Bible in 90 Days

15 Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I preached to you when we first met. It’s the essential message that you have taken to heart, the central story you now base your life on; ² and through this gospel, you are liberated—unless, of course, your faith has come to nothing. ^3-4 For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God’s covenant story. ⁵ Afterward He appeared alive to Cephas^[a] (you may know him as Simon Peter), then to the rest of the twelve. ⁶ If that were not amazing enough, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. Many of those brothers and sisters are still around to tell the story, though some have fallen asleep^[b] in Jesus. ⁷ Soon He appeared to James, His brother and the leader of the Jerusalem church, and then to all the rest of the emissaries^[c] He Himself commissioned.^{[d] 8} Last of all, He appeared to me;^[e] I was like a child snatched from his mother’s womb. ⁹ You see, I am the least of all His emissaries, not fit to be called His emissary because I hunted down and persecuted God’s church. ¹⁰ Today I am who I am because of God’s grace, and I have made sure that the grace He offered me has not been wasted. I have worked harder, longer, and smarter than all the rest; but I realize it is not me—it is God’s grace with me that has made the difference. ¹¹ In the end, it doesn’t matter whether it was I or the other witnesses who brought you the message. What matters is that we keep preaching and that you have faith in this message.

¹² Now if we have told you about the Anointed One (how He has risen from the dead and appeared to us fully alive), then how can you stand there and say there is no such thing as resurrection from death? ¹³ Friends, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then even the Anointed hasn’t been raised; ¹⁴ if that is so, then all our preaching has been for nothing and your faith in the message is worthless. ¹⁵ And what’s worse, all of us who have been preaching the gospel are now guilty of misrepresenting God because we have been spreading the news that He raised the Anointed One from the dead (which must be a lie if what you are saying about the dead not being raised is the truth). ¹⁶ Please listen. If you say, “the dead are not raised,” then what you are telling me is that the Anointed One has not been raised. Friends, ¹⁷ if the Anointed has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is worth less than yesterday’s garbage, you are all doomed in your sins, ¹⁸ and all the dearly departed who trusted in His liberation are left decaying in the ground. ¹⁹ If what we have hoped for in the Anointed doesn’t take us beyond this life, then we are world-class fools, deserving everyone’s pity.

²⁰ But the Anointed One was raised from death’s slumber and is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. ²¹ For since death entered this world by a man, it took another man to make the resurrection of the dead our new reality. ²² Look at it this way: through Adam all of us die, but through the Anointed One all of us can live again. ²³ But this is how it will happen: the Anointed’s awakening is the firstfruits. It will be followed by the resurrection of all those who belong to Him at His coming, ²⁴ and then the end will come. After He has conquered His enemies and shut down every rule and authority vying for power, He will hand over the Kingdom to God, the Father of all that is. ²⁵ And He must reign as King until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last hostile power to be destroyed is death itself. ²⁷ All this will happen to fulfill the Scripture that says, “You placed everything on earth beneath His feet.”^[f] (Although it says “everything,” it is clear that this does not also pertain to God, who created everything and made it all subject to Him.) ²⁸ Then, when all creation has taken its rightful place beneath God’s sovereign reign, the Son will follow, subject to the Father who exalted Him over all created things; then God will be God over all.

²⁹ You have probably heard that some people are undergoing ritual cleansings of baptism^[g] for the dead. Why are they doing that? If the dead are not going to be raised, then why are people being baptized for them? ³⁰ Why are we putting our lives on the line all the time if there’s no resurrection? ³¹ I die every day! I swear that it’s true! That’s something you take pride in, brothers and sisters, as I do in Jesus the Anointed, our Lord. ³² But if I have fought against the wild beasts in Ephesus for some human cause, then what good has that done me? If the dead are not raised, then there’s nothing more to do than—as the saying goes—eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.^[h]

³³ But don’t be so naïve—there’s another saying you know well—Bad company corrupts good habits. ³⁴ Come to your senses, live justly, and stop sinning. It’s true that some have no knowledge of God. I am saying this to shame you into better habits.

³⁵ Now I know what some of you are thinking: “Just how are the dead going to be raised? What kind of bodies will they have when they come back to life?” ³⁶ Don’t be a fool! The seed you plant doesn’t produce life unless it dies. Right? ³⁷ The seed doesn’t have the same look, the same body, if you will, of what it will have once it starts to grow. It starts out a single, naked seed—whether wheat or some other grain, it doesn’t matter— ³⁸ and God gives to that seed a body just as He has desired. For each of the different kinds of seeds God prepares a unique body. ³⁹ Or look at it this way: not all flesh is the same. Right? There is skin flesh on humans, furry flesh on animals, feathery flesh on birds, and scaly flesh on fish. ⁴⁰ Likewise there are bodies made for the heavens and bodies made for the earth. The heavenly bodies have a different kind of glory or luminescence compared to bodies below. ⁴¹ Even among the heavenly bodies, there is a different level of brilliance: the sun shines differently than the moon, the moon differently than the stars, and the stars themselves differ in their brightness.

⁴² It’s like this with the resurrection of those who have died. The body planted in the earth decays. But the body raised from the earth cannot decay. ⁴³ The body is planted in disgrace and weakness. But the body is raised in splendor and power. ⁴⁴ The body planted in the earth was animated by the physical, material realm. But the body raised from the earth will be animated by the spiritual. Since there is a physical, material body, there will also be a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ That’s why it was written, “The first man Adam became a living soul”; the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ Everything has an order. The body is not animated first by the spiritual but the physical; then the spiritual becomes its life-giving source. ⁴⁷ The first man, Adam, came from the earth and was made from dust; the second man, Jesus, has come from heaven. ⁴⁸ The earth man shares his earth nature with all those made of earth; likewise the heavenly man shares His heavenly nature with all those made of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we have carried the image of the earth man in our bodies, we will^[i] also carry the image of the heavenly man in our new bodies at the resurrection.

⁵⁰ Now listen to this: brothers and sisters, this present body is not able to inherit the kingdom of God any more than decay can inherit that which lasts forever. ⁵¹ Stay close because I am going to tell you a mystery—something you may have trouble understanding: we will not all fall asleep in death, but we will all be transformed. ⁵² It will all happen so fast, in a blink, a mere flutter of the eye. The last trumpet will call, and the dead will be raised from their graves with a body that does not, cannot decay. All of us will be changed! ⁵³ We’ll step out of our mortal clothes and slide into immortal bodies, replacing everything that is subject to death with eternal life. ⁵⁴ And, when we are all redressed with bodies that do not, cannot decay, when we put immortality over our mortal frames, then it will be as Scripture says:

⁵⁶ Sin came into this world, and death’s sting followed. Then sin took aim at the law and gained power over those who follow the law. ⁵⁷ Thank God, then, for our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, the Liberating King, who brought us victory over the grave.

