Beginning

4 Listen. I am going to explain how this all works: When a minor inherits an estate from his parents, although he is the owner of everything, he is the same as a slave. ² Until the day set by his father, the minor is subject to the authorities or guardians whom his father put in charge. ³ It is like that with us; there was a time when we were like children held under the elemental powers of this world. ⁴ When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) ⁵ to free those who, just like Him, were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters. ⁶ Because you are now part of God’s family, He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts; and the Spirit calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ You no longer have to live as a slave because you are a child of God. And since you are His child, God guarantees an inheritance is waiting for you.

⁸ During the time before you knew God, you were slaves to powers that are not gods at all. ⁹ But now, when you are just beginning to know the one True God—actually, He is showing how completely He knows you—how can you turn back to weak and worthless idols made by men, icons of these spiritual powers? Haven’t you endured enough bondage to these breathless idols? ¹⁰ You are observing particular days, months, festival seasons, and years; ¹¹ you have me worried that I may have wasted my time laboring among you.

¹² Brothers and sisters, I have become one of you. Now it’s your turn—become as I am. You have never wronged me. ¹³ Do you remember the first time I preached the good news to you? I was sick, and ¹⁴ I know my illness was a hardship to you, but you never drew back from me or scorned me. You cared for me as if I were a heavenly messenger of God, possibly as well as if I were the Anointed Jesus Himself! Don’t you remember? ¹⁵ What has happened to your joy and blessing? I tell you, the place was so thick with love that if it were possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and handed them to me. ¹⁶ And now, do I stand as your enemy because I tried to bless you with the truth? ¹⁷ I’ll tell you what these false brothers and sisters are counting on: your attention. They are ravenous for it. They are not acting honorably or in your best interests. They want to keep you away from the good news we proclaim so they can have you all to themselves. ¹⁸ Listen, there’s nothing wrong with zeal when you’re zealous for God’s good purpose. And what’s more, you don’t have to wait for me to be with you to seek the good. ¹⁹ My dear children, I feel the pains of birth upon me again, and I will continue in labor for you until the Anointed One is formed completely in you. ²⁰ I wish I were there. This letter is really harsh, yet I am really perplexed by you.

²¹ Now it’s your turn to instruct me. All of you who want to live by the rules of the law, are you really listening to and heeding what the law teaches? Listen to this: ²² it’s recorded in the Scripture that Abraham was the father of two sons. One son was born to a slave woman, Hagar, and the other son was born to a free woman, Abraham’s wife, Sarah. ²³ The slave woman’s son was born through only natural means, but the free woman’s son was born through a promise from God. ²⁴ I’m using an allegory. Here’s the picture: these two women stand for two covenants. The first represents the covenant God made on Mount Sinai—this is Hagar, who gives birth to children of slavery. ²⁵ Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she stands for the Jerusalem we know now. She has lived in slavery along with her children. ²⁶ But there is a Jerusalem we know above. She is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷ Isaiah wrote,

²⁸ So you see now, brothers and sisters, you are children of the promise like Isaac. ²⁹ The slave’s son, born through only what flesh could conceive, resented and persecuted the one born into the freedom of the Spirit. The slave’s son picked at Isaac, just as you are being picked at now. ³⁰ So what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave and her son, for the slave’s son will never have a share of the inheritance coming to the son of the free woman.”^{[b] 31} So, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but sons and daughters of the free.

5 So stand strong for our freedom! The Anointed One freed us so we wouldn’t spend one more day under the yoke of slavery, trapped under the law.

² Listen because I, Paul, am going to make this message very clear so it cannot be misunderstood: if you undergo the rite of circumcision, then all that the Anointed accomplished will be lost on you. ³ And understand this: if you choose to be circumcised, then you will oblige yourself to do every single rule of the law for the rest of your life. ⁴ You, and anyone else who seeks to be on the right side of God through the law, have effectively been cut off from the Anointed, circumcised from grace, and cast off from the favor of God. ⁵ We, on the other hand, continue to live through the Spirit’s power and wait confidently in the hope that things will be put right through faith. ⁶ Here’s the thing: in Jesus the Anointed whether you are circumcised or not makes no difference. What makes a difference is faith energized by love.

