing the good works required by the Law of Moses, that is why those who are truly approved by God live by trusting [in what Jesus has already accomplished for them]. ¹²Trying to get God’s approval by conforming to the Laws of Moses is the opposite of the trust God requires. The person who thinks God will approve of them because of the good things they do will be stuck with the consequences of not doing good all the time [which will doom them to destruction].

¹³Christ paid for us to be rescued from the curse that would be on us from the Law of Moses. He did this by becoming a curse in our place, which is why the Scripture says the person who hangs on a tree (the cross) is cursed by God. ¹⁴Jesus Christ did all this so the blessing God gave to Abraham [right standing and full approval from God] would come to non-Jews. But even more, because of our trust [and not because of our good works] God’s Holy Spirit actually becomes part of our being!

¹⁵You who, along with me, are fully approved children in God’s family, consider this: even in this world in the courts of men, one party of a contract can’t just arbitrarily decide to change the terms of the contract once it has been signed and witnessed. ¹⁶ For so it is with God when He made a solemn covenant with Abraham. God said the terms of the covenant were for Abraham and his seed—He didn’t say to Abraham’s seeds, because He didn’t mean many of Abraham’s descendants, but to the singular seed, who is Christ. [In other words, the full terms of the contract would be fulfilled by Jesus Christ, not us.]

^{17 & 18} So, connecting the dots, the covenant God made with Abraham cannot be changed by the Law of Moses which came 430 years after the covenant with Abraham was ratified. That would unjustly nullify the proclamation that God made to Abraham that God’s approval would be based on trust, not on good works.

¹⁹ So, why then did God have Moses give us the Law? It was because we have a constant tendency to overstep into ungodliness—so God graciously granted us the Law. It served as a set of guardrails until the One promised to Abraham came (Jesus Christ).

 ²⁰ But (before Jesus came) our relationship with God through Moses the mediator was not the same as when Abraham interacted directly with God. ²¹ Was the Law supposed to help us experience God’s promises (to Abraham)? Absolutely not! For the Law was NEVER able to make us alive to God, nor was it able to make us right in God’s sight. ²²It was actually the opposite! The Holy purpose of the Law was to show us that we are slaves to sin so we would be ready and anxious to trust God for the alternative of just relying on Jesus Christ to provide us complete right standing in God’s sight (as was promised to Abraham).

 ^{23 & 24} So we see that the Laws of Moses guarded us (from the damaging excesses of our nature) until Jesus brought us to a place of trusting and relying on His righteousness as our own. ²⁵ And so now this new way of trusting in and relying on the righteousness of Christ means that we no longer need the Law to guard us.

²⁶For you are all now children of God because of the full scope of your trust in Christ. ²⁷For as many as have been washed clean by Christ have also been clothed with Christ Himself (you have put on Christ because He is the set of clothes you wear as you stand in the presence of God the Father).

²⁸And as such, you are all one in Christ with no distinction between Jews or non-Jews, or between slaves or free, or between male or female. For all of you are one in Christ. ²⁹ So since you are now in Christ you are seen by God as the heirs of the promise God made to

Abraham (which is that God declares you to be completely clean and right and acceptable and approved before Him).

Chapter 4

¹Consider the example of a child whose wealthy parents died while the child is still young. The parents leave a substantial inheritance for the child, but the trust fund is managed by a trustee until the child reaches the age specified in the will. This trustee has full legal authority to decide how the funds are used to meet the child’s legitimate needs. Until the child reaches the age set in the parents’ will, they cannot spend any of the trust fund money, even though it technically and legally belongs to them. In this way, the child has no more freedom to decide how to live than someone without wealth. ²The child must live under the trustee's protection, provision, and direction until the age set in the parents’ will. ³ Similarly, we were once bound by the basic guardrails of the religious practices found in the Laws of Moses, which were appropriate for spiritually immature children.

⁴But when the right time finally came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, to live in full subjection to the Laws of Moses, ⁵so that He could completely rescue and free those of us who were subject to those laws. He did this so we could receive the full adoption, with all the rights to the inheritance, as fully vested heirs of God’s household.

⁶And because we are full heirs, made so by God sending the Holy Spirit of His Son into our hearts (through whom we cry out “Abba, Father”), ⁷ we are no longer like poor unbelievers with no access to the Father’s wealth. Instead, we are now grown-up, fully vested heirs with shared responsibility for our Father’s reputation and the prosperity of His kingdom.