⁵⁸ My dear brothers and sisters, stay firmly planted—be unshakable—do many good works in the name of God, and know that all your labor is not for nothing when it is for God.

16 Now I call you, just as I did the churches gathering in Galatia, to collect funds to support God’s people in Jerusalem. ² On Sunday, the first day of the week, I want each of you to set aside an amount, as God has blessed you, so the funds will be collected by the time I come. ³ When I get there, I will send those you recommend by your own letters to carry your generous and gracious donation to Jerusalem. ⁴ If you think it seems appropriate for me to travel with them, then we’ll go together.

⁵ Get ready. I will come your way after traveling through Macedonia. For I’m just passing through Macedonia ⁶ and will probably stay with you through the winter so that you may provide for my next journey (wherever that may be). ⁷ I want to reconnect with you, not just pass through; if the Lord is willing, I hope to stay awhile. ⁸ But until Pentecost, I plan to stay in Ephesus ⁹ because, not only has God opened a significant door here for me to serve, but also there is a lot of opposition against me.

¹⁰ If Timothy comes, see that he is comfortable and untroubled; his work is the Lord’s, as is mine. ¹¹ No one should treat him badly. Send him on to meet me in peace because the brothers and sisters here and I are looking for him. ¹² You shouldn’t expect to see our brother Apollos, although I tried to persuade him to come to you with the rest of the brothers and sisters, because now is not the best time for him to come. When it’s his time, he will come.

¹³ Listen, stay alert, stand tall in the faith, be courageous, and be strong. ¹⁴ Let love prevail in your life, words, and actions.

¹⁵ Finally, brothers and sisters, I call on you to follow your leaders. People like those in the house of Stephanas—you know they were among the first believers in Achaia, and they have devoted their lives to serving God’s people— ¹⁶ I urge you to submit to the authority of such leaders, to every coworker, and to those who offer their backs and shoulders for the work. ¹⁷ I celebrate the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, as they have supplied me with what you could not. ¹⁸ They have been a breath of fresh air for me as I know they are for you, so respect and honor those like them.

¹⁹ The churches in Asia salute you. Aquila and Prisca send a heartfelt greeting in the Lord along with those who gather at their house. ²⁰ The entire family in faith here sends their greetings. Be sure you greet one another by a holy kiss.

²¹ This closing greeting is written by my own hand—Paul’s: ²² May those who have no love for the Lord be cursed. Maranatha, “Our Lord, come!” ²³ May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. ²⁴ My love to you all in the name of the Anointed One, Jesus. [Amen.]^[l]

1 Paul, an emissary^[m] of Jesus the Anointed pressed into service by the will of God, and our brother Timothy to God’s church that gathers in Corinth and all the saints in the region of Achaia.

² May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, surround you.

³ All praise goes to God, Father of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. He is the Father of compassion, the God of all comfort. ⁴ He consoles us as we endure the pain and hardship of life so that we may draw from His comfort and share it with others in their own struggles. ⁵ For even as His suffering continues to flood over us, through the Anointed we experience the wealth of His comfort just the same. ⁶ If we are afflicted with such trouble and pain, then know it is so that you might ultimately experience comfort and salvation. If we experience comfort, it is to encourage you so that you can hold up while you endure the same sufferings we all share. ⁷ Remember that our hope for you stands firm, unshaken and unshakable. That’s because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so you will also share in our comfort.

⁸ My brothers and sisters, we have to tell you that when we were in Asia the troubles we faced were nearly more than we could handle. The burdens we bore nearly crushed us. Our strength dwindled to nothing. For a while, we weren’t sure we would make it through the whole ordeal. ⁹ We thought we would have to serve out our death sentences right then and there. As a result, we realized that we could no longer rely on ourselves and that we must trust solely in God, who possesses the power to raise the dead. ¹⁰ Miraculously God Himself delivered us from the cold hands of death. We again place our hope in Him alone, and we know He will deliver us. ¹¹ Join us in this work. Lend us a hand through prayer so that many will give thanks for the gift that comes to us when God answers the prayers of so many.

¹² We are proud of the fact that we have lived before the world and especially before you with clear consciences, living holy lives mixed with genuine sincerity before God. We have not relied on any human wisdom but on the grace and favor of God. ¹³ We are not writing to you in anything resembling codes or riddles; we only write those lessons you are ready to read and understand. I hope you will study them, value them, and truly understand them until the end. ¹⁴ You have already begun to grasp what we mean in part; but on the day when our Lord Jesus returns, we will be as proud of you as you are of us.

^15-16 In this spirit of trust and confidence, I was intending to come your way first on my current journey. So that you might have a double dose of this grace and assurance, my plan was to visit you on my way to Macedonia and return to you again on the journey back so that you could assist me on the trip to Judea. ¹⁷ But since this didn’t happen, was I just being indecisive? Were my plans made in the flesh rather than by God’s Spirit? How can I say “yes” and “no” in the same breath? ¹⁸ Because our God is always faithful to His promises, our word to you was not both “yes” and “no”—“Yes, I’ll come,” and then, “No, I’ve changed my mind.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God—Jesus the Anointed whom we (Silvanus,^[n] Timothy, and I) have preached to you—was not both “yes” and then “no.” With Him the answer is always “yes.” ²⁰ In Jesus we hear a resounding “yes” to all of God’s many promises. This is the reason we say “Amen” to and through Jesus when giving glory to God. ²¹ Remember that God has established our relationship with you in the Anointed One, and He has anointed and commissioned us for this special mission. ²² He has marked us with His seal and placed His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, a down payment of the things to come.

²³ If I were in court today, I’d call God as a witness to my soul. Here’s the truth: I decided not to come back to Corinth in order to spare you further pain and sorrow. ²⁴ It’s not that we want to coerce you in any matter of faith; we are coworkers called to increase your joy because you have stood firm in faith.

2 I finally determined that I would not come to you again for yet another agonizing visit. ² If my visits create such pain and sorrow for you, who can cheer me up except for those I’ve caused such grief? ³ This is exactly what I was writing to you about earlier so that when we are face-to-face I will not have to wallow in sadness in the presence of friends who should bring me the utmost joy. For I felt sure that my delight would also become your delight. ⁴ My last letter to you was covered with tears, composed with great difficulty, and frankly, a broken heart. It wasn’t my intention to depress you or cause you pain; rather, I had hoped you would see it for what it was—a demonstration of the overwhelming love I have for all of you.

