Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, an ambassador—not sent from men, nor appointed through a man, but rather through Messiah Jesus and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
2 And all the brothers who are with me, to the assemblies of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus the Messiah,
4 Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us out of this present wicked age according to the will of God—our Father;
5 To Him be the glory through the ages of ages, amen.
6 I marvel that you have been moved away so quickly from the one who called you by grace of Messiah—to another “good news”…
7 Which is not another: it is just that there are some who are harassing you, intending to get the good news of Messiah all turned around.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim good news contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.
9 Just as we said before, and right now I am saying again, if someone should proclaim good news to you contrary to what you received, let him be accursed.
10 Am I obeying men now, or God? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I would not be Messiah’s bondservant.
11 But I am letting you know, brothers, the good news proclaimed by me does not come from man,
12 And in fact I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it: to the contrary, Messiah Jesus revealed it to me.
13 To explain, you heard about my former way of life in Judaism, that to the extreme I was persecuting God’s assembly and endeavoring to destroy it,
14 And I was progressing in Judaism over many contemporaries among my people: I was more abundantly a zealous follower of my forebears’ traditions.
15 But when he pleased—the one who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace—
16 When he pleased to reveal his son in me, so that I would proclaim good news of him among the nations, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood,
17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were ambassadors before I was. To the contrary, I departed to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to seek out Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days.
19 But I did not see any other of the ambassadors, except Jacob, the Lord’s brother.
20 As for what I am writing to you, look, before God I am not lying!
21 Then I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 But I was unknown by face to the assemblies of Judea that were in Messiah,
23 Only that they were hearing, “The one who was persecuting us then is now proclaiming the good news of the faith he formerly tried to destroy,”
24 And they were glorifying God on my account.
Chapter 2
2:1 Fourteen years afterward, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along, too.
2 But I went up because it was revealed to me, and I communicated with them the good news that I proclaim among the nations, privately to those who seemed to be prominent, lest somehow I should be running in vain or had run in vain.
3 But to the contrary!—they did not even require Titus, who was with me and is Greek, to be circumcised.
4 But there was such an issue, on account of the false brothers who sneaked in, men who slipped in to spy out our liberty that we have in Messiah Jesus, intending to enslave us.
5 But we did not give way in submission to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the good news might continue with you.
6 But as for those who seemed to be something, you see—however they were then does not matter to me, God does not play favorites among men—the prominent ones contributed nothing more to me.
7 To the contrary, they saw I have been entrusted with good news for the uncircumcision, just as Peter is entrusted for the circumcision.
8 You see, the one who worked in Peter to be ambassador to the circumcision also worked in me to the nations.
9 And they recognized the grace given to me—Jacob, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars—and gave me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should be for the nations, while they are for the circumcision.
10 The only thing they said was that we should remember the poor, the very thing I too was eager to do.
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I took a stand against him to his face, because he was self-condemned.
12 Before some people came from Jacob, you see, he ate with the nations, but when they came, he ran for cover and separated himself, fearing those of the circumcision.
13 And the rest of the Jews co-playacted with him, to the point that even Barnabas was driven off with them in the playacting.
14 But when I saw them not walking the line respecting the truth of the good news, I spoke to Cephas in front of everybody: “If you being a Jew live like the non-Jews and not Jewishly, how can you require the non-Jews to live like Jews?”
15 “We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the non-Jews.”
16 “We know that a man is not justified by works of the law except it be through the faith of Jesus the Messiah. We ourselves trusted in Messiah Jesus in order to be justified by faith of Messiah and not by works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by works of the law.”
17 “But if we, as we seek to be justified by Messiah, are ourselves found to be sinners, is Messiah indeed serving up sin? Perish the thought!”
18 You see, if I build again the things I tore down, I confirm myself to be a transgressor.
19 As for me, I died to the law—through the law—so I could live to God. I have been co-crucified with Messiah;
20 I live, but it is no longer I that live, but Messiah lives in me, and in that I am living now in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for my sake.