⁸ Before you knew God, you were under the control of the moral codes of this world. ^{9 & 10}And you may think that you chose to have a relationship with God, but in fact, it was God who chose to have a relationship with you, adopting you as His child and making you His heir and a ruler in His kingdom. So why would you want to return to the poverty and bondage of the old weak guardrails of the Mosaic covenant? ¹¹ You act as though I have wasted my time teaching you about Christ!

¹² For the moment, Let’s try and see this situation from each other’s perspective. From my  perspective, you have done nothing to harm me.

 ^13-15 As a matter of fact, as you will remember, even though when I first came to you to proclaim the Gospel, I had this disgusting physical malady with my eyes. But did you reject me then? No! You viewed me as a messenger of God and you welcomed me as though you were welcoming Jesus Christ Himself! Even to the point that if it were possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me so I could have had relief from my suffering! That was a time of great blessing for you. What happened to all that?

¹⁶Have I become your enemy for speaking the truth to you?

¹⁷You need to realize this: Those who are encouraging you to forsake the freedom Christ has won for you are being driven by an unhealthy desire to enslave you by their rules so they can control you and steal your affections away from Christ. Their goal is to have you revere them instead of Christ.

¹⁸I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have passionate loyalty, but that passionate loyalty should be for the good that Christ has done as it used to be when I was with you. ¹⁹My dear children, please take note of this: I continue to struggle for you until Christ is fully formed in you! [Translator’s note: THANK YOU JESUS that You are being fully formed in me!!!]

²⁰I really wish I could be there now with you and change my tone which has been so strong in this letter because I am perplexed and not sure what to do for you.

²¹Maybe this will help: Since you want to follow the writings of Moses, have you noticed the following things Moses wrote about? ²²Moses wrote that Abraham had two sons. One son (Ishmael) was of the slave woman (Hagar), and one son (Isaac) was of the free woman (Sarah). ²³The son of the slave woman was born from a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the free woman was born from God’s own fulfilment of His promise.

^{24 & 25}God has given us this example so we would see that these two women represent God’s two covenants. Hagar is the Arabian name for Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is where we got the Laws of Moses from, which brought us into a type of spiritual bondage. ²⁶ And Sarah represents a new covenant of freedom which is now ours in Christ. God has given us this better inheritance of freedom (in which we are no longer to be bound by our attempts to conform to the Mosaic covenant).

²⁷Even Isaiah wrote about this when he says to “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” In other words, we should GREATLY rejoice because the blessings God gives to us in this freedom greatly exceed the blessings He gave us when we were bound by the Laws of Moses.

²⁸You’ve got to see yourselves now as a type of Isaac, a child of freedom, living in this higher calling of God’s blessings.

²⁹Furthermore, just as way back then when the son of bondage (Ishmael) persecuted the son of freedom (Isaac), so it is now that those who think they have to do good things to be good in God’s sight are persecuting those who live in the freedom of knowing they are good and acceptable in God’s sight only by what Jesus has already accomplished for them.

³⁰Notice what the Scripture itself says we are to do about this conflict. It says we are to cast out the son of the slave woman (those who are bound by works righteousness) because they are not to have any part in the blessings God has for the son of the free woman (those who know their righteousness is in Christ alone and not the rules they keep).

³¹So then my brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t live like children of bondage, but live like children of freedom, because you are now free from the bondage of thinking God’s approval of you is based on the good things you do.

Chapter 5

¹ The whole point of Jesus Christ sacrificing Himself for us is so we would now live free from the burden of thinking God’s approval of us comes from the good things we do. SO QUIT BEING SUCKED INTO THAT BONDAGE OF WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS!

² I, Paul, emphatically declare to you that you MUST understand that you will prevent most of the blessings of Christ from coming to you if you pursue this false notion that your right standing before God depends on the things you do, and this includes even the most basic

and fundamental injunctions such as circumcision!

³ I am trying to make this as perfectly clear as I can. Even thinking that obeying God’s covenantal command to Abraham to be circumcised will result in God approving you more—even this will end up taking you to a place of bondage where you will be under the

burden of keeping all the Laws of Moses to feel you are approved before God.

⁴ If you believe that God’s approval of you depends even slightly on how well you follow the Laws of Moses (or any other good deeds), you will miss out on the true blessings of righteousness—the complete approval before God that Christ has already provided for

you. ⁵ We, on the other hand, eagerly await the blessings promised by God, fully expecting them because we are already fully approved before Him. These blessings come to us as we rely on the Holy Spirit to bring them into our lives.

