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323 GALATIA NS 2 :1 02 1 swear before God th at what I ha ve just written is the literal trut h. -Afte r th at22 I went to Syria a nd Ci licia, -and was s till no t known by sight to the churches of23 Chr ist in Ju daea, -who had he ard no thing except th at their one-time persecutor24 was now preaching the faith he had prev iously tr ied to destroy ; -a nd they gaveglory to God for me .The meeting at Jerusalem2 It was no t till four teen years" had passed that I went up to Je rusalem aga in.I went with Barnabas and t ook Titus with me. 1 went ther e as the r esul t ofa reve lation, and pr ivately I la id before the leadi ng men the Good News as Ipro c la im it among thc pagans; I did so for f ea r thc course I was adopting or hada lready ado pted wou ld not be allowed." -And what happened? Even though Titus

4 who had come with me is a G reek , he was not ob liged to be circumcise d. ' -Thequest ion came up on ly becau se some who do no t rea lly belong to th e brotherh oo dhave furtively cre pt in to spy on the libe rt y we enjoy in Ch rist Jesus, and wantto reduce us a ll to slavery. 1 was so de te rmined to s af eguard for yo u the truemeaning o f th c Go od News , that I refused eve n out of de ference to yield to

6 such peop le for one mo ment." As a result, these people who are acknowledgedlcadcrs-not that thei r import anc e matt ers to me, since God has no favo uritesthese leaders, as I say, had nothing to add to the Good News as I preach it. ' -O nthe contrar y , they recog nised that I had been co mmissioned to preach the GoodNews to the uncircumcised ju st as Pete r had be en commissioned to preach it to

8 thc circumcised. -The same per son whose action had ma de Peter the apost le ofth e circumcised had given me a sim ilar mi ssion to th e pagans. So , Ja mes,Ce phas and Jo hn," thes e leaders, th ese pillars, shook hands wit h Barnabas an dme as a sign of partnership: we were to go to t he pagans and they to the

10 circumcised." The on ly th ing they insisted on was that we shou ld remembe r tohelp th e poor , as inde e d I was anx ious to do .

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2 :1. Recko nin g from the las t meet i ng with Pe ter o relse, p referably, from Paul' s conversion. It is poss iblet ha t the ' three year s' of I : I K and thc ' fo u r teen' o f 2:1a rc n o mo re th a n one-und-o-half and twelve-and -a-hal frcsnccuvc lv. sinc e it was cus tom ary to cou nt even thelas t Few d:ws or t he lirst few days of a year as a wholevear.

h. Li t. ' fo r fear I was run ning o r had run to nopu rpose'. Paul is nOI havin g second tho ug h ts a boutthe truth of his go sp e l. he is concer ned that when n ewchurc hes a r e f ounded they sho uld keep in to uch wit hthc mo ther chu rch : thi s is why he felt the col lectionro r the ' p o o r " in Jer usutcm tl ' be important, cf.1 Co 16: 1 t: see v , 10,

c. Pau l insisted tha t Timothy be circumcised sincehis nuuhcr was a Jewess . AI.: 16:3, cf. I Co 9:20: a Jewheing dellned as one whose mothe r is Jewish,d. Li t. ' we d id not yield , lIy omutina ' no t" , the0 111 Latin version make s Paul admit th ai he gave wayfor a momen t. Om, ' ~ I t of deference':c, Li t. ' Iaid down nllthtng mor e f or me' . c f . . 2.f. 'Jam es, Cep has and Jo hn ' : vur . 'James . Pet erami John '. or 'James and John' .g , T his disuncuo n is no t ra l ial but e o : l i ' the c lrcunu:iscd' (li t. the l, i fi:umd sinn' ) r d pri

marily [0 the Jews in Palest inc, anu \\ hen Pau l ....\,entamom: the J entiles the resident Je ws were his firstconcern . Ac l3: 5+,

ca ll as ap ost le of the gen tiles.l . Var . ' leave Iur", J.!O to ' ,k . Probab ly the kingdo m of th e Nabatucan Ara bsto thc S, of Da mascus. I M 5:25 - , where Paut too krefuge from Arctu s. 2 Co 11:32,I. Lit. ' bU I (lilly James , . " Ot her s t ranslate ' cxccr uJam es ' , cith cr i d e l 1 i f ~ ' i 1 u thi s Jam es w ith the son ofAtn ha e us . M t Hl:3n , an d ta k in g him for one of the

Twe lve. or else undcrstund tnz 'apost le' in the Wdersense , cf. Rill 1:1+,

a. T his oocnina is sho rter and less friendly th an in: Iny o ther lcucr: t he re is not a i n l wo rd o f p rai sefor the