⁷ Who has impeded your progress and kept you from obeying the truth? You were off to such a good start. ⁸ I know for certain the pressure isn’t coming from God. He keeps calling you to the truth. ⁹ You know what they say, “Just a little yeast causes all the dough to rise,” so even the slightest detour from the truth will take you to a destination you do not desire. ¹⁰ Despite this, I’m confident because the Lord reassures me that you will truly hear and take my message to heart. Besides, I also know that these troublemakers, whoever they are, will answer to God and be judged accordingly. ¹¹ As for me, brothers and sisters, if I continue to preach circumcision—as these agitators claim—then why do I still face persecution? If I were to preach a compromised version of the good news, then the scandal of the cross would come to an end. ¹² I really wish that these people who weigh you down with corrupt counsel would mutilate themselves!

¹³ Brothers and sisters, God has called you to freedom! Hear the call, and do not spoil this gift by using your liberty to engage in what your flesh desires; instead, use it to serve each other as Jesus taught through love. ¹⁴ For the whole law comes down to this one instruction: “Love your neighbor as yourself,”^[c] so ¹⁵ why all this vicious gnawing on each other? If you are not careful, you will find you’ve eaten each other alive!

¹⁶ Here’s my instruction: walk in the Spirit, and let the Spirit bring order to your life. If you do, you will never give in to your selfish and sinful cravings. ¹⁷ For everything the flesh desires goes against the Spirit, and everything the Spirit desires goes against the flesh. There is a constant battle raging between them that prevents you from doing the good you want to do. ¹⁸ But when you are led by the Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.

¹⁹ It’s clear that our flesh entices us into practicing some of its most heinous acts: participating in corrupt sexual relationships, impurity, unbridled lust, ²⁰ idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, arguing, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contentiousness, division, ²¹ envy of others’ good fortune, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other shameful vices that plague humankind. I told you this clearly before, and I only tell you again so there is no room for confusion: those who give in to these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² The Holy Spirit produces a different kind of fruit: unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. You won’t find any law opposed to fruit like this. ²⁴ Those of us who belong to the Anointed One have crucified our old lives and put to death the flesh and all the lusts and desires that plague us.

²⁵ Now since we have chosen to walk with the Spirit, let’s keep each step in perfect sync with God’s Spirit. ²⁶ This will happen when we set aside our self-interests and work together to create true community instead of a culture consumed by provocation, pride, and envy.

6 My spiritual brothers and sisters, if one of our faithful has fallen into a trap and is snared by sin, don’t stand idle and watch his demise. Gently restore him, being careful not to step into your own snare. ² Shoulder each other’s burdens, and then you will live as the law of the Anointed teaches us. ³ Don’t take this opportunity to think you are better than those who slip because you aren’t; then you become the fool and deceive even yourself. ⁴ Examine your own works so that if you are proud, it will be because of your own accomplishments and not someone else’s. ⁵ Each person has his or her own burden to bear and story to write.

⁶ Remember to share what you have with your mentor in the Word.

⁷ Make no mistake: God can’t be mocked. What you give is what you get. What you sow, you harvest. ⁸ Those who sow seeds into their flesh will only harvest destruction from their sinful nature. But those who sow seeds into the Spirit shall harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. ⁹ May we never tire of doing what is good and right before our Lord because in His season we shall bring in a great harvest if we can just persist. ¹⁰ So seize any opportunity the Lord gives you to do good things and be a blessing to everyone, especially those within our faithful family.

¹¹ Look at how giant these letters are now that I am writing with my own hand!

¹² The troublemakers who are putting pressure on you to be circumcised are trying to impress the flesh. They want to avoid the persecution that comes from preaching the cross of the Anointed One, the Liberating King. ¹³ But even those who receive circumcision can’t keep the law—although they think they can—and they hope to influence which way you go with your own skin so they can have bragging rights over your flesh.

¹⁴ May I never put anything above the cross of our Lord Jesus the Anointed. Through Him, the world has been crucified to me and I to this world. ¹⁵ Let me be clear: circumcision won’t save you—uncircumcision won’t either for that matter—for both amount to nothing. God’s new creation is what counts, and it counts for everything. ¹⁶ May peace and mercy come to all of you who live by this rule and to the Israel of God.

¹⁷ In the future, don’t let anyone cause trouble for me because I bear in my body the marks that wounded Jesus.

¹⁸ May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, infuse your spirit with His, brothers and sisters. Amen.