The Jewish Annotated New Testament (97 page)

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But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned;
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for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction.
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And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
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But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
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¹⁵
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
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yet we know that a person is justified
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not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.
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And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ,
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and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.
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But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!
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But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor.
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For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ;
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and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
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who loved me and gave himself for me.
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I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification
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comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

3
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!
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The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?
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Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
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Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing.
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Well then, does God
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supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

⁶
Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”
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so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.
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And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.”
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For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

¹⁰
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”
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Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
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12
But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law
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will live by them.”
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Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—
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in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

¹⁵
Brothers and sisters,
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I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will
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has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.
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Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;
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it does not say, “And to offsprings,”
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as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,”
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that is, to one person, who is Christ.
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My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
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For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

¹⁹
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring
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would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.
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Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

²¹
Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law.
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But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ
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might be given to those who believe.

²³
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.
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Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
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But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,
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for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
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As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
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There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
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And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,
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heirs according to the promise.

4
My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property;
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but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father.
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So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits
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of the world.
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But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
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in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.
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And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
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hearts, crying, “Abba!
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Father!”
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So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
^*

⁸
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods.
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Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?
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How can you want to be enslaved to them again?
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You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years.
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I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.

¹²
Friends,
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I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.
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You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you;
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though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
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What has become of the goodwill you felt? For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
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Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
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They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them.
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It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you.
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My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
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I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

²¹
Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law?
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For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman.
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One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.
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Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery.
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Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia
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and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
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But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.
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For it is written,

 “Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear
             no children,
        burst into song and shout, you who
                 endure no birth pangs;
      for the children of the desolate woman are
               more numerous
        than the children of the one who is
                    married.”