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Ac 15:1 Peter and Paul at Antioch IWhen Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, since II 14Ac 1 1 : he was manifestly in the wrong.h His custom had been to eat with the pagans,' 12

bu t a fter certain friends of James arrived he stopped doing thi s and kept awayfrom them altogether for fear of the group that insisted on ci rcumcision . The 13other Jews jo ined him in this pretence, and even Barnabas felt himself obliged I 15to copy their behaviour.When I saw the y were not respect ing the true meaning of the Good News, 14 161) I sai d to Cephas in f ront of everyone, 'In spi te of bei ng a Jew, you live like thepagans and not like the Jews, so you have no right to make the pagans copyJewish ways.' 17The Good News as procla imed by Paull

Ac 1 0:28 Though we were born Jews and not pagan sinners, k -we acknowledge that IXRm 3:22Ph 3:9 what makes a man righteous is not obed ience to the Law, but fa it h in JesusChris t. We had to become believer s in Christ Jesus no less than you had, andnow we hold that faith in Chris t rat her than fidelity to the Law is what ju stifies

R , : s 3 ~ 2 " : us, and that no one can be just ified by keeping the Law. Now if we were to 17admit that the result of looking to Christ to justify us is to make us sinners like 19the rest, it would follow that Chri st had induced us to sin , which would beabsurd. If I were to return to a position I had al ready abandoned, I should be IX 20R r n t l ~ admitting I had done something wro ng. -I n ot her words, through the Law I am 19 2 1dead to the Law,' so that now I can live for God. I have been crucified with

r n ~ ~ ? : i Christ, -and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who 20CoI3:J.4 lives in me.m The life I now live in this bod y" I live in faith: faith in the Son of 22

i : ~ s n God" who loved me and who sacrificed himsel f for my sake. 1 cann ot bring 2 1In l/ d myself to give up God's gift: l' if the Law can justify us, there is no po int in thedeath of Christ.

Justification by faith3 Are you peopl e in Galatia mad ? Has someone put a spell on you, in spiteof the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?"Let me ask you one question: was it because you practised the Law that youreceived the Spirit, or becau se you believed what was preached to you? -Are youfoo lish enough to end in outward observances" what you began in the Spirit?Have al l the favours you received been wasted?' And if th is were so, they wouldmost certainly have been wasted. Docs God give you the Spirit so freely andwork miracles among you because you practise the Law, or because you believedwhat was preached to you?Take Abr aham for example: he put his f a it h il l God, and this faith was 6considered asjus tifying him . Don 't you see that it is those who rely on faith who 7are the sons of Abraham? -Scripture foresaw that God was going to use faithto justify the pagans, and procla imed the Go od News lo ng a go when Abrahamwas told: 111 you al l the pagalls will be blessed. T hose therefore who rely onfaith receive the same blessing as Abraham, the man of faith.

The curse brought by the LawOn the other hand, those who rely on the keeping of the Law are under a 10curse, since scripture says : Cursed be el'('ryone who does not persel'ere ill obser vingeverything prescr ibed in the book o f the Law . The Law will not ju stify anyone IIin the sight of God, because we a re tol d: the righteous lIIall finds life through fa ith .

The Law is not even based on fa ith,d since we are to ld: The man who practises 12these prece pts f inds li te through practising them . Christ rede emed us from the i3

P: -Does notscripture say: Drive away that slave-girl and her son; this slave-girl's son is not to3 1 share the inheritance with the son of the free woman? -So, my brothers, we arethe children , not of the slave-girl, but of the free- born wife.

Christian liberty

5When Christ freed us, he meant us to r emain free.a Stand firm, the refore,and do not submit agai n to the yoke of slavery. -It is I, Paul, who tell youth is: if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit toyou at all. With all solemnity I repeat my warning: Everyone who accep tscircumcision is obliged to keep the whole Law. But if you do lo ok to the Lawto make you justified, then you have separated you rselves from Christ, and havefallen from grace. -Ch rist ians are to ld by the Spir it to look to faith for thoserewards that righteousness hopes for," -s ince in Chris t Jesus whe ther you arecircumcised or no t makes no difference-wha t matters is faith that makes itspower felt through love..

7 You began your race well:' who made you less anxious to obey the truth?You were not prompted by him who called you ! -The yeast seems to bespreading10 through the whole batch of you . I feel sure that , uni ted in the Lord, you" willagree with me, and anybody who troubles you in future will be condemned,II no mat te r who he is. As for me, my bro ther s, if I still prea ch circumcision, ewhy am I s ti ll persecuted ? If I d id that now, would there be any scandal of the12 cross? -Tell those who are dis turbing you I would like to see the knife s lip.!Liberty and charity

13 My brothers, you were cal led , as you know, to l iber ty ; but be careful, or thisliberty will provi de an opening for self-indulgence. Serve one another, rather, in

