圣经-新约（天主教思高圣经）
不认识圣经，就是不认识基督，不认识基督，就是不认识基督所建立的天主教会。
新约·迦拉达书
共6章:
第一章(24)
妾致候辞
1:1 我保禄宗徒──我蒙召为宗徒，并非由于人，也并非借着人，而是由于耶稣基督和使他由死者中复活的天主父──
1:2 我和同我在一起的众弟兄，致书给迦拉达众教会：
1:3 愿恩宠与平安由天主我们的父及主耶稣基督赐与你们！
1:4 这基督按照天主我们父的旨意，为我们的罪恶舍弃了自己，为救我们脱离此邪恶的世代。
1:5 愿光荣归于天主，至于无穷之世！阿们。
福音来自天主
哀信友动摇之速
1:6 我真奇怪，你们竟这样快离开了那以基督的恩宠召叫你们的天主，而归向了另一福音；
1:7 其实，并没有别的福音，只是有一些人扰乱你们，企图改变基督的福音而已。
1:8 但是，无论谁，即使是我们，或是从天上降下的一位天使，若给你们宣讲的福音，与我们给你们所宣讲的福音不同，当受诅咒。
1:9 我们以前说过，如今我再说：谁若给你们宣讲福音与你们所接受的不同，当受诅咒。
1:10 那么，我如今是讨人的喜爱，或是讨天主的喜爱呢﹖难道我是寻求人的欢心吗﹖如果我还求人的欢心，我就不是基督的仆役。
福音与宗徒职位全由天主而来
1:11 弟兄们！我告诉你们：我所宣讲的福音，并不是由人而来的，
1:12 因为，我不是由人得来的，也不是由人学来的，而是由耶稣基督的启示得来的。
1:13 你们一定听说过，我从前尚在犹太教中的行动：我怎样激烈地迫害过天主的教会，竭力想把她消灭；
1:14 我在犹太教中比我本族许多同年的人更为急进，对我祖先的传授更富于热忱。
1:15 但是，从母胎中已选拔我，以恩宠召叫我的天主，却决意
1:16 将他的圣子启示给我，叫我在异民中传扬他。我当时没有与任何人商量，
1:17 也没有上耶路撒冷去见那些在我以前作宗徒的人，我立即去了阿剌伯，然后又回到了大马士革。
1:18 此后，过了三年，我才上耶路撒冷去拜见刻法，在他那里逗留了十五天，
1:19 除了主的兄弟雅各伯，我没有看见别的宗徒。
1:20 我给你们写的都是真的，我在天主前作证，我决没有说谎。
1:21 此后，我往叙利亚和基里基雅地域去了。
1:22 那时，犹太境内属于基督的各教会，都没有见过我的面；
1:23 只是听说过：「那曾经迫害我们的，如今却传扬他曾经想消灭的信仰了。」
1:24 他们就为了我而光荣天主。
福音来自天主
第二章(21)
其它宗徒赞同保禄
2:1 过了十四年，我同巴尔纳伯再上耶路撒冷去，还带了弟铎同去。
2:2 我是受了启示而上去的；我在那里向他们陈述了我在异民中间所讲的福音，和私下向那些有权威的人陈述过，免得我白白地奔跑，或者徒然奔走了。
2:3 但是，即连跟我的弟铎，他虽是希腊人，也没有被强迫领受割损，
2:4 因为，有些潜入的假兄弟，曾要他受割损；这些人潜入了教会，是为窥探我们在基督耶稣内所享有的自由，好使我们再成为奴隶；
2:5 可是对他们，我们连片刻时间也没有让步屈服，为使福音的真理在你们中保持不变。