⁵ But if anyone has caused harm, he has not so much harmed me as he has—and I don’t think I’m exaggerating here—harmed all of you. ⁶ In my view, the majority of you have punished him well enough. ⁷ So instead of continuing to ostracize him, I encourage you to offer him the grace of forgiveness and the comfort of your acceptance. Otherwise, if he finds no welcome back to the community, I’m afraid he will be overwhelmed with extreme sorrow and lose all hope. ⁸ So I urge you to demonstrate your love for him once again. ⁹ I wrote these things to you with a clear purpose in mind: to test whether you are willing to live and abide by all my counsel. ¹⁰ If you forgive anyone, I forgive that one as well. Have no doubt, anything that I have forgiven—when I do forgive—is done ultimately for you in the presence of the Anointed One. ¹¹ It’s my duty to make sure that Satan does not win even a small victory over us, for we don’t want to be naïve and then fall prey to his schemes.

¹² When I arrived at Troas, bringing the good news of the Anointed, the Lord opened a door there for me. ¹³ Yet my spirit was restless because I could not find my brother Titus. Eventually I told them good-bye and set out for Macedonia.

¹⁴ Yet I am so thankful to God, who always marches us to victory under the banner of the Anointed One; and through us He spreads the beautiful fragrance of His knowledge to every corner of the earth. ¹⁵ In a turbulent world where people are either dying or being rescued, we are the sweet smell of the Anointed to God our Father. ¹⁶ To those who are dying, they smell the stench of death in us. And to those being rescued, we are the unmistakable scent of life. Who is worthy of this calling? ¹⁷ For we are nothing like the others who sell the word of God like a commodity. Do not be mistaken; our words come from God with the utmost sincerity, always spoken through the Anointed in the presence of God.

3 Are we back to page one? Do we need to gather some recommendations to prove our validity to you? Or do we need to take your letter of commendation to others to gain credibility? ² You are our letter, every word burned onto our^[o] hearts to be read by everyone. ³ You are the living letter of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, nurtured by us and inscribed, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God—a letter too passionate to be chiseled onto stone tablets, but emblazoned upon the human heart.

⁴ This is the kind of confidence we have in and through the Anointed toward our God. ⁵ Don’t be mistaken; in and of ourselves we know we have little to offer, but any competence or value we have comes from God. ⁶ Now God has equipped us to be capable servants of the new covenant, not by authority of the written law which only brings death, but by the Spirit who brings life.

⁷ Now consider this: if the ministry of death, which was chiseled in stone, came with so much glory that the Israelites could not bear to look at Moses’ face even as that glory was fading, ⁸ imagine the kind of greater glory that will accompany the ministry of the Spirit. ⁹ If glory ushered in the ministry that offers condemnation, how much more glory will attend the ministry that promises to restore and set the world right? ¹⁰ In fact, what seemed to have great glory will appear entirely inglorious in the light of the greater glory of the new covenant. ¹¹ If something that fades away possesses glory, how much more intense is the glory of what remains?

¹² In light of this hope that we have, we act with great confidence and speak with great courage. ¹³ We do not act like Moses who covered his face with a veil so the children of Israel would not stare as the glory of God faded from his face.^{[p] 14} Their minds became as hard as stones; for up to this day when they read the old covenant, the same veil continues to hide that glory; this veil is lifted only through the Anointed One. ¹⁵ Even today a veil covers their hearts when the words of Moses are read; ¹⁶ but in the moment when one turns toward the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ By “the Lord” what I mean is the Spirit, and in any heart where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is liberty. ¹⁸ Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it.

4 Since we are joined together in this ministry as a result of the mercy shown to all of us by God, we do not become discouraged. ² Instead, we have renounced all the things that hide in shame; we refuse to live deceptively or use trickery; we do not pollute God’s Word with any other agenda. Instead, we aim to tell the truth plainly, appealing to the conscience of every person under God’s watchful eye. ³ Now if our gospel remains veiled, it is only veiled from those who are lost and dying, ⁴ because the evil god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. As a result the light of the good news, the radiant glory of the Anointed—who is the very image of God—cannot shine down on them. ⁵ We do not preach about ourselves. The subject of all our sermons is Jesus, the Anointed One. He is Lord and Master of all. For Jesus’ sake we are here to serve you. ⁶ The God who spoke light into existence, saying, “Let light shine from the darkness,”^[q] is the very One who sets our hearts ablaze to shed light on the knowledge of God’s glory revealed in the face of Jesus, the Anointed One.

⁷ But this beautiful treasure is contained in us—cracked pots made of earth and clay—so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us. ⁸ We are cracked and chipped from our afflictions on all sides, but we are not crushed by them. We are bewildered at times, but we do not give in to despair. ⁹ We are persecuted, but we have not been abandoned. We have been knocked down, but we are not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our bodies the reality of the brutal death and suffering of Jesus. As a result, His resurrection life rises and reveals its wondrous power in our bodies as well. ¹¹ For while we live, we are constantly handed over to death on account of Jesus so that His life may be revealed even in our mortal bodies of flesh. ¹² So death is constantly at work in us, but life is working in you.

¹³ We share the same spirit of faith as the one who wrote the psalm, “I believed; therefore I spoke.”^[r] We also believe, and that belief leads us to acknowledge ¹⁴ that the same God who resurrected the Lord Jesus will raise us with Jesus and will usher us all together into His presence. ¹⁵ All of this is happening for your good. As grace is spread to the multitudes, there is a growing sound of thanks being uttered by those relishing in the glory of God.

¹⁶ So we have no reason to despair. Despite the fact that our outer humanity is falling apart and decaying, our inner humanity is breathing in new life every day. ¹⁷ You see, the short-lived pains of this life are creating for us an eternal glory that does not compare to anything we know here. ¹⁸ So we do not set our sights on the things we can see with our eyes. All of that is fleeting; it will eventually fade away. Instead, we focus on the things we cannot see, which live on and on.

5 We know that if our earthly house—a mere tent that can easily be taken down—is destroyed, we will then live in an eternal home in the heavens, a building crafted by divine—not human—hands. ² Currently, in this tent of a house, we continue to groan and ache with a deep desire to be sheltered in our permanent home ³ because then we will be truly clothed and comfortable, protected by a covering for our current nakedness. ⁴ The fact is that in this tent we anxiously moan, fearing the naked truth of our reality. What we crave above all is to be clothed so that what is temporary and mortal can be wrapped completely in life. ⁵ The One who has worked and tailored us for this is God Himself, who has gifted His Spirit to us as a pledge toward our permanent home.