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m. Havi ng demonst ra ted the Ish mael-Jews , Isaac Christians . pa ra llel, Paul makes two observ ations,vv , 29 and 30, According to some Jewish trad itio nsIshma el ' persecu ted ' Isaa c, and according t o the sacredte xt itself, Sarah see s I shmae l as her so n's rival anddema nds Hagar's exp ulsion. Gn 21:9 .5 a , Human bein gs mu s t choose either Christ or theLa w as au thor of sa lvat ion . So me witne s se s (Vu lg.)join th cse wor ds wi th the preced ing verse ' with thefreedom bY which Chr is t has made us free ' :b, Or else "Th e ri ghteousness th a t was hoped fo r'.c . One o f Pa ul 's favourite images , cf, 2:2 :I Co 9:24-26; Ph 2:16: 3:12-14; 2 Tm 4:7; Hc b 12:1.d , O r else ' I have co nfide nce in the Lord tha t yo u' .e . As Pa u l's e nemie s ap parent ly clai med , cf. 1:10:2:3 1 .r. Lit. ' I wish that those who a re d is turbing youmi ght RO even furt her

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Rj J:8- works of love, -since the whole of the Law is summarised in a single command:Lv 19 :18 Love your neighbour as yourself. -If you go snapping at each other and tearingeach other to pieces, you had bette r watch or you will dest roy the wholecommunity.Let me put it like this: if you are guided by the Spiri tyou will be in no danger

R j ~ : ~ ~ f of yielding to self-indulgence, -since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit,the Spirit is total ly against su ch a thing, and it is precisely because the two areso opposed that you do not always carry out you r good intentions. -I f you areled by the Spirit, no law can touch you . When self-indulgence is at work theresults are obvious: fornica ti on , gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility;idolat ry and sorcery ; feud s and wrangling, jealousy, bad tempe r and quarrels;disagreements, factions, -envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar th ings. I warn

1 Co6 :10 you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit thekingdom of God.What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace,patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gent leness and self-control.h Therecan be no law against things like that, of cou rse. You cannot belong to ChristJesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires .Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spiri t. We must stopbeing conceited, provocative and envious.

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On kindness and perseverance6Brothers, if one of you misbehaves, the more spi ri tu al of you who set him Ir ight should do so in a spi ri t of gent leness, not forgetting that you may betempted yourselves. You should car ry each other's troubles and fulfil - the 2law of Christ . -It is the pe opl e who are not important who o ft en make the 3mistake of thinking that they are. Let each of you examine his own conduct; 4if you find anythingto boast about, i twil la t least be something of your own, notjust something better than your neighbour has. Everyone has his own burden 5to carry.People under instruction should always contribute something to the support 6of the man who is instructing them.

Don 't delude yourself into thinking God can be cheated: where a man sows, 7t he re he reaps: -if he sows in the f ie ld of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of 8corruption out of it; if he sows in the field of the Spirit he wi!! get f rom it aharvest of eternal life. We must never ge t tired of doing good because if we 9don't g ive up the struggle we shall get our harvest at the proper t ime. -While 10we have the chance, b we must do goode to all, and especially to our brothersin the fait h.Epilogue

Take good n ot e of wha t I am add ing in my own handw ri ti ng and in large IIletters.' -It is only self-interest that makes them want! to force circumcision on 12you- they want to escape persecution for the cross of Chri st-they accep t 13circumcision but do not keep the Law themselves; they only want you to becircumcised so tha t they can boast of the fact . -As for me, the only thin g I can 14boast about i s the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world iscrucified to me, and I t o t he world." .hlt does not matter if a person iscircumcised 15or not; what mat ters is for him to become an altogether new creature. -Peace 16and mercy to all who fo llow this rule, who form the Israel of God. iI want no mor e trouble f rom anybody after this; the marks on my body are 17those of Jesus .' -The grace of our Lord Je su s Ch ri st be with you r spirit, my 18brothers. Amen.

g. A dd. (VuIR.) 'murders', cr. Rm 1:29.h . Add . 'chastity'.6 a . ' fu lfil'; var. 'yOUwill fu lfil' .b. Possibly allud ing to the time tha t st i ll remainsbefore the trarousia, cr. 2 Co 6:2 +.c. 'we must do good ' ; var. 'wedo good' ,d. T he goo d act of a Ch ristian is done out of love.and s o is conce rned with others. 5:14; i n t his w ay hegives witness in public, c f. Rm 12:17-18, and as he isspe cially no ti ce d by Christians, Rm 14:15, he he lps to'bu ild up' the Ch urch. Rm 14:18-19.e. As usual, Paul add s a few words in his ownhand . cf . 2 Th 3:17; 1 Co 16:21-24: Col 4:18. and

possibly Rm 16:17-20. La rg e l et te rs w ere use d fo rem phasis.f. li t. 'I t is those who wan t t o make a fair showin {he f te sh who wantg. T h i sp resent sinful world, cf. 1: 4; 4:5: 1 Co 1:20;2 Co 4 :4 : Ep 2:2. etc. : In 1:10+.h. Add . ' In Christ Jesus ' .i. The Christian community, the tru e Isr ael,cf . 3:29 ; Rm 9:6-8, as OPPosed to the Is rael 'ac cordingto the f te sh ', I Co 10:18.i, The marks of i ll-treatment suffered for Christ,cf . 2 Co 6 :4-5 ; 1I :23f.

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