2:6 至于那些所谓有权威的人──不论他们以前是何等人物，与我毫不相干；天主决不顾情面──那些有权威的人，也没有另外吩咐我什么；
2:7 反而他们看出来，我是受了委托，向未受割损的人宣传福音，就如伯多禄被委派向受割损的人宣传福音一样；
2:8 因为，那叫伯多禄为受割损的人致力尽宗徒之职的，也叫我为外邦人致力尽宗徒之外。
2:9 所以，他们一认清了所赋与我的恩宠，那称为柱石的雅各伯、刻法和若望，就与我和巴尔纳伯握手，表示通力合作，叫我们往外邦人那里去，而他们却往受割损的人那里去。
2:10 他们只要我们怀念穷人；对这一点我也曾尽力行了。
安提约基雅的事件
2:11 但是，当刻法来到安提约基雅时，我当面反对了他，因为他有可责的地方。
2:12 原来由雅各伯那里来了一些人，在他们未到以前，他惯常同外邦人一起吃饭；可是他们一来到了，他因怕那些受割损的人，就退避了，自己躲开。
2:13 其余的犹太人也都跟他一起装假，以致连巴尔纳伯也受了他们的牵引而装假。
2:14 我一见他们的行为与福音的真理不合，就当着众人对刻法说：「你是犹太人，竟按照外邦人的方式，而不按照犹太人的方式过活，你怎么敢强迫外邦人犹太化呢﹖」
2:15 我们生来是犹太人，而不是出于外邦民族的罪人；
2:16 可是我们知道：人成义不是由于遵行法律，而只是因着对耶稣基督的信仰，所以我们也信从了基督耶稣，为能由于对基督的信仰，而不由于遵行法律成义，因为由于遵守法律，任何人都不得成义。
2:17 如果我们在基督内求成义的人，仍如他们一样被视为罪人，那么基督岂不是成为支持罪恶的人了吗﹖绝对不是。
2:18 如果我把我所拆毁的，再修建起来，我就证明我是个罪犯。
2:19 其实，我已由于法律而死于法律了，为能生活于天主；我已同基督被钉在十字架上了，
2:20 所以，我生活已不是我生活，而是基督在我内生活；我现今在肉身内生活，是生活在对天主子的信仰内；他爱了我，且为我舍弃了自己。
2:21 我决不愿使天主的恩宠无效，因为，如果成义是赖着法律，那么，基督就白白地死了。
福音使人自由
第三章(29)
成义是由于信德
3:1 无知的迦拉达人啊！被钉在十字架上的耶稣基督，已活现地摆在你们的眼前，谁又迷惑了你们呢﹖
3:2 我只愿向你们请教这一点：你们领受了圣神，是由于遵行法律呢﹖还是由于听信福音呢﹖
3:3 你们竟这样无知吗﹖你们以圣神开始了，如今又愿以肉身结束吗﹖
3:4 你们竟白白受了这么多的苦吗﹖果然是白白地吗﹖
3:5 天主赐与你们圣神，并在你们中间施展了德能，是因为你们遵行法律呢﹖还是因为你们听信福音呢﹖
3:6 经上这样记载说：『亚巴郎信了天主，天主就以此算为他的正义。』
3:7 为此你们该晓得：具有信德的人，才是亚巴郎的子孙。
3:8 圣经预见天主将使异民凭信德成义，就向亚巴郎预报福音说：『万民都要因你获得祝福。』
3:9 可见那些具有信德的人，与有信德的亚巴郎同蒙祝福。
基督废弃了奴隶性的法律
3:10 反之，凡是依恃遵行法律的，都应受咒骂，因为经上记载说：『凡不持守律书上所记载的一切，而依照遵行的，是可咒骂的。』