21 I do not nullify God’s grace; if righteousness did come through the law, then in fact Messiah died for nothing.
Chapter 3
3:1 O unthinking Galatians! Who cast a spell on you? Jesus the Messiah was set forth publicly in writing, crucified before your eyes!
2 I only want to learn this from you: was it out of works of the law that you received the Spirit, or out of believing what you heard?
3 Are you that unthinking, that you began by spirit, and now you are finishing up by flesh?
4 Did you suffer so much in vain?—if indeed it is in vain.
5 Now, the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, is that out of works of the law or believing what you heard?
6 It is just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.”
7 In fact, you know that those who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham.
8 And foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, the Scripture gave Abraham the good news beforehand, “All nations will be blessed in you.”
9 The result: those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 You see, they are under a curse, as many as are of the works of the law; it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law, to do them.”
11 That no one is justified before God by the law is clear: “The righteous will live by faith.”
12 But the law is not of faith, but to the contrary: “The one who does [the commandments] shall live by them.”
13 Messiah bought us back out of the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for our sake, because it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
14 This is so that Abraham’s blessing may be for the nations by Messiah Jesus, so that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
15 Brothers, I am speaking in human terms: even respecting a humanly ratified will, no one voids it or makes additions to it.
16 But it was to Abraham the promises were spoken, and to his seed. It does not say, “to seeds,” as to many, but to the contrary, as to one person, “and to your seed,” who is Messiah.
17 And I say this: respecting a covenant ratified by God beforehand, the law that came to be four hundred and thirty years afterward does not nullify it so as to void the promise.
18 If it were out of the law that the inheritance comes, it would not come out of the promise anymore—but God gave it freely to Abraham by promise.
19 So why the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom it has been promised; it was set forth through messengers by the hand of a mediator.
20 And the mediator does not imply unity, but God is one.
21 So is the law against God’s promises? Perish the thought! For if a law were given capable of making us alive, plainly righteousness would come out of law.
22 To the contrary, the Scripture locked up everything together under sin, so that the promise—coming out of the faith of Jesus the Messiah—might be given to those who believe.
23 But before the faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, penned up until the faith would be revealed.
24 The law therefore became our tutor leading us to Messiah, so that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 You see, you are all God’s sons through the faith in Messiah Jesus;
27 As many of you as were immersed into Messiah, you were clothed with Messiah.
28 There is no more Jew nor Greek among you, no more slave nor free man, no more male and female! That is because all of you are one in Messiah Jesus.
29 And if you are of Messiah, indeed you are Abraham’s seed, heirs by promise!
Chapter 4
4:1 But I do say, for as long a time as the heir is a child, he is nothing different from a slave, though he is lord of everything,
2 He is still under custodians and stewards until the time his father has appointed.
3 We were that way, too: when we were children, we were enslaved under the fundamental principles of the world;
4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under law,
5 To redeem those who were under law, so that we might receive the adoption.
6 And because you are sons, God sent out the Spirit of his Son, crying “Abba, Father!”
7 As a result, you are no longer a slave, but a son instead…and if a son, you are an heir through God.
8 But….there was a time you did not know God and you slaved for those who by nature are not gods,
9 While now that you know God—or rather, are known by God—how are you turning again to the weak and beggarly principles, wanting to slave for them all over again?
10 Days you observe, and months and seasons and years!
11 I fear for you, lest somehow I have toiled for you in vain.
12 Be as I am, because I too am like you, brothers, I plead with you. You did not wrong me at all.
13 You know that it was in the face of the weakness of my flesh that I gave you the good news at the first,
14 And you did not belittle the trial you saw in my flesh, nor did you despise it; to the contrary, you received me like an angel of God, like Messiah Jesus!
15 So where is your blessing? I am witness to you that if you could have, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
16 Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17 They are not eager for your good; to the contrary, they want to lock you out, so you will be zealous after them.
