Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle. People have not sent me. No human authority has sent me. I have been sent by Jesus Christ and by God the Father. God raised Jesus from the dead. ² All the brothers and sisters who are with me join me in writing.

We are sending this letter to you, the members of the churches in Galatia.

³ May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. ⁴ Jesus gave his life for our sins. He set us free from this evil world. That was what our God and Father wanted. ⁵ Give glory to God for ever and ever. Amen.

There Is No Other Good News

⁶ I am amazed. You are so quickly deserting the one who chose you. He chose you to live in the grace that Christ has provided. You are turning to a different “good news.” ⁷ What you are accepting is really not the good news at all. It seems that some people have gotten you all mixed up. They are trying to twist the good news about Christ. ⁸ But suppose even we should preach a different “good news.” Suppose even an angel from heaven should preach it. Suppose it is different from the good news we gave you. Then let anyone who does that be cursed by God. ⁹ I have already said it. Now I will say it again. Suppose someone preaches a “good news” that is different from what you accepted. That person should be cursed by God.

¹⁰ Am I now trying to get people to think well of me? Or do I want God to think well of me? Am I trying to please people? If I were, I would not be serving Christ.

Paul Was Appointed by God

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, here is what I want you to know. The good news I preached does not come from human beings. ¹² No one gave it to me. No one taught it to me. Instead, I received it from Jesus Christ. He showed it to me.

¹³ You have heard how I lived earlier in my Jewish way of life. With all my strength I attacked the church of God. I tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I was moving ahead in my Jewish way of life. I went beyond many of my people who were my own age. I held firmly to the teachings passed down by my people. ¹⁵ But God set me apart from before the time I was born. He showed me his grace by appointing me. He was pleased ¹⁶ to show his Son in my life. He wanted me to preach about Jesus among the Gentiles. When God appointed me, I decided right away not to ask anyone for advice. ¹⁷ I didn’t go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem. I went there to get to know Peter. I stayed with him for 15 days. ¹⁹ I didn’t see any of the other apostles. I only saw James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ Here is what you can be sure of. And God is even a witness to it. What I am writing you is not a lie.

²¹ Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. ²² The members of Christ’s churches in Judea did not know me in a personal way. ²³ They only heard others say, “The man who used to attack us has changed. He is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they praised God because of me.

Paul Is Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem. This time I went with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. ² I went because God showed me what he wanted me to do. I spoke in private to those who are respected as leaders. I told them the good news that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t running my race for no purpose. And I wanted to know that I had not been running my race for no purpose. ³ Titus was with me. He was a Greek. But even he was not forced to be circumcised. ⁴ This matter came up because some people had slipped in among us. They had pretended to be believers. They wanted to find out about the freedom we have because we belong to Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves again. ⁵ We didn’t give in to them for a moment. We did this so that the truth of the good news would be kept safe for you.

⁶ Some people in Jerusalem were thought to be important. But it makes no difference to me what they were. God does not treat people differently. Those people added nothing to my message. ⁷ In fact, it was just the opposite. They recognized the task I had been trusted with. It was the task of preaching the good news to the Gentiles. My task was like Peter’s task. He had been trusted with the task of preaching to the Jews. ⁸ God was working in Peter as an apostle to the Jews. God was also working in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. ⁹ James, Peter and John are respected as pillars in the church. They recognized the special grace given to me. So they shook my hand and the hand of Barnabas. They wanted to show they accepted us. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles. They would go to the Jews. ¹⁰ They asked only one thing. They wanted us to continue to remember poor people. That was what I had wanted to do all along.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹ When Peter came to Antioch, I told him to his face that I was against what he was doing. He was clearly wrong. ¹² He used to eat with the Gentiles. But certain men came from a group sent by James. When they arrived, Peter began to draw back. He separated himself from the Gentiles. That’s because he was afraid of the circumcision group sent by James. ¹³ Peter’s actions were not honest, and other Jews in Antioch joined him. Even Barnabas was led astray.

¹⁴ I saw what they were doing. It was not in line with the truth of the good news. So I spoke to Peter in front of them all. “You are a Jew,” I said. “But you live like one who is not. So why do you force Gentiles to follow Jewish ways?”

¹⁵ We are Jews by birth. We are not sinful Gentiles. ¹⁶ Here is what we know. No one is made right with God by obeying the law. It is by believing in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus. This is so we can be made right with God by believing in Christ. We are not made right by obeying the law. That’s because no one can be made right with God by obeying the law.

¹⁷ We are seeking to be made right with God through Christ. As we do, what if we find that we who are Jews are also sinners? Does that mean that Christ causes us to sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ Suppose I build again what I had destroyed. Then I would really be breaking the law.

¹⁹ By the law, I died as far as the law is concerned. I died so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. I don’t live any longer, but Christ lives in me. Now I live my life in my body by faith in the Son of God. He loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not get rid of the grace of God. What if a person could become right with God by obeying the law? Then Christ died for nothing!