3:11 所以很明显的，没有一个人能凭法律在天主前成义，因为经上说：『义人因信德而生活。』
3:12 但是法律并非以信德为本，只说：『遵行法令的，必因此获得生命。』
3:13 但基督由法律的咒骂中赎出了我们，为我们成了可咒骂的，因为经上记载说：『凡被悬在木架上的，是可咒骂的。』
3:14 这样天主使亚巴郎所蒙受的降福，在基督耶稣内普及于万民，并使我们能借着信德领受所应许的圣神。
3:15 弟兄们！就常规来说：连人的遗嘱，如果是正式成立的，谁也不得废除或增订。
3:16 那么，恩许是向亚巴郎和他的后裔所许诺的，并没有说「后裔们」，好象是向许多人说的，而是向一个人，即「你的后裔」，就是指基督。
3:17 我是说：天主先前所正式立定的誓约，决不能为四百三十年以后成立的法律所废除，以致使恩许失效。
3:18 如果承受产业是由于法律，就已不是由于恩许；但天主是由于恩许把产业赐给了亚巴郎。
3:19 那么，为什么还有法律呢﹖它是为显露过犯而添设的，等他所恩许的后裔来到，它原是借着天使，经过中人的手而立定的。
3:20 可是如果出于单方，就不需要中人了，而天主是由单方赐与了恩许。
3:21 那么，法律相反天主的恩许吗﹖绝对不是。如果所立定的法律赐与人生命，正义就的确是出于法律了。
3:22 但是圣经说过：一切人都被禁锢在罪恶权下，好使恩许借着对基督耶稣的信仰，归于相信的人。
3:23 在「信仰」尚未来到以前，我们都被禁锢在法律的监守之下，以期待「信仰」的出现。
3:24 这样，法律就成了我们的启蒙师，领我们归于基督，好使我们由于信仰而成义。
3:25 但是「信仰」一到，我们就不再处于启蒙师权下了。
3:26 其实你们众人都借着对基督耶稣的信仰，成了天主的子女，
3:27 因为你们凡是领了洗归于基督的，就是穿上了基督：
3:28 不再分犹太人或希腊人，奴隶或自由人，男人或女人，因为你们众人在基督耶稣内已成了一个。
3:29 如果你们属于基督，那么，你们就是亚巴郎的后裔，就是按照恩许作承继的人。
第四章(31)
宠爱使人为天主的子女
4:1 再说：承继人几时还是孩童，虽然他是一切家业的主人，却与奴隶没有分别，
4:2 仍属于监护人和代理人的权下，直到父亲预定的期限。
4:3 同样，当我们以前还作孩童的时候，我们是隶属于今世的蒙学权下；
4:4 但时期一满，天主就派遣了自己的儿子来，生于女人，生于法律之下，
4:5 为把在法律之下的人赎出来，使我们获得义子的地位。
4:6 为证实你们确实是天主的子女，天主派遣了自己儿子的圣神，到我们心内喊说：「阿爸，父啊！」
4:7 所以你已不再是奴隶，而是儿子了；如果是儿子，赖天主的恩宠，也成了承继人。
接受法律是再愿为奴
4:8 当你们还不认识天主的时候，服事了一些本来不是神的神；
4:9 但如今你们认识了天主，更好说为天主所认识；那么，你们怎么又再回到那无能无用的蒙学里去，情愿再作他们的奴隶呢﹖
4:10 你们竟又谨守某日、某月、某时、某年！
4:11 我真为你们担心，怕我白白地为你们辛苦了。
劝迦拉达人不要受人愚弄