18 And it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am visiting you.
19 My children, for whom I am in birth pangs again until Messiah be formed in you!
20 But I could wish to visit you right now and change my tone of voice, because I am at a loss over you.
21 Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not hear the law?
22 You see, it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from the slave woman and one from the free woman.
23 The slave woman’s son has been begotten according to the flesh, while the free woman’s son was through promise.
24 These are an allegory, in that the women are two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, the one giving birth to slavery, which is Hagar.
25 Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, since she is in slavery with her children.
26 But the Jerusalem above is free, who is the mother of us all.
27 As it is written:
“Rejoice, you barren who did not bring to birth,
Cry out and shout, you who did not go through labor,
Because more are the children of the desolate
Than she bore, who had a husband.”
28 And as for you, brothers, like Isaac you are children of promise.
29 But just as it was then—the son begotten according to the flesh persecuted the one begotten according to the spirit—so it is now.
30 But what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, because the slave woman’s son will not inherit with the free woman’s son.”
31 To conclude, brothers, we are not children of a slave woman, but children of the free.
Chapter 5
5:1 Messiah freed us for freedom; so take a stand, and don’t accept a yoke of slavery again.
2 Look! I, Paul, am telling you that if you get circumcised, Messiah will be no benefit to you.
3 I testify again to every man who has been circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 You were wiped out from Messiah, as many of you as justify yourselves by law; you have fallen out of grace.
5 As for us, it is by spirit, from faith, that we have received hope of righteousness.
6 In Messiah Jesus, you see, neither circumcision is good for anything, nor uncircumcision, but rather faith working through love.
7 You were running your race well; who cut in against you that you should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion is not from the One who is calling you.
9 A little leaven leavens all the dough.
10 I myself am persuaded of you in the Lord that you will not be minded in any other way, but the one who is harassing you will bear his condemnation, whoever he is.
11 But as for me, brothers, if I am still proclaiming circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Indeed, the stumbling block of the cross would have been wiped out.
12 It might help if they chopped their own off, too, the people that have you in an uproar!
13 You yourselves were called for freedom, brothers, only not freedom as a launching point for the flesh, but rather be servants to each other through love.
14 After all, every law is fulfilled in a single word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you are biting and devouring each other, beware lest you be swallowed up by each other.
16 But I say, walk by spirit, and you will not fulfill flesh’s craving.
17 That is because the flesh pits its strong desire against the spirit, but the spirit its strong desire against the flesh. These are set against each other so that you do not do what you would want to do.
18 But if you conduct yourselves by spirit, you are not under law.
19 The flesh’s works are plain to see, namely, sexual immorality, impurity, uncleanness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatreds, strife, rivalry, fits of anger, intrigues, dissensions, factions,
21 Resentments, drinking bouts, gluttonous feasts and other such works, which I tell you beforehand, just as I predicted, those who practice such things as these will not inherit God’s kingdom.
22 But the Spirit’s fruit is love, joy, peace, a long temper, kindness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.
24 And those who are of Messiah Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and cravings.
25 If we live by spirit, let us also keep in step by spirit.
26 Let us not become empty boasters, provoking each other, envying each other.
Chapter 6
6:1 Brothers, if a man should be taken in some transgression, then restore him, you who are spiritual, in a spirit of meekness, looking to yourself lest you be tempted, too.
2 Bear up each other’s heavy burdens and so fulfill Messiah’s law.
3 You see, if someone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is deluding himself.
4 Let each one put his own work to the test, and then he will boast of his own work alone and not someone else’s.
5 For each one will bear his own load.
6 Let the one who is being instructed in the word share in all good things with the one who’s instructing.
7 Don’t go astray, God is not mocked. What a man sows, this is what he will reap:
8 He who is sowing to his own flesh will out of the flesh reap destruction, but he who is sowing to the spirit will out of the spirit reap eternal life.
9 But as we are doing what is good, let us not handle it badly, because in its season we will reap a harvest—if we are not coming undone.
10 So as we have opportunity, therefore, let us work the good to all, but especially to those who are of faith’s household.
11 See with what large letters I wrote to you in my own hand!
12 As many as want to look good in the flesh, these are the ones requiring you to be circumcised. They only do it so they would not be persecuted for the cross of Messiah.
13 Those who practice circumcision do not keep the law themselves, you see, but do it so they can boast in your flesh.
14 But for me, may I not boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah; through him the world has been crucified with respect to me, and I with respect to the world.
15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but rather a new creation.
16 And as many as will keep in step with this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.
17 As for the rest, let no one give me trouble, for I myself bear Jesus’ tattoo marks of dedication in my body.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah be with your spirit, brothers. Amen!
* * *
Letter to the Galatians – Translator’s Note
This translation attempts to convey Galatians with some of the vividness of Paul’s Greek original.
A central fact drives this translation: Paul understood a “good news” that was deeply mysterious before, but now wonderfully revealed, and Paul used precisely these Greek words to explain it to the Galatian assembly and now to us.
Paul described the great chasm and hostility between flesh and spirit, law and grace in the experience of believers in Jesus. He expressed it, not with a religious or liturgical vocabulary, but with ordinary First Century Greek, informed in places by references to Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, which Paul knew in both Hebrew and Greek. That is why “Messiah” is used here…when Paul as a Jew refers to “Christ” (Χριστός, Christos, “Anointed”), he is simply saying “Messiah” (משִׁיחַ Meshiach, “Anointed One”) in Greek.
It helps to remember that when he wrote Galatians, apostle (ambassador, emissary), deacon/minister (one who provides service as a free man), evangelist (bringer of good news), pastor (shepherd), and baptism (a plunging in or immersion) were ordinary secular terms, not religious terms, to his audience.
Paul wrote from revelation, not tradition. We need to read carefully and pray for God’s light on our personal understanding.
As το style and technique, this translation basically goes phrase for phrase, rather than word for word, rendering the characteristically long, connected Greek sentences with the shorter, more direct sentences characteristic of contemporary English.
This translation seeks to reflect emphasis communicated by Greek word order, where it occurs, emphasis through explicit personal subject pronouns (since Greek normally identifies these subjects by the form of the verb itself), and at least hint at the etymology and literal meaning of some Greek words. 2:14 gives an example: Paul’s Galatian readers could see that the word for “walking straight or uprightly” was literally saying, “straight-footing.” “Walking the line” tries to give the reader some of that in English.
It seeks to capture the use of verbs that build prepositions in as prefixes, especially σύν (syn) meaning “with” or “together with,” which as a prefix is very close to the English “co-“, as in “co-play-acted” in 2:13. It also respects verb tenses, moods, and voices as they give precision to translation.
This translation uses the same English word for the same Greek word, wherever possible. Sometimes, though, the Greek word has two or more common meanings, and a translator has to pick an English word for just one of them. An example is διαθήκη (diathēkḕ̀), a common word for both “testament, disposition of property by will” and “covenant, compact.” Another pair are ἀνήρ (anēr) and γυνή (gynē ):” the former is the common Greek word for both “man” and “husband,” while the latter is the common word for both “woman” and “wife.”
Where an unusual word or phrase appears here, it is an attempt to portray the vividness of the Greek. In other parts, giving the best sense of what Paul wrote will necessarily resemble the excellent translations we already enjoy in English.
Verse-by-verse Notes
1:1 “not sent from men, nor appointed through a man” – the words “sent” and “appointed” do not appear as such in the verse, but are used to navigate an English language problem. “Ambassador” does not closely connect with the verb “send” in English—English has no word that puts the two together. But ἀπόστολος, apostolos, translated “ambassador,” is just the noun form of the common Greek verb meaning “to send away,” apostellō. It takes two English words to communicate the senses of ambassador function and being sent that are in a single Greek word. Somewhat similar is the use of “appointed;” it combines the sense of the preposition translated “through” with the sense of being sent: to be “sent through Jesus the Messiah” speaks of Jesus authorizing and initiating this ambassador function. As a parallel, the verb “to commission,” as in commissioned officers in the military, or commissioners, derives from a Latin verb for “send.”
