О foolish Galatians, who bewitched you, before whose eyes Christ was displayed on the cross? I should like to le^n this one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit from doing what is in the law or from listening to faith? Are you so foolish? Did you begin with the spirit and now end with the flesh? Did you undergo all this in vain? If it really is in vain. Does he who provides you with the Spirit and works wonders among you do this because you are doing what is in the law or listening to faith? It is like Abraham, who believed God and it was counted as righteousness in him.
You know that it is those who believe who are the sons of Abraham. For the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, brought this gospel first to Abraham, saying: In you all the nations shall be blessed. So that those who are of the faith are blessed along with the faithful Abraham. All whose conduct is controlled by the law are subject to a curse; for it is written: Anyone is accursed who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, that he must do them.
That no one is justified with God by the law is evident, because: The righteous man shall live by faith. But the law is not a matter of faith; rather it says: He who does these things shall live by them. Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming the thing accursed, for our sake, since it is written: Accursed is everyone who hangs upon the tree; so that, by Jesus Christ, the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations, so that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through our faith.
Brothers, I am speaking in human terms. No one can nullify or add to the testament of a human being when it has been ratified. The promises were spoken to Abraham and his descendant. It does not say, and to his descendants, as for many; but as for one, and to your descendant, that is, Christ. This is what I am saying; that law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not disqualify so as to make void the promise, a testament that was ratified before by God. For if the inheritance came from the law, it would not come from the promise; but to Abraham God gave it as a grace through the promise.
What, then, of the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the coming of the descendant to whom the promise was made. It was ordained by angels through the hand of a mediator. But what is one does not have a mediator; and God is one. Then is the law against the promises of God? Never. For if a law which could create life had been given, righteousness would have been in the law. But scripture had everything confined in sin so that the promise could be given, by faith in Jesus Christ, to those who believe.
For before faith came we were in the custody of the law, confined until the coming revelation of faith. Thus the law was our tutor until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith; but since faith came we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through your faith in Christ Jesus. All of you who have been baptized in Christ have armed yourselves in Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are the seed of Abraham, heirs by the promise.
11 But I am saying, that as long as the heir is a child, even if he is head of the whole household he is no better than a slave; he is under guardians and caretakers until the time, set by his father, when he comes of age. So we too when we were children were enslaved to the elements of the world; but in the fullness of time God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those who were under the law so that we may be given our adoption. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his son to our hearts crying Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, then heir, because of God.
Now at that time you did not know God and were enslaved to beings which are not by nature gods; but now, when you do know God, or rather are knownwn by God, how is it that you tum back to the weak and beggarly elements, and want to be their slaves once more? You keep count of days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid I may have labored on you in vain.
Be as I am, brothers, I pray you, because I am as you are. You did me no wrong. You know that I was sick in body when I brought you the gospel before; and when I was a trial to you, because of my physical state, you did not despise or reject me, but received me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus. Where then is your delight in me gone? For I testify to you that if you could have, you would have dug out your eyes and given them to me. Then have I turned into your enemy by telling the truth? They are zealous for your favor, not fairly, but they wish to keep you in seclusion, so that you may be zealous for their favor. To be honorably favored, not only when I am there with you, is always good, my children, whom I am laboring to give birth to once more until Christ takes shape in you. But I wish I could be with you now, and change my way of speaking; because I do not know what to do about you.
Tell me, you who wish to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave girl and one by the free woman. But the one by the slave girl was begotten in the flesh, and the one by the free woman through the promise. These are allegories. For the women are the two covenants: one is from Mount Sinai, breeding for slavery; this is Hagar, and Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, but she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is enslaved along with her children. But the Jerusalem which is above is free, and she is the mother of us. Since it is written: Rejoice, barren woman who bore no child; break forth and shout aloud, woman who had no labor pains; for the children of the deserted one shall be far more than hers who kept the husband.
Now we, brothers, are children by the promise, like Isaac. But just as then the one born in the flesh persecuted the one born in the spirit, so it is now. But what does the scripture say? Cast out the slave girl and her son, for the son of the slave girl shall never inherit with the son of the free woman. Thus, brothers, we are the children not of the slave girl but of the free woman.
Christ liberated us to freedom. Stand fast, then, and do not be caught again under the yoke of slavery.
Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you become circumcised Christ will do you no good. And I testify once more to every man who is circumcised that he is under obligation to perform all the law. All of you who justify yourselves by the law are lost to Christ; you have fallen from grace. For we are given hope of righteousness by the Spirit, from faith. For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has force, but only faith working through love.
You were ^^ing well. Who broke your stride, so as to keep you from believing the truth? The temptation was not from him who called you. A little leavening raises the whole mass of dough. I believe in you, that, the Lord helping, you will not take the wrong view; but the one who is confusing you shall bear the blame, whoever he may be. If I, brothers, ^ still preaching circumcision, why ^ I still persecuted? Then the difficulty of the cross has been made void. I wish that those who are unsettling you would also castrate themselves.
You were called to freedom, brothers; only not freedom for the impulse of the flesh. Rather be enslaved to each other by love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one saying, that is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and try to devour each other, beware of being destroyed by each other. But I tell you, follow the spirit and do not fulfill the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has its desires, which oppose the spirit, and the spirit opposes the flesh; for these two are set as opposites to each other, to keep you from doing what you wish to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not subject to the law. And the works of the flesh are plain to see. They are lechery, viciousness, unchastity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, rages, ambitions, dissensions, partisanships, envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and that sort of thing. And I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who practice that sort of thing shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the harvest of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, temperance. The law is not against such things. But those who belong to Jesus crucify their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the spirit, let us also follow the spirit. Let us not be vain-minded, challenging each other, envying each other.