Beginning
4 Then I say that the heir (as long as he is a child) differs nothing from a servant - though he be Lord of all -
2 but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the Father.
3 Even so, we (when we were children) were in bondage under the basic principles of the world.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman and made under the Law;
5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law (that we might receive adoption as sons).
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, who cries, “Abba, Father!”
7 Therefore, you are a servant no more, but a son. Now, if you are a son, you are also the heir of God, through Christ.
8 But even then, when you did not know God, you were enslaved by those who, by nature, are not gods.
9 But now, seeing you know God - indeed, rather, are known by God - how can you turn again to weak and poor principals; so that, as before, you will be in bondage again?
10 You observe days and months and times and years.
11 I am in fear for you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.
12 Be as me, brothers, I beg you (for I am also like you). You have not hurt me at all.
13 And you know how through weakness of the flesh I preached the Gospel to you at first.
14 And your trial from me (which was in my flesh) you neither despised nor abhorred. But you received me as an angel of God; indeed, as Christ Jesus.
15 Where then is your felicity? For I bear witness that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me.
16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 They are wrongly jealous for you. Yea, they would separate you from us, so that you would be jealous for them.
18 But it is a good thing to always love earnestly in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you,
19 my little children with whom I travail in birth again, until Christ is formed in you.
20 And I would that I were with you now, so I might change my voice. For I am in doubt of you.
21 Tell me, you who would be under the Law, do you not hear the Law?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: one by a servant and one by a free woman.
23 But he who was by the servant was born after the flesh. And he who was by the free woman was born by promise.
24 These things are allegorical. For these mothers are the two Testaments. The one called Hagar begat those of mount Sinai, who are enslaved.
25 For Hagar (or Sinai) is a mountain in Arabia, and it is now presently Jerusalem. And she is enslaved with her children.
26 But the Jerusalem above is free and is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who bear no children! Break forth, and cry, you who do not travail! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.”
28 Therefore, brothers, we are like Isaac: children of the promise.
29 But just as at that time the one who was born after the flesh persecuted the one who was born after the Spirit, so also it is now.
30 But what says the Scripture? ‘Put out the servant and her son. For the son of the servant shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.’
31 Then, brothers, we are not children of the servant, but of the free woman.
5 Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty whereby Christ has made us free. And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I, Paul, say to you, that if you shall become circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man who is circumcised, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
4 You are severed from Christ. Whoever is justified by the Law, you are fallen from grace.
5 For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness through faith.
6 For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith (which works by love).
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 It is not the persuasion of the One who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you, through the Lord, that you will be single-minded. But he who troubles you shall bear condemnation, whoever he might be.
11 And I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the stumbling block of the cross is abolished.
12 I even wish those who disquiet you would emasculate themselves.
13 For brothers, you have been called to freedom. Only, do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the Law is fulfilled in one Word, which is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take heed, for you might be consumed by one another.
16 Then I say, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to another, so that you cannot do the things you would like.
18 And if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 Moreover, the works of the flesh are obvious: adultery, fornication, impurity, lewdness,
20 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, rivalry, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, gluttony, and the like. And, just as I have told you before, those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24 For those who are Christ’s, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, we should also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not become boastful, provoking one another, envying one another.
6 Brothers, even if a man should be overcome in some offense, you who are spiritual restore such one with the spirit of humility, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.
2 Bear one another’s burden, and so fulfill the Law of Christ.
3 For if anyone seems to himself something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let everyone test his own work. And then shall he boast in himself only and not in another.
5 For everyone shall bear his own burden.
6 Let the one who is taught in the Word make the one who has taught him a partaker of all good things.
7 Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his flesh, shall reap destruction of the flesh. But the one who sows to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 Let us not, therefore, be weary of well-doing. For in due season we shall reap, if we do not grow weary.
10 Therefore, while we have time, let us do good to all; and now especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
11 You see how large the letters are which I have written to you with my own hand.
12 As many as desire to have a fair appearance in the flesh, they urge you to be circumcised, only because they would not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
13 For they themselves who are circumcised do not keep the Law, but desire to have you circumcised, so that they might boast in your flesh.
14 But may it never be that I should boast in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; whereby the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!
15 For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creature.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace shall be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From henceforth let no one give me trouble. For I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
18 Brothers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
(to the Galatians; written from Rome.)
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