4:12 弟兄们！我恳求你们要象我一样，因为我曾一度也象你们一样。你们一点也没有亏负过我。
4:13 你们知道：当我初次给你们宣讲福音时，正当我身患重病，
4:14 虽然我的病势为你们是个试探，你们却没有轻看我，也没有厌弃我，反接待我有如一位天主的天使，有如基督耶稣。
4:15 那么，你们当日所庆幸的在那里呢﹖我敢为你们作证：如若可能，你们那时也会把你们的眼睛挖出来给我。
4:16 那么，只因我给你们说实话，就成了你们的仇人吗﹖
4:17 那些人对你们表示关心，并不怀好意；他们只是愿意使你们与我隔绝，好叫你们也关心他们。
4:18 受人关心固然是好的，但应怀好意，且该常常如此，并不单是我在你们中间的时候。
4:19 我的孩子们！我愿为你们再受产痛，直到基督在你们内形成为止。
4:20 恨不得我现今就在你们跟前，改变我的声调，因为我对你们实在放心不下。
基督徒才是自由的子女
4:21 你们愿意属于法律的，请告诉我：你们没有听见法律说什么吗﹖
4:22 法律曾记载说：亚巴郎有两个儿子：一个生于婢女，一个生于自由的妇人。
4:23 那生于婢女的，是按常例而生的；但那生于自由妇人的，却是因恩许而生的。
4:24 这都含有寓意：那两个妇人是代表两个盟约：一是出于西乃山，生子为奴，那即是哈加尔──
4:25 西乃山是在阿剌伯──这哈加尔相当于现在的耶路撒冷，因为耶路撒冷与她的子女同为奴隶。
4:26 然而那属于天上的耶路撒冷却是自由的，她就是我们的母亲：
4:27 诚如经上记载说：『不生育的石女，喜乐罢！未经产痛的女人，欢呼高唱罢！因为被弃者的子女比有夫者的子女还多。』
4:28 弟兄们！你们象依撒格一样，是恩许的子女。
4:29 但是，先前那按常例而生的怎样迫害了那按神恩而生的，如今还是这样。
4:30 然而经上说了什么？『你将婢女和她的儿子赶走，因为婢女的儿子不能与自由妇人的儿子，一同承受家业。』
4:31 所以，弟兄们，我们不是婢女的子女，而是自由妇人的子女。
基督徒的正当生活
第五章(25)
恩许的自由决不可放弃
5:1 基督解救了我们，是为使我们获得自由；所以你们要站稳，不可再让奴隶的轭束缚住你们。
5:2 请注意，我保禄告诉你们：若你们还愿意受割损，基督对你们就没有什么益处。
5:3 我再向任何自愿受割损的人声明：他有遵守全部法律的义务。
5:4 你们这些靠法律寻求成义的人，是与基督断绝了关系，由恩宠上跌了下来。
5:5 至于我们，我们却是依赖圣神，由于信德，怀着能成义的希望，
5:6 因为在基督耶稣内，割损或不割损都算不得什么，唯有以爱德行事的信德，纔算什么。
5:7 以前你们跑得好！有谁拦阻了你们去追随真理呢﹖
5:8 这种劝诱决不是出自那召选你们的天主。
5:9 少许的酵母就能使整个面团发酵。
5:10 我在主内信任你们，认为你们不会有什么别的心思；但那扰乱你们的人，不论他是谁，必要承受惩罚。
5:11 至于我，弟兄们，如果我仍宣讲割损的需要，那我为什么还受迫害﹖若是这样，十字架的绊脚石就早已除去了。
5:12 巴不得那些扰乱你们的人，将自己割净了!
