Galatians

This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not sent by any group of people, and no human being appointed me. Jesus Christ and God the Father sent me, the God who raised Jesus from the dead.

1Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Note"Apostle" is the Greek word apostolos, literally one who is sent out: an envoy or authorized representative who acts with the sender's authority. Paul's parenthesis uses two different prepositions, and the distinction is deliberate: "not of men" denies that his commission originated with any human group, and "neither by man" denies that any human being served as the go-between who conveyed it.

2All the believers who are here with me join me in writing. We send this to the churches in the region of Galatia.

2And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

Note"Churches" translates ekklesia, which in ordinary Greek meant an assembly of citizens summoned to meet. In these letters it always means the people who gather, never a building. Galatia was a region of central Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. The name covered both an older ethnic territory in the north, settled centuries earlier by migrating Celts, and a larger Roman province stretching south; which of the two Paul is writing to is disputed.

3May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

3Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

NoteAn ordinary Greek letter of the period opened with chairein, "greetings." Paul replaces it with the similar-sounding charis, "grace," meaning generosity freely given to someone with no claim on it, and adds the standard Jewish greeting shalom, "peace," which means settled well-being and wholeness rather than merely the absence of fighting.

4Jesus gave himself up for our sins, so he could rescue us out of this present evil age. He did this because God our Father wanted it.

4Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

Note"World" here translates aion, which means an age or era, a stretch of time, rather than the planet or the people on it. The contrast being drawn is between one period and another, not between earth and heaven.

5May God be honored forever and ever. Amen.

5To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Note"Amen" is a Hebrew word carried over untranslated. It means "truly" or "let it be so," and was spoken by hearers to endorse a statement or a blessing they had just heard.

6I am amazed at how fast you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ. You are turning to a different message that people are calling good news.

6I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

Note"Removed" is weaker in modern English than the Greek verb behind it, which was used of deserting a post, defecting, or switching sides. "Gospel" translates euangelion, simply "good news": in ordinary usage the announcement of a military victory or the accession of an emperor, the kind of report a herald would carry.

7It is not really good news at all. What is happening is that some people are stirring you up and trying to twist the good news about Christ into something else.

7Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

NoteThe King James uses "another" twice, but the Greek uses two different words. In verse 6 it is heteros, another of a different kind; here it is allos, another of the same kind. The sense is that what they are turning to is a different sort of thing altogether, and not a second example of good news at all.

8But if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, brought you a message different from the one we already brought you, that person should be cursed.

8But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Note"Accursed" translates anathema, a thing handed over to a deity and so permanently removed from ordinary human use. In Jewish usage it referred to something placed under a ban and devoted to destruction. It is stronger than cursing in the sense of swearing at someone.

9I said this before, and I say it again now: if anyone preaches to you a message different from the one you received, that person should be cursed.

9As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Note"As we said before" is ambiguous. It may refer back to verse 8, written a moment earlier, or to something Paul had said in person when he was with them.

10So am I trying to win the approval of people, or of God? Am I trying to make people happy with me? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

10For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Note"Persuade men" is not persuasion in the sense of winning an argument. The Greek verb here carries the sense of trying to win someone over, to conciliate or get on the right side of them. "Servant" translates doulos, a slave: a person owned by another and belonging entirely to that owner, not a hired worker who could resign.

11Brothers and sisters, I want you to know for certain that the good news I preached did not come from any human mind.

11But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

Note"Certify" in 1611 meant to inform or make known. It did not mean to guarantee or to issue a certificate. "Not after man" means not according to a human source or standard.

12I did not get it from a person, and no one taught it to me. Jesus Christ himself showed it to me.

12For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Note"The revelation of Jesus Christ" is ambiguous in the Greek in the same way it is in English. It can mean the revelation that came from Jesus Christ, with Jesus as the one doing the revealing, or the revelation whose content was Jesus Christ, with Jesus as the thing revealed. Both readings are defensible.

13You have heard about the way I lived before, when I followed the Jewish religion. I attacked God's church without limit and tried to destroy it.

13For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

Note"Conversation" in 1611 meant a person's whole manner of life and public conduct, not talking. "The Jews' religion" translates Ioudaismos, a rare word at the time covering the entire Jewish way of life, loyalties and observances together. "Wasted it" uses "waste" in its older sense of ravaging or laying waste, a word used of an army destroying a city.

14I was moving ahead in the Jewish religion faster than many people my own age among my people. I was far more eager than they were to keep the traditions handed down from my ancestors.

14And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Note"My equals" means his contemporaries, people of his own age and standing, not people equal to him in ability. "The traditions of my fathers" refers to the accumulated body of ancestral custom and interpretation handed down orally alongside the written law, which the Pharisees in particular held binding.

15But God had set me apart before I was born, and he called me because he is kind. When the time came that pleased him,

15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

Note"Separated me from my mother's womb" uses the standard language of a prophet's call in the Hebrew scriptures. Isaiah 49:1 and Jeremiah 1:5 describe a commission fixed before birth in almost these words, and a reader in Paul's time would have heard the echo.

16he chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach about him among people who are not Jews. When that happened, I did not go straight to any human being for advice.

16To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

Note"Heathen" translates ta ethne, "the nations," the ordinary Jewish term for everyone who was not Jewish. It carried no suggestion of being uncivilized or irreligious; "Gentiles" is the usual modern rendering. "Flesh and blood" is a set idiom for human beings as mortal creatures, so "conferred not with flesh and blood" means he consulted no person. "Reveal his Son in me" is ambiguous in the Greek: it can mean to me, within me, or through me to others.

17I did not go up to Jerusalem to see the men who were apostles before me. Instead I went away into Arabia, and later I came back to Damascus.

17Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

NotePeople always "went up" to Jerusalem regardless of which direction they were traveling from, because the city sits on high ground and because of its standing. "Arabia" does not mean the modern Arabian peninsula. It refers to the kingdom of the Nabateans, whose territory lay south and east of Damascus and reached close to the city itself.

18Then, three years later, I did go up to Jerusalem to meet Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.

18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

Note"To see Peter" translates a verb, historesai, that means to visit someone in order to get information from them, closer to interviewing or consulting than to dropping in. Many early manuscripts read "Cephas" here rather than "Peter"; Cephas is the Aramaic word for rock and Peter is its Greek equivalent, so both are the same name for the same man. The "three years" are counted by the ancient method, in which any part of a year counts as a whole one, so the span could be as little as somewhat over one year.

19I did not see any of the other apostles. The only other one I saw was James, the Lord's brother.

19But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

NoteThe Greek can be read two ways: that James was an apostle and the only one besides Peter whom Paul saw, or that Paul saw no other apostle but did also see James, who was not counted among them. This James is not the disciple James the son of Zebedee, but a brother of Jesus who later led the Jerusalem congregation.

20I promise you before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.

20Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.

Note"Behold, before God, I lie not" is a formal oath formula, swearing with God named as the witness. Writers used it at exactly this kind of point, where a disputed account of their own movements needed backing.

21After that I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

21Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;

NoteSyria and Cilicia were neighboring Roman provinces on the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean. Cilicia contained Tarsus, Paul's home city, and its capital was Antioch, so this was familiar ground rather than new territory.

22The churches in Judea that belong to Christ still did not know me by sight.

22And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

Note"Unknown by face" is an idiom meaning they had never met him in person, though they knew of him by reputation. Judea was the region around Jerusalem, the heartland from which the first congregations spread.

23All they heard was the report: "The man who used to attack us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."

23But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

24And they praised God because of me.

24And they glorified God in me.