⁶ In light of this, we live with a daring passion and know that our time spent in this body is also time we are not present with the Lord. ⁷ The path we walk is charted by faith, not by what we see with our eyes. ⁸ There is no doubt that we live with a daring passion, but in the end we prefer to be gone from this body so that we can be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Ultimately it does not matter whether we are here or gone; our purpose stays fixed, and that is to please Him. ¹⁰ In time we will all stand in judgment before the throne of the Anointed, the Liberating King, to receive what is just for our conduct (whether it be good or bad) while we lived in this temporary body.

¹¹ So because we stand in awe of the one true Lord, we make it our aim to convince all people of the truth of the gospel; God sees who we really are, and I hope in some way that you’ll look deeply into your consciences to see us as well. ¹² But we hope you understand that we are not trying to prove ourselves to you or pull together a résumé that will impress you. We are simply hoping that you will find a sense of joy in connecting with us. And when you are approached by others (who may value appearances more than the heart) asking questions about us, you will be able to offer an answer for them. ¹³ If we seem out of control or act like fanatics, it is for God. But if we act in a coherent and reasonable way, it is for you. ¹⁴ You see, the controlling force in our lives is the love of the Anointed One. And our confession is this: One died for all; therefore, all have died. ¹⁵ He died for us so that we will all live, not for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose from the dead. ¹⁶ Because of all that God has done, we now have a new perspective. We used to show regard for people based on worldly standards and interests. No longer. We used to think of the Anointed the same way. No longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone—and see—a new life has begun! ¹⁸ All of this is a gift from our Creator God, who has pursued us and brought us into a restored and healthy relationship with Him through the Anointed. And He has given us the same mission, the ministry of reconciliation, to bring others back to Him. ¹⁹ It is central to our good news that God was in the Anointed making things right between Himself and the world. This means He does not hold their sins against them. But it also means He charges us to proclaim the message that heals and restores our broken relationships with God and each other.

²⁰ So we are now representatives of the Anointed One, the Liberating King; God has given us a charge to carry through our lives—urging all people on behalf of the Anointed to become reconciled to the Creator God. ²¹ He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God.

6 As for those of us working as His emissaries,^[s] we beg you not to take the grace of God lightly. ² For God says through Isaiah,

Look, now the time is right! See, your day of deliverance is here! ³ We are careful in what we teach so that our words won’t be a stumbling block and so that no one will discredit our ministry. ⁴ But as God’s servants, we commend ourselves in every situation. So that with great endurance we persevere even in anguish and hardship. We have been cornered by the enemy ⁵ suffering beatings, imprisonments, uproars, toil, sleeplessness, and starvation. ⁶ And by the Holy Spirit with purity, understanding, patience, kindness, and sincerest love we have proved ourselves. ⁷ Now with the voice of truth and power of God—armed on the right and armed on the left with righteousness from God—we continue. ⁸ Whether respected or loathed, praised or criticized as frauds, yet true, ⁹ as unknown to this world, and yet well known to God, we serve Him. We are treated as dying and yet we live, as punished and yet we are not executed. ¹⁰ Though we are sorrowful, we continually rejoice. As the poorest of the poor, we bring richness to all, and though we have nothing, we possess all things.

¹¹ Corinthians, we have been completely open to you. We’ve exposed the truth, holding nothing back while our hearts open wide to take you in. ¹² We have revealed our affection toward you—though it’s obvious you have a hard time showing your affection toward us. ¹³ If I could offer some fatherly advice: open yourselves up as children; share your hearts with us as we have done for you.

¹⁴ Don’t develop partnerships with those who are not followers of Jesus’ teachings. For what real connection can exist between righteousness and rebellion? How can light participate in darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony can exist between the Anointed and Satan?^[u] Do the faithful and the faithless have anything in common? ¹⁶ Can the temple of God find common ground with idols? Don’t you see that we house the temple of the living God within us? Remember when He said,

7 Because we have these promises, dearly loved ones, out of respect for God we should scour the filth from our flesh and spirit and move toward perfect beauty and holiness.

² Take us into your hearts; love us as we love you. You have nothing to fear. We have hurt no one, ruined no one, swindled no one. ³ I am not writing these things to condemn you, as I said before. Our hearts embrace you, so we stand beside you whether facing life or death. ⁴ I am completely confident and incredibly proud of you. Even in all this turbulence I am at peace—I am overflowing with joy.

⁵ When we came into Macedonia, we were completely worn out—under attack from every angle—nagging opposition on the outside, our own nagging fears from the inside. ⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, brought us comfort when Titus arrived from Corinth. ⁷ We were relieved, not just to see him, but because he told us how he was encouraged to learn about your longing, your grieving, and your continued enthusiasm for me. So these were all more reasons for me to rejoice!

⁸ I knew you would be upset with my last letter, but I do not regret sending it. If there were times I did have second thoughts, it was because I could see that the letter did hurt you, even if only for a while. ⁹ Now I am glad—not because it caused you grief but because you were moved to make a permanent change^[z] that can happen only with the realization that your actions have gone against God—I’m glad to know you suffered no long-term loss because of what we did. ¹⁰ Now this type of deep sorrow, godly sorrow, is not so much about regret; but it is about producing a change of mind and behavior^[aa] that ultimately leads to salvation. But the other type of sorrow, worldly sorrow, often is fleeting and only brings death. ¹¹ Look at what is happening among you! Notice how authentic and diligent you have become because this godly sorrow has been at work in your community. But there’s more: your desire to clear your name, your righteous anger, your respect, your longing, your zeal, and your concern for justice. All these demonstrate how you have been made clean. ¹² So when I wrote my last difficult letter, it was not to comfort the victim or confront the perpetrator—it was to stir up your sincere devotion for us under God’s watchful eye. ¹³ In the midst of all that has happened, though it has been difficult, we are comforted and encouraged. When we saw the relief and joy on Titus’s face, we celebrated even more because his spirit had been totally refreshed by you. ¹⁴ Now if I have bragged in the past about you to Titus, I have nothing to be ashamed of. Just as we’ve spoken the whole truth to you, I’m glad to know that our boasts to Titus about you have proven true as well. ¹⁵ His love for you overflows even more as he recalls your obedience and how you respectfully and somewhat nervously, with fear and trembling, took him in. ¹⁶ I have great joy now because I have great confidence in you.