⁶ We are to fully explore and live in the reality of the fact that Jesus Christ prefers our benefit over His own, which has nothing to do with whether or not we are adhering to the mandates of Moses. ⁷ You used to be running so well in this truth. Who is it that has taken you off track?

⁸ They are undermining the peace and solid confidence you used to have in the calling of Christ.  ⁹ This is not a little thing. If you start thinking that the good deeds you do increase how much God approves of you, even just a little bit, then pretty soon you will find yourselves completely overwhelmed with the full burdens of a works righteousness mentality. As the saying goes, “You start with just a little bit of leaven, but it keeps growing and spreading and ends up leavening the entire loaf.”

¹⁰ I am convinced that, for you who are in the Lord, you will realize there is no other valid way to think about this. But the one troubling you, whoever he might be, will bear the judgment for this.

¹¹ My brothers and sisters in the Lord, if I were still advocating circumcision (and all that implies relative to adhering to the mandates of the Mosaic Law) then would I still be facing such strong opposition for the Gospel I am preaching? No, because in that case, the cross of Christ would no longer be an offense to those who DO (wrongfully) insist that we need to adhere to the mandates of the Moses in order for us to progress in our righteousness.

¹² For those who insist on the necessity of circumcision, here is a constructive suggestion that might end up saving their souls: instead of just cutting off their foreskins, let them cut off all their genitals and then the exclusion of Deuteronomy 23:1 would apply to them and they would clearly see that it is the Mosaic Law that bars their entry into the kingdom of God. Perhaps then they would see they have to abandon their hope in the Laws of Moses and take refuge only in the cross of Christ.

 ¹³My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all of this points to the fact that you now have   freedom in the cross of Christ that you did not have when you were under the Laws of   Moses. But you need to understand the purpose of this new freedom is NOT so you can be   free to satisfy the lusts of your flesh (which constantly cry out for control), but instead, you   need to see the real reason you are given this new freedom from God is so you can   vigorously and creatively pursue the goal of serving one another in the same self-sacrificing   way that God continually serves you. ¹⁴ And that you would know the whole point of the entire Mosaic covenant and all the Laws of Moses was to get us to this realization: we are to genuinely desire that our neighbor would have all the blessings of God with the same passion and intensity as we desire God’s blessings for ourselves. ¹⁵ But pay attention to this: if you treat others as things to be used and abused for your own lustful pleasures, then that is the kind of treatment you will receive from others. ¹⁶ So, here’s some useful advice: if you let the Holy Spirit direct all your comings and goings, you will not have a problem with being overwhelmed by lustful desires to gratify your flesh (which will then put you back into bondage).

^{17 & 18} For our natural tendency is NOT to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit does not allow Himself to be under the control of our natural tendencies. The things our fleshly nature wants us to do are the opposite of what the Holy Spirit wants to be doing in our lives. The result of this tension is that you will find yourself wanting to do those things that God does not want you to be doing. But if you are truly following the leading of the Holy Spirit then you won’t have to be worrying about whether or not you are doing the right things (as specified in the Laws of Moses) because you WILL BE in the will of God!

^19-21 So, this makes us want to ask how we can tell whether or not we are truly being led by the Holy Spirit. Well, here is a list of things that are definitely driven by fleshly lusts; the Holy Spirit will NEVER lead you to these:

1. Any sort of sexual sin including sex outside of marriage or pornography or anything

else that takes you into lustful sensuality,

2. Obsessive devotion to the hope promised by anything or anyone other than God,

3. Illegal or hallucinogenic drugs,

4. Hostile hatefulness,

5. Being argumentative,

6. Intense emotional turmoil in you caused by jealousy,

7. Outbursts of anger,

8. Seeking your own prosperity at the expense of others,

9. Getting people to oppose others who are not like them (or inciting other such

divisions and factions),

10. Thinking that your ideas are better than God’s desires for you,

11. Drunkenness,

12. Wild partying characterized by ruckus revelry.

I warn you, as I have warned you in the past, that anyone doing anything like what I have listed above is not in the process of inheriting the blessings God wants to give you.

^{22 & 23}On the other hand, if you are being led by the Holy Spirit, then your life will be characterized by these fruits of the Holy Spirit:

1. You will find yourself caring more about the welfare of others than you do about your

own welfare.

2. You will have more and more joy in your life as you embrace the fact that God cares

more about your welfare than He does about His own.

