Galatians 2

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

²And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

³Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers.

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹⁶But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.

¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

⁵⁰The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

⁶But as for the highly esteemed—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—those leaders added nothing to me.

¹⁶as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

⁵For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter had somehow tempted you and that our labor might have been in vain.

²³but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

²⁶Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.

⁹And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John—those reputed to be pillars—gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

³Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

²Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

³Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law.

²¹To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law.

¹³I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

²⁴It has come to our attention that some went out from us without our authorization and unsettled you, troubling your minds by what they said.

¹It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.

⁴For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

¹Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

²Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

¹²As for those who are agitating you, I wish they would proceed to emasculate themselves!

¹³For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

²⁶In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,

¹⁶Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁴When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

⁴I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.

⁵For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.

⁵the faith and love proceeding from the hope stored up for you in heaven, of which you have already heard in the word of truth, the gospel

³Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

¹O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

²I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I spoke privately to those recognized as leaders, for fear that I was running or had already run in vain.

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,

¹¹For God does not show favoritism.

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

⁵I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”

¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.

⁴Instead, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, not in order to please men but God, who examines our hearts.

¹⁵“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.

⁷For this reason I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the Gentiles. I am telling the truth; I am not lying about anything.

¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,

⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

¹¹to which I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher.

²¹Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

¹⁵“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.

¹²The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

¹⁴Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice, and addressed the crowd: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words.

¹⁵These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day!

¹⁹Paul greeted them and recounted one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.

¹²The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.

⁸Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

²I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I spoke privately to those recognized as leaders, for fear that I was running or had already run in vain.

²²Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers,

²³and sent them with this letter: The apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

¹⁷If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

¹⁶And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

¹⁷After several years, then, I returned to Jerusalem to bring alms to my people and to present offerings.

¹Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia.

²In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity.

¹Now about the collection for the saints, you are to do as I directed the churches of Galatia:

²On the first day of every week, each of you should set aside a portion of his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will be needed.

¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

¹⁶If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?

²⁰But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.

¹⁴When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

¹Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

⁵We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

²³But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

²⁸He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.

²So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

⁶This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him

³and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁶⁹Meanwhile, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him. “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” she said.

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all: “I do not know what you are talking about.”

²⁵The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is set securely on high.

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

¹As dead flies bring a stench to the perfumer’s oil, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman,

¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.

³⁶Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (meaning Son of Encouragement),

²⁸He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.

⁵We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

¹⁰Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

¹¹On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

²⁰But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.

⁷He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,

¹²Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.

³All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

³For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

⁹What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.

¹¹Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—

¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

⁴though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

⁹and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

²Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

³⁰What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

³⁸Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

³⁹Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

¹What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase?

²Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?

⁸The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

⁹Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

⁵But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.

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

²¹She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

⁷What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,

⁹But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

¹⁰You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!

⁴This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.

⁵We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

¹²For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.

¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

¹⁵If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.

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

¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

¹²By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

⁴Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

²Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?

¹⁰He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

¹¹So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

¹⁵And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

⁴We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.

³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

¹¹For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.

⁶And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

²¹Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law.

¹¹Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?

¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.

¹⁶know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

²Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

³Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.