8 Now, brothers and sisters, let me tell you about the amazing gift of God’s grace that’s happening throughout the churches in Macedonia. ² Even in the face of severe anguish and hard times, their elation and poverty have overflowed into a wealth of generosity. ³ I watched as they willingly gave what they could afford and then went beyond to give even more. ⁴ They came to us on their own, begging to take part in this work of grace to support the poor saints in Judea. ⁵ We were so overwhelmed—none of us expected their reaction—that they truly turned their lives over to the Lord and then gave themselves to support us in our work as we answer the call of God. ⁶ That’s why we asked Titus to finish what he started among you regarding this gracious work of charity. ⁷ Just as you are rich in everything—in faith and speech, in knowledge and all sincerity, and in the love we have shown among you^[ab]—now I ask you to invest richly in this gracious work too. ⁸ I am not going to command you, but I am going to offer you the chance to prove your love genuine in the same way others have done. ⁹ You know the grace that has come to us through our Lord Jesus the Anointed. He set aside His infinite riches and was born into the lowest circumstance so that you may gain great riches through His humble poverty. ^10-11 Listen, it’s been a year since we called your attention to this opportunity to demonstrate God’s grace, so here’s my advice: pull together your resources and finish what you started.

Remember how excited you were at first; it’s time to complete this task in the same spirit. ¹² Now if there is a willingness to help, give within your means. That’s perfectly acceptable. No one expects you to go without or borrow to give. ^13-14 The objective is not to go under so others will have some relief; the objective is to use this opportunity today to supply their needs out of your abundance. One day it may be the other way around, and they will need to supply your needs from what they have. That’s equality. ¹⁵ As it is written, “The one who gathered plenty didn’t have more than he needed; the one who gathered little didn’t have less.”^[ac]

¹⁶ I praise God who lovingly burdened Titus’s heart for you just as He did mine. ¹⁷ You see, when we approached him about you, he eagerly stepped up, not only because of our request but because of his own desire to help. ¹⁸ We’re also sending with him a brother who is well known among the gatherings of believers because of how well he proclaims the good news. ¹⁹ And there’s more you should know: he has been handpicked by the churches to accompany us as we carry on this work of grace. All this is being done for the glory of the Lord and to show our own good will. ²⁰ We’re being careful so that no one can claim that we are mishandling the funds we’ve collected. ²¹ For we are taking every precaution to remain aboveboard—not only in the Lord’s eyes, but in the eyes of the people too. ²² So we are also sending another brother who’s proven himself time and again. He’s certainly trustworthy and enthusiastic for the gospel; and after hearing about all you are doing, he’s even more excited because he has confidence in you. ²³ If anyone asks about Titus, he’s my partner and coworker in this ministry to you. If there’s any question about who the other brothers and sisters are, they are emissaries^[ad] of the churches, traveling to bring glory to the Anointed One, our Liberating King. ²⁴ So welcome them before the community in love; show the churches they represent that I have not exaggerated your charity and kindness.

9 There’s nothing further I could add about your efforts for God’s people in Judea. ² I know you are ready. I bragged on you throughout Macedonia, telling them how the people in Achaia have been prepared since last year; and your passion has been contagious. ³ Still I thought it would be best to send these brothers and sisters ahead to help you finish the final details so all my bragging wouldn’t be for nothing. ⁴ If some of the Macedonians decide to travel with me, all of us would be more than embarrassed if we arrived and you weren’t ready to give after the way we’ve been going on about you. ⁵ So to help you get your previously promised gift ready, it made sense to me to ask the brothers and sisters to go on ahead so you will have all the time you need to put it together as planned and so it doesn’t look thrown together or coerced.

⁶ But I will say this to encourage your generosity: the one who plants little harvests little, and the one who plants plenty harvests plenty. ⁷ Giving grows out of the heart—otherwise, you’ve reluctantly grumbled “yes” because you felt you had to or because you couldn’t say “no,” but this isn’t the way God wants it. For we know that “God loves a cheerful giver.”^{[ae] 8} God is ready to overwhelm you with more blessings than you could ever imagine so that you’ll always be taken care of in every way and you’ll have more than enough to share. ⁹ Remember what is written about the One who trusts in the Lord:

¹⁰ The same One who has put seed into the hands of the sower and brought bread to fill our stomachs will provide and multiply the resources you invest and produce an abundant harvest from your righteous actions. ¹¹ You will be made rich in everything so that your generosity will spill over in every direction. Through us your generosity is at work inspiring praise and thanksgiving to God. ¹² For this mission will do more than bring food and water to fellow believers in need—it will overflow in a cascade of praises and thanksgivings for our God. ¹³ When this mission reaches Jerusalem and meets with the approval of God’s people there, they will give glory to God because your confession of the gospel of the Anointed One led to obedient action and your generous sharing with them and with all exhibited your sincere concern. ¹⁴ Because of the extraordinary grace of God at work in you, they will pray for you and long for you. ¹⁵ Praise God for this incredible, unbelievable, indescribable gift!

10 I, Paul, appeal to you in the same gentle and loving spirit of the Anointed—yes, I who am humble when I’m face-to-face with you but audacious to you in these letters when I’m away (I know what they say). ² If it were up to me, I’d rather not have to be so bold when I’m with you, especially with the kind of forceful confidence I can work up when I confront those who have accused us of walking in a worldly way. ³ For though we walk in the world, we do not fight according to this world’s rules of warfare. ⁴ The weapons of the war we’re fighting are not of this world but are powered by God and effective at tearing down the strongholds erected against His truth. ⁵ We are demolishing arguments and ideas, every high-and-mighty philosophy that pits itself against the knowledge of the one true God. We are taking prisoners of every thought, every emotion, and subduing them into obedience to the Anointed One. ⁶ As soon as you choose obedience, we stand ready to punish every act of disobedience.

⁷ Look at what is going on right in front of you. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to the Anointed, then he should think again; even if he belongs to Him, so do we. ⁸ I’m not embarrassed, even if it seems to others I have gone overboard in speaking about the power the Lord has given us to edify and encourage you and not to destroy anyone who strays. ⁹ I don’t want it to seem as if I’m simply trying to scare you with my letters; they are not hollow. ¹⁰ For some people are saying, “Paul’s letters sound authoritative and strong, but in person he just doesn’t measure up—even his speeches don’t deliver.” ¹¹ They need to understand this: whatever we say through our letters when we are away, that is exactly what we will do when we are looking you in the eye.

¹² For we would never dare to compare ourselves with people who have based their worth on self-commendation. They check themselves against and compare themselves with one another. It just shows that they don’t have any sense! ¹³ So we will carefully limit our boasting to the extent only of what God has done in and through us, a reach that extends as far as you. ¹⁴ For it wasn’t as if we were overreaching into someone else’s territory by reaching out to you. Weren’t we the first ones to bring you the good news of the Anointed One? ¹⁵ We carefully put limits on our boasting and avoid taking credit for what others do. But we do hope to see your faith grow so that we can watch our mission really expand all the way to the limits God has set for us. ¹⁶ The plan includes taking the good news to people and lands beyond you. We’ve no interest in or intention of staking claim to other people’s accomplishments in their arenas. As the Scripture says, ¹⁷ “The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.”^{[ag] 18} Now let’s be clear: it’s not the one who commends himself who is approved; it’s the one whom the Lord commends.

11 Please endure a little foolishness on my part; you have come so far with me already. ² To be completely honest, I am extremely jealous for you; but it’s the same kind of jealousy God has for you. You see, like an attentive father, I have pledged your hand in marriage and promised to present you as a pure virgin to the One who would be your husband, the Anointed One. ³ But now I’m afraid that as that serpent tricked Eve with his wiles, so your hearts and minds will be tricked and you will stray from the single-minded love and pure devotion to Him. ⁴ So then, if someone comes along and presents you with a Jesus different from the one we told you about, or if you receive a spirit different from the one gifted through our Lord Jesus, or even if you hear a gospel different from the one you heard through us; then you’re ready to go with it.

⁵ I consider myself in league with the so-called great emissaries; I lack nothing. ⁶ Even if I’m not the greatest speaker, I make up for it by what I know of God and have proved it time and again to you. ⁷ Was it a sin to humble myself and serve you so that you might be lifted up? Did I wrong you somehow by instructing you in the good news of God without charge? ⁸ In a sense, I robbed other churches by accepting their support just so I could serve you. ⁹ If any need arose while I was with you, I didn’t trouble anyone. When the brothers and sisters arrived from Macedonia, they covered all my needs so that I didn’t become a burden to any of you; and I plan on keeping it that way. ¹⁰ For I tell you, as the truth of the Anointed One lives in me, I will continue to boast about this all throughout Achaia. ¹¹ Why am I doing this? It’s not because I don’t love you—God knows I do— ^12-13 but I will continue doing what I am doing to cut off any opportunity—clearly some are looking for one—for these false emissaries, these low-down, untrustworthy preachers, these posers who act as emissaries of the Anointed, to claim that they work under the same terms that we do. ¹⁴ No wonder they are so good at it. Satan himself poses as a messenger of heavenly light, ¹⁵ so why should we expect less from his servants—plodding over the earth, pretending to be ministers of righteousness—but in the end, they’ll get what’s coming to them.

¹⁶ So as I said before, please don’t mark me a fool; but if you must, then please accept me even as that and give me a little more room to boast. ¹⁷ What I am saying now is not in character with our Lord but is the bragging of a self-assured fool. ¹⁸ Just as other fools brag according to their worldly accomplishments, so I, too, will have to boast; ¹⁹ meanwhile, you—so wise, so tolerant—gladly bear this kind of foolishness. ²⁰ How easily you tolerate becoming another’s slave, having them consume you, letting them rob you blind, or allowing them to edge their way past you or slap you in the face. ²¹ Embarrassingly I admit that next to them we must look very weak!

But in whatever way they dare to boast—remember, I’m speaking in character as a fool—I dare to boast even more! ²² Are they Hebrews, God’s chosen? So am I. Are they true Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they servants to the Anointed One, the Liberating King? I am even more so! (I can’t believe how foolish I sound.) I have worked harder for God’s kingdom, taken more beatings, been dragged in and out of prisons, and have been eye-to-eye with death. ²⁴ Five times I have withstood thirty-nine lashes from Jewish authorities, ²⁵ three times I was battered with rods, once I was almost stoned to death, three times I was shipwrecked, and I spent one day and night adrift on the sea. ²⁶ I have been on many journeys and faced the most extreme circumstances: perilous rivers, violent thieves, and threats by my own people and by the Gentile outsiders alike. I have faced dangers in the city, in the wilderness, and at sea; and danger from spies among our brothers and sisters. ²⁷ I have survived toil and hardships, sleepless nights, hunger and thirst without a crumb in sight, bare to the cold. ²⁸ As if these external trials weren’t enough, there is the daily stress I feel and anxiety I carry for all the churches under my care. ²⁹ Who is weak without this arousing my empathy? Who gets hurt and offended without this inciting my burning anger?

³⁰ So as you can see, if I have to boast, I will, but only in my own weaknesses. ³¹ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus, He who is worthy of eternal blessing, can confirm that I am telling you the truth. ³² Once, in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas had his people in the city looking for me in order to arrest me. ³³ But I crouched in a basket and was lowered out of a window in the city wall, and I narrowly escaped his tight grip.

12 Boasting like this is necessary, but it’s unbecoming and probably unavailing. Since you won’t hear me any other way, let me tell you about visions and revelations I received of the Lord.

² Fourteen years ago, there was this man I knew—a believer in the Anointed who was caught up to the third heaven. (Whether this was an in- or out-of-body experience I don’t know; only God knows.) ^3-4 This man was caught up into paradise (let me say it again, whether this was an in- or out-of-body experience I don’t know; only God knows), and he heard inexpressible words—words a mortal man is forbidden to utter. ⁵ I could brag about such a man; but as for me, I have nothing to brag about outside my own shortcomings. ⁶ So if I want to boast, I won’t do so as a fool because I will be speaking the truth. But I will stop there, since I don’t want to be credited with anything except exactly what people see and hear from me. ⁷ To keep me grounded and stop me from becoming too high and mighty due to the extraordinary character of these revelations, I was given a thorn in the flesh—a nagging nuisance of Satan, a messenger to plague me! ⁸ I begged the Lord three times to liberate me from its anguish; ⁹ and finally He said to me, “My grace is enough to cover and sustain you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” So ask me about my thorn, inquire about my weaknesses, and I will gladly go on and on—I would rather stake my claim in these and have the power of the Anointed One at home within me. ¹⁰ I am at peace and even take pleasure in any weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and afflictions for the sake of the Anointed because when I am at my weakest, He makes me strong.

¹¹ I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. Why didn’t you stick up for me? I may not be much, but you could have shown me the same respect as you did the other so-called great emissaries.^[ah] I am not inferior to them in the least. ¹² Miracles, wonders, and signs were all performed right before your eyes, proving I am who I say, a true emissary of Jesus. ¹³ With the exception of not asking you to shoulder the burden of my care, I have treated you no differently from any other churches. Forgive me for wronging you by not charging for my services!