3. You will have increasing wholeness in your soul as all the gaps keep getting filled in

by where the Holy Spirit leads you.

4. You will become slower to react in unwise ways when you face provocative

situations.

5. You will get better and better at finding constructive solutions to difficult

interpersonal situations.

6. You will start displaying more of the goodness of God in what you do and how you do it.

7. You will become increasingly comfortable trusting God with more and more of your

life and your belongings.

8. You will become increasingly humble and gentle in your dealings with others.

9. Others will increasingly think of you as a bastion of self-restraint.

And notice there is no law against any of these “fruits” that the Holy Spirit brings into your life (not any Law of Moses is against them, nor even is any law of earthly governments against them).

^24-26It comes down to this: if you are trying to gain God’s approval by focusing on working harder to do the good things proscribed in the Mosaic covenant, then you will end up becoming more self-righteous, more finger-pointingly judgmental of others, and becoming increasingly bitter when others have success that you are not having. The alternative to this is to live like someone who belongs to Jesus because they have been crucified with Him, dying to their fleshly lusts and passions. If you live by the leading of the Holy Spirit, then LET HIM LEAD YOU!

Chapter 6

¹I write this to you who are brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, if anyone should be overcome by some sin, those of you who are being led by the Holy Spirit must restore such a one in a spirit of gentle humility while carefully watching out that you do not also end up being tempted.

²Don’t be so concerned with the Law of Moses that you miss the Law of Christ. This is the Law of Christ: that you must bear one another’s burdens. ³ If anyone thinks he has more important things to do than helping a brother or sister in Christ when they need help, that person is deceiving themself because the truth is they do not have more important things to do. [translator’s observation: Did you notice Jesus did not neglect individuals who came to Him with needs? Do you think you have more important things to do than Jesus did?]

⁴ Pay careful attention to how you help others and let that satisfy your soul. Especially do not let yourself compare yourself to how others help one another. That has nothing to do with what God is leading you to do. ⁵ You need to be concerned with only what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do.

⁶ And be sure to share all the good things God has given you with those who faithfully and properly teach you the word of God.

^{7 & 8}One thing you can be absolutely certain of, God will make sure that if you choose to invest your time and energy satisfying your fleshly desires, then you will get the decay and corruption you seek. But if you choose to invest your time and energy following the leading of the Holy Spirit, then God will share the fullness and vitality of His life with you. ⁹ So don’t be discouraged or become weary in bearing one another’s burdens. If you don’t give up following the Holy Spirit’s leading in how you should be helping others, then you can be certain God will share with you the fullness of His life when He knows the time is right. ¹⁰ So then, as we have occasion to do so, let us seek to have the Holy Spirit work through us to bring the goodness of God to everyone we can, but especially let us do so toward those who trust in God to be their faithful Father.

¹¹ I know you know my handwriting so look and see that it is I who am writing these things to you (so you will know these words come to you with apostolic authority from Christ). So pay particular attention to what I am about to say to you:

¹² Those who are trying to get you to be circumcised and adhere to the Mosaic covenant are doing so because they want to impress you with how much effort they put into doing good things. They are clearly rejecting the stigma the world’s system places on those who trust ONLY in the work of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to be the ONLY goodness we have.

¹³ And don’t fail to notice that even they do not really take seriously all the   obligations of the Laws of Moses. What really motivates them is to be able to   control you and get the credit and the status that comes from your fleshly   accomplishments.

¹⁴ But for me, the only thing I boast about is what Christ accomplished for me on the cross. It is through the cross of Christ that I have rejected the world’s approach to righteousness, and I glory in the fact that the world’s system has rejected me. The world cannot tolerate me because I trust ONLY in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

¹⁵ The conclusion to all of this is that it doesn’t matter whether you get  circumcised or you don’t get circumcised. The only thing that does matter is  that Jesus Christ, through His work on the cross, has made you a fresh, clean,   new, and unstained creation—you already ARE this new creation in Christ! ¹⁶ And those who trust in this truth are the real Israel of God, and they will live in the great peace and mercy that God gives to those who are counting on the cross of Christ alone.

¹⁷ From now on, please don’t anyone cause me any more of this tumultuous concern for your souls.  For on my body I already bear the stigma from past punishments the world has inflicted on me because of this singular trust I have in Jesus.

¹⁸ May your spirit be full of the joy of living in the fact that, because of ONLY what our Lord   Jesus Christ has already done for you, God will always work for your blessing. We are, and   always will be, highly favored brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. Amen!

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