Galatians 4-6

Complete Jewish Bible

4 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a minor he is no different from a slave, even though he is the legal owner of the estate; ² rather, he is subject to guardians and caretakers until the time previously set by his father. ³ So it is with us — when we were “children” we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe; ⁴ but when the appointed time arrived, God sent forth his Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm, ⁵ so that he might redeem those in subjection to this legalism and thus enable us to be made God’s sons. ⁶ Now because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”). ⁷ So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son you are also an heir.

⁸ In the past, when you did not know God, you served as slaves beings which in reality are non-gods. ⁹ But now you do know God, and, more than that, you are known by God. So how is it that you turn back again to those weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to enslave yourselves to them once more? ¹⁰ You observe special days, months, seasons and years! ¹¹ I fear for you that my work among you has been wasted!

¹² Brothers, I beg of you: put yourselves in my place — after all, I put myself in your place. It isn’t that you have done me any wrong — ¹³ you know that it was because I was ill that I proclaimed the Good News to you at first; ¹⁴ and even though my physical condition must have tempted you to treat me with scorn, you did not display any sign of disdain or disgust. No, you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God, as if I had been the Messiah Yeshua himself! ¹⁵ So what has become of the joy you felt? For I bear you witness that had it been possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy because I tell you the truth? ¹⁷ True, these teachers are zealous for you, but their motives are not good. They want to separate you from us so that you will become zealous for them. ¹⁸ To be zealous is good, provided always that the cause is good. Indeed, whether I am present with you or not, ¹⁹ my dear children, I am suffering the pains of giving birth to you all over again — and this will go on until the Messiah takes shape in you. ²⁰ I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone of voice. I don’t know what to do with you.

²¹ Tell me, you who want to be in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism, don’t you hear what the Torah itself says? ²² It says that Avraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. ²³ The one by the slave woman was born according to the limited capabilities of human beings, but the one by the free woman was born through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise. ²⁴ Now, to make a midrash on these things: the two women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for slavery — this is Hagar. ²⁵ Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Yerushalayim, for she serves as a slave along with her children. ²⁶ But the Yerushalayim above is free, and she is our mother; ²⁷ for the Tanakh says,

²⁸ You, brothers, like Yitz’chak, are children referred to in a promise of God. ²⁹ But just as then the one born according to limited human capability persecuted the one born through the Spirit’s supernatural power, so it is now. ³⁰ Nevertheless, what does the Tanakh say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for by no means will the son of the slave woman inherit along with the son of the free woman!”^{[b] 31} So, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

5 What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery. ² Mark my words — I, Sha’ul, tell you that if you undergo b’rit-milah the Messiah will be of no advantage to you at all! ³ Again, I warn you: any man who undergoes b’rit-milah is obligated to observe the entire Torah! ⁴ You who are trying to be declared righteous by God through legalism have severed yourselves from the Messiah! You have fallen away from God’s grace! ⁵ For it is by the power of the Spirit, who works in us because we trust and are faithful, that we confidently expect our hope of attaining righteousness to be fulfilled. ⁶ When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.

⁷ You were running the race well; who has stopped you from following the truth? ⁸ Whatever means of persuasion he used was not from the One who calls you. ⁹ “It takes only a little hametz to leaven the whole batch of dough.” ¹⁰ I am confident that since you are united with the Lord, you will take no other view; and I am confident that the one who has been disturbing you, whoever he may be, will have to bear his punishment.

¹¹ And as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were the case, my preaching about the execution-stake would cause no offense whatever. ¹² I wish the people who are bothering you would go the whole way and castrate themselves!

¹³ For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love. ¹⁴ For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself”;^{[c] 15} but if you go on snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other!

¹⁶ What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. ¹⁷ For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.

¹⁹ And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency; ²⁰ involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue ²¹ and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God!

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.

²⁴ Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.

²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

6 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too. ² Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds. ³ For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself. ⁴ So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else; ⁵ for each person will carry his own load. ⁶ But whoever is being instructed in the Word should share all the good things he has with his instructor. ⁷ Don’t delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows. ⁸ Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life. ⁹ So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest. ¹⁰ Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful.