Greeting

Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead),

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

who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,

(Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)

And they glorified God in me.

But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.

For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.

For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

Sons and Heirs

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

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Fears for the Church

But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.

But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?