¹⁴ Now listen, for the third time I am ready to travel to you, and once again I will not burden you because there’s nothing of yours that I want: the only thing I want is you. You see, it’s not right for children to have to save up for their parents because it’s the parents’ job to care for their children. ¹⁵ I would happily spend until I had nothing left if it was for you. But just because I love you more, should you love me less? ¹⁶ Because even though you didn’t have to lift a finger for me, lies abound that I deceived you by some clever act. ¹⁷ Did I cheat you somehow through one of the coworkers I sent your way? If any of them defrauded you, I’d like to see it. ¹⁸ I was the one who insisted Titus come to you with the brother I sent along. Did Titus take advantage of you in some way? Didn’t we work in the same spirit and follow the same direction?

¹⁹ I hope you don’t think that all this time we’ve been defending ourselves to you. We come as the voice of the Anointed; God will judge whether all our work has been useful in building you up, beloved. ²⁰ And quite honestly, I am afraid that when I come, we may both be disappointed with what we find; in my fear, my thoughts go from bad to worse—into a drama of friction, rivalry, fevered tempers and fists, selfishness, slander, defamation, pride, and complete chaos. ²¹ I am worried that when I come to visit that my God will humble me somehow before you, that I will have to grieve over all those who have sinned before and then refused to turn away^[ai] from their addictions to impure practices, immoral sex, and reckless perversions.

13 This is my third trip to your city and community. As the Scripture says, “Every charge must be confirmed by two or three witnesses.”^{[aj] 2} As I said before on my second visit, I say now again while absent. Consider this an advance warning, if you wish, to those of you still caught up in your old sins and to all the rest as well: when I come the next time, I will not spare anyone who is out of order. ³ You asked to see evidence that the power of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, is at work in me. Well, you will see it because He won’t be weak in dealing with you. Instead, He will do great things in you. ⁴ Now it’s true that He was crucified in weakness, but it’s also true that He lives by God’s power. For we who belong to Him are weak in Him, but we will live with Him by God’s power for you.

⁵ Examine yourselves. Check your faith! Are you really in the faith? Do you still not know that Jesus the Anointed is in you?—unless, of course, you have failed the test. ⁶ Surely you will realize we have not failed the test, ⁷ but we pray to God that you will stay away from evil. What’s important is not whether we appear to have passed the test, but that you do what is right and act honorably, even if it appears that we have failed. ⁸ For there’s nothing we can do to oppose the truth; all we can do is align ourselves with it. ⁹ You see, we celebrate when we are weak but you are strong. Our prayer is simple: that you may be whole and complete. ¹⁰ How I hope I am saving you by writing this to you in advance; this letter will spare me from using the Lord’s authority to come down on you when I arrive. His intention in giving me this authority is to build you up, not tear you down.

¹¹ Finally, brothers and sisters, keep rejoicing and repair whatever is broken. Encourage each other, think as one, and live at peace; and God, the Author of love and peace, will remain with you. ¹² Greet each other with a holy kiss, as brothers and sisters. ¹³ All the saints here with me send you their greeting.

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Anointed, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit remain with you all. [Amen.]^[ak]

1 Paul, an emissary^[al] commissioned directly by Jesus the Anointed One and God the Father (who raised Him from the dead)—not (as some claim) an agent of men or any person— ² and all the brothers and sisters with me to you, the churches of Galatia.

³ May the grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus the Anointed live in you; ⁴ He is the very Savior who rescues us from this present, perverse age dominated by evil by giving His life according to our Father’s will to deal with our sins. ⁵ May God’s glorious name forever receive honor. Amen.

⁶ Frankly I am stunned. I cannot believe that you have abandoned God so quickly—even after He called you through the grace of the Anointed One—and have fallen for a different gospel. ⁷ Actually there is only one true gospel of the Anointed, and you—because of divisive prodding by others—are accepting a distorted version which is not the gospel at all!

⁸ No matter the source of the false gospel, even if it is preached by us or a heavenly messenger, ignore it. May those who add to or subtract from the gospel of Jesus be eternally cursed! ⁹ Listen again: if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than what you have accepted, may he find himself cursed!

¹⁰ Do you think I care about the approval of men or about the approval of God? Do you think I am on a mission to please people? If I am still spinning my wheels trying to please men, then there is no way I can be a servant of the Anointed One, the Liberating King.

¹¹ Know this, dear brothers and sisters: the good news I brought to you isn’t the latest in fiction or the product of some creative mind. ¹² It is not a legend I learned or one that has been passed down from person to person, ear to ear. I was gifted with this message as Jesus the Anointed revealed Himself miraculously to me. ¹³ Surely you are familiar with my personal history, with my dedication to the teachings and traditions of Judaism. I persecuted the church of God—in fact, I meant to destroy it. ¹⁴ I excelled in the teachings of Judaism far above other Jewish leaders, and I was zealous to practice the ways of our ancestors. ¹⁵ But God—who set me apart even before birth and called me by His grace—chose, to His great delight, ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me so I could tell His story among the outsider nations. I didn’t confer with anyone right away, ¹⁷ nor did I go to those who were already emissaries^[am] in Jerusalem. I went straight to Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

¹⁸ After living this adventurous mission for three years, I made my way to Jerusalem and spent 15 days with Cephas, whom you know as Peter. ¹⁹ But I didn’t see any emissary^[an] other than James, our Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (You can be certain that what I am offering you is an authentic account. Before God, it’s the whole truth—I wouldn’t lie.) ²¹ Later I journeyed to Syria and Cilicia; ²² and since I had spent so little time in Judea among the churches of the Anointed One, no one there could pick me out of a crowd. ²³ But stories of my call and mission preceded me: “The very man who wanted to kill us all is now preaching the faith he once labored to destroy.” ²⁴ And so they praised God for the miracle He did in my life.

2 ^1-2 As a result of a revelation, I returned to Jerusalem 14 years later; and this time Barnabas and Titus accompanied me. When I arrived, I shared the exact gospel that I preach to the outsiders. I first shared God’s truth privately with those who were people of influence and leadership because I thought if they did not embrace the freedom of my good news, then any work I had done for Jesus here and any in the past would be spoiled.

³ Listen carefully. None of the Jerusalem leaders insisted that Titus be circumcised, although he is Greek. ⁴ Some people who were pretending to be our brothers and sisters were brought in to spy on the freedom we enjoy in the Anointed One, Jesus—their agenda was clear: they wanted to enslave us. ⁵ But we didn’t give in to them. We didn’t entertain their thoughts for a minute! We resisted them so the true gospel—and not some counterfeit—would continue to be available to you.