1:7 “get … all turned around” – the verb μεταστρέφω metastrepho has the basic sense of “turn about, turn around,” and here means “misrepresent, change, alter, as by twisting every way.”
1:19 “Jacob” – his name is traditionally given as James in English, but the text plainly says “Jacob”—Ἰάκωβος Yakōbos; the same name also appears in 2:9 and 2:12.
2:12 “ran for cover” – offered as a metaphorical translation of ὑποστέλλω hupostello, which literally means “draw back for shelter.”
2:14 “walking the line” – this current idiom seems to fit ὀρθοποδέω orthopodeo, which literally means “to straight-foot,” i.e., to walk straight or uprightly.”
2:14-15 “non-Jews” – this translates the plural of ἔθνος ethnos, literally “nations”, because here it does not mean “nations” generically, but peoples other than the Jews.
2:17 “Perish the thought!” – translating an exclamation that has also been translated “God forbid!” The actual phrase is μὴ γένοιτο mē genoitŏ, “May it not happen!” It also appears in 3:21.
3:6 Genesis 15:6.
3:8 Genesis 12:3, 18:18.
3:10 Deuteronomy 27:26.
3:11 Habakkuk 2:4.
3:12 Leviticus 18:5.
3:13 Deuteronomy 21:23.
3:15 “will” – as in ‘last will and testament’ is one of two basic meanings for διαθήκη diatheke; the other is “covenant.” This Greek word translates “covenant” in the Genesis story of Abraham, and Paul uses the two meanings side by side in Galatians 3: “will” here and “covenant” in 3:17. It is also used for covenant in 4:24.
3:21 “Perish the thought!” – See note for 2:17.
3:27 “immersed into” – gives the first-century meaning of βαπτίζω baptidzo, “to immerse or plunge someone or something into something;” it is a visual metaphor for a spiritual reality—not a religious term—when Paul wrote it.
5:7 This translation reflects the thought that Paul seems to be referring to running as in an athlete running a race, where another runner cutting in front of him would throw him all off stride and maybe eliminate him from contention. “Cut in against” – translates ἐγκόπτω engkopto, which literally means “knock in, engrave;” hence it also means “oppose, hinder, thwart.” The translation here reflects two things: first, the root verb, κόπτω kopto, is a basic verb in Greek with meanings based on “cut, smite, strike, cut off;” second, the verb in 5:12 is from the same root verb. It appears Paul, for emphasis, is making a play on words with these two verbs.
5:12 “chopped their own off” – translates ἀποκόπτω apokopto, which literally means “cut off, hew off.” It has the same root verb as the verb in 5:7; in the form used here, it is a common verb for “make oneself a eunuch.”
5:13 “launching point” – translates ἀφορμή aphorme, which basically means “starting point, military base of operations” and from that, “occasion, pretext.”
5:17 “pits its strong desire” – translates ἐπιθυμέω epithumeo, which is defined as “to set one’s heart upon, to long for, covet, desire.”
5:25 “by spirit” – refers to the spiritual part of a human being’s tripartite nature; it is commonly contrasted with the flesh, the fallen nature dominated by bodily appetites and passions.
6:8 “but he who is sowing to the spirit will out of the spirit reap eternal life”- Sowing to the spirit is contrasted to sowing to the flesh, so the reference seems to be to the human spirit, the part of a man that keeps direct communion with God. In either case the human sowing in one or the other results in a harvest. In that sense it is literally walking (sowing) as a spiritual man rather than as a fleshly man.
6:17 “tattoo marks of dedication” – translates στίγμα stigma, which is defined as “tattoo mark, sometimes showing that persons (especially slaves) so marked were devoted to service of the temple.” The unabridged lexicon cites this verse as a figurative use of the word.
Copyright 2021, P. K. Chamberlain. All rights reserved.