⁶ It makes no difference to me (or to God for that matter) if people have power or influence. God doesn’t choose favorites among His children. Even the so-called pillars of the church didn’t contribute anything new to my understanding of the good news. ⁷ But it quickly became obvious to them what God was doing: He had entrusted me to carry the good news to the uncircumcised, just as Peter was called to preach to those who were circumcised. ⁸ God was at work in the ministry of Peter, as emissary^[ao] to the Jews, and was also moving and working with me in my ministry to the outsider nations.

⁹ When James, Cephas (whom you know as Peter), and John—three men purported to be pillars among the Jewish believers—saw that God’s favor was upon me to fulfill this calling, they welcomed and endorsed^[ap] both Barnabas and me. They agreed that our ministries would work as two hands, theirs advancing the mission of God among the Jews and ours toward the outsider nations, all with the same message of redemption. ¹⁰ In parting, they requested we always remember to care for the poor among us, which was something I was eager to do.

¹¹ But when Cephas came to Antioch, there was a problem. I got in his face and exposed him in front of everyone. He was clearly wrong. ¹² Here’s what was going on: before certain people from James arrived, Cephas used to share meals with the Gentile outsiders. And then, after they showed up, Cephas suddenly became aloof and distanced himself from the outsiders because he was afraid of those believers who thought circumcision was necessary.

¹³ The rest of the Jewish believers followed his lead, including Barnabas! Their hypocritical behavior was so obvious— ¹⁴ their actions were not at all consistent with everything the good news of our Lord represents. So I approached Cephas and told him in plain sight of everyone: “If you, a Jew, have lived like the Gentile outsiders and not like the Jews, then how can you turn around and urge the outsiders to start living like Jews?” ¹⁵ We are natural-born Jews, not sinners from the godless nations. ¹⁶ But we know that no one is made right with God by meeting the demands of the law. It is only through the faithfulness of Jesus^[aq] the Anointed that salvation is even possible. This is why we put faith in Jesus the Anointed: so we will be put right with God. It’s His faithfulness—not works prescribed by the law—that puts us in right standing with God because no one will be acquitted and declared “right” for doing what the law demands. ¹⁷ Even though we are seeking a right relationship with God through the Anointed, the fact is we have been found out. We are sinners. But does that mean the Anointed is the one responsible for our sins? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I reconstruct something I have worked so hard to destroy, then I prove myself a sinner.

¹⁹ The law has provided the means to end my dependence on it for righteousness, and so I died to the law. Now I have found the freedom to truly live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with the Anointed One—I am no longer alive—but the Anointed is living in me; and whatever life I have left in this failing body I live by the faithfulness of God’s Son, the One who loves me and gave His body on the cross for me. ²¹ I can’t dismiss God’s grace, and I won’t. If being right with God depends on how we measure up to the law, then the Anointed’s sacrifice on the cross was the most tragic waste in all of history!

3 Galatians, don’t act like fools! Has someone cast a spell over you? Did you miss the crucifixion of Jesus the Anointed that was reenacted right in front of your eyes? ² Tell me this: Did the Holy Spirit come upon you because you lived according to the law? Or was it because you heard His message of grace through faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Do you think you can perfect something God’s Spirit started with any human effort? ⁴ Have you suffered so greatly for nothing—if it was indeed for nothing? ⁵ You have experienced the Spirit He gave you in powerful ways. Miracle after miracle has occurred right before your eyes in this community, so tell me: did all this happen because you have kept certain provisions of God’s law, or was it because you heard the gospel and accepted it by faith?

⁶ You remember Abraham. Scripture tells us, “Abraham believed God and trusted in His promises, so God counted it to his favor as righteousness.”^{[ar] 7} Know this: people who trust in God are the true sons and daughters of Abraham. ⁸ For it was foretold to us in the Scriptures that God would set the Gentile nations right by faith when He told Abraham, “I will bless all nations through you.”^{[as] 9} So those who have faith in Him are blessed along with Abraham, our faithful ancestor.

¹⁰ Listen, whoever seeks to be righteous by following certain works of the law actually falls under the law’s curse. I’m giving it to you straight from Scripture because it is as true now as when it was written: “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t live by and do all that is written in the law.”^{[at] 11} Now it is absolutely clear that no one is made right with God through the law because the prophet Habakkuk told us, “By faith the just will obtain life.”^{[au] 12} The law is not the same thing as life formed by faith. In fact, you are warned against this when God says, “The one who observes My laws will live by them.”^[av] I am trying to tell you that ¹³ the Anointed One, the Liberating King, has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. It was stated in the Scriptures, “Everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed by God.”^{[aw] 14} This is what God had in mind all along: the blessing He gave to Abraham might extend to all nations through the Anointed One, Jesus; and we are the beneficiaries of this promise of the Spirit that comes only through faith.

¹⁵ My dear brothers and sisters, here’s a real-life example I can give you: With a last will and testament, when all the property is accounted for, the document is signed, witnessed, and notarized; and afterward no one can make changes to it. ¹⁶ In a similar way, God’s promises established a binding agreement with Abraham and his offspring. In the Scriptures, it is carefully stated, “and to your descendant” (meaning one), not “and to your descendants”^[ax] (meaning many). Therefore, in these covenant promises, God was not referring to every son and daughter born into Abraham’s family but to the Anointed One to come. ¹⁷ What this all means is that the law given to Israel comes along some 430 years after the promise made to Abraham; so it does not invalidate the covenant God previously agreed to or in any way do away with His promise. ¹⁸ You see, if the law became the sole basis for the inheritance, then it would put God in the position of breaking a covenant because He had promised it to Abraham.

¹⁹ Now you’re asking yourselves, “So why did God give us the law?” God commanded His heavenly messengers to deliver it into the hand of a mediator for this reason: to help us rein in our sins until the Offspring, about whom the promise was made in the first place, would come. ²⁰ A mediator represents more than one, but God is only one. ²¹ “So,” you ask, “does the law contradict God’s promise?” Absolutely not! Never was there written a law that could lead to resurrection and life; if there had been, then surely we could have experienced saving righteousness through keeping the law. But we haven’t. ²² Scripture has subjected the whole world to sin’s power so that the faithful obedience of Jesus the Anointed might extend God’s promises to everyone who has faith. ²³ Before faith came on the scene, the law did its best to keep us in line, restraining us until the faith that was to come was fully revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was like a tutor, assigned to train us and point us to the Anointed, so that we will be acquitted of all wrong and made right by faith. ²⁵ But now that true faith has come, we have no need for a tutor.