自由是爱的表现
5:13 弟兄们，你们蒙召选，是为得到自由；但不要以这自由作为放纵肉欲的借口，惟要以爱德彼此服事。
5:14 因为全部法律总括在这句话内：『爱你的近人如你自己』。
5:15 但如果你们彼此相咬相吞，你们要小心，免得同归于尽。
5:16 我告诉你们：你们若随圣神的引导行事，就决不会去满足本性的私欲，
5:17 因为本性的私欲相反圣神的引导，圣神的引导相反本性的私欲：二者互相敌对，致使你们不能行你们所愿意的事。
5:18 但如果你们随圣神的引导，就不在法律权下。
5:19 本性私欲的作为是显而易见的：即淫乱、不洁、放荡、
5:20 崇拜偶像、施行邪法、仇恨、竞争、嫉妒、忿怒、争吵、不睦、分党、
5:21 妒恨、【醉酒、宴乐以及凶杀】，与这些相类似的事。我以前劝戒过你们，如今再说一次：做这种事的人，决不能承受天主的国。
5:22 然而圣神的效果却是：仁爱、喜乐、平安、忍耐、良善、温和、忠信、
5:23 柔和、节制：关于这样的事，并没有法律禁止。
5:24 凡是属于耶稣基督的人，已把肉身同邪情和私欲钉在十字架上了。
5:25 如果我们因圣神生活，就应随从圣神的引导而行事。不要贪图虚荣，不要彼此挑拨，互相嫉妒。
第六章(18)
应彼此担待
6:1 弟兄们，如果见一个人陷于某种过犯，你们既是属神的人，就该以柔和的心神矫正他；但你们自己要小心，免得也陷入诱惑。
6:2 你们应彼此协助背负重担，这样，你们就满全了基督的法律。
6:3 人本来不算什么，若自以为算什么，就是欺骗自己。
6:4 各人只该考验自己的行为，这样，对自己也许有可夸耀之处，但不是对别人夸耀，
6:5 因为各人要背负自己的重担。
6:6 学习真道的，应让教师分享自己的一切财物。
有其因必有其果
6:7 你们切不要错了，天主是嘲笑不得的：人种什么，就收什么。
6:8 那随从肉情撒种的，必由肉情收获败坏；然而那随从圣神撒种的，必由圣神收获永生。
6:9 为此，我们行善不要厌倦；如果不松懈，到了适当的时节，必可收获。
6:10 所以，我们一有机会，就应向众人行善，尤其应向有同样信德的家人。
结论
十字架是保禄的夸耀
6:11 你们看，我亲手给你们写的是多么大的字！
6:12 那些逼迫你们受割损的人，是想以外表的礼节来图人称赞，免得因基督的十字架遭受迫害；
6:13 其实，他们虽然受了割损，却也不遵守法律；他们只是愿意你们受割损，为能因在你们的肉身上所行的礼仪而夸耀。
6:14 至于我，我只以我们的主耶稣基督的十字架来夸耀，因为借着基督，世界于我已被钉在十字架上了；我于世界也被钉在十字架上了。
6:15 其实，割损或不割损都算不得什么，要紧的是新受造的人。
6:16 凡以此为规律而行的，愿平安与怜悯降在他们身上，即降在天主的新以色列身上！
6:17 从今以后，我切愿没有人再烦扰我，因为在我身上，我带有耶稣的烙印。
祝福辞
6:18 弟兄们！愿我们的主耶稣基督的恩宠，常与你们的心灵同在！阿们。
BOOK ENDS. Seraphim, April 2009.
JB GALATIANS Chapter 1
THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CHURCH IN GALATIA
Address
1:1 From Paul to the churches of Galatia, and from all the brothers who are here with me,
1:2 an apostle who does not owe his authority to men or his appointment to any human being but who has been appointed by Jesus Christ and by God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead.
1:3 We wish you the grace and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
1:4 who in order to rescue us from this present wicked world sacrificed himself for our sins, in accordance with the will of God our Father,
1:5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
A warning
1:6 I am astonished at the promptness with which you have turned away from the one who called you and have decided to follow a different version of the Good News.
1:7 Not that there can be more than one Good News; it is merely that some troublemakers among you want to change the Good News of Christ;
1:8 and let me warn you that if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one we have already preached to you, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he is to be condemned.
1:9 I am only repeating what we told you before: if anyone preaches a version of the Good News different from the one you have already heard, he is to be condemned.
1:10 So now whom am I trying to please – man, or God? Would you say it is men’s approval I am looking for?[*a] If I still wanted that, I should not be what I am – a servant of Christ.
- PAUL’S APOLOGIA
God’s call
1:11 The fact is, brothers, and I want you to realise this, the Good News I preached is not a human message
1:12 that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
1:13 You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it,
1:14 how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors.
1:15 Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb,[*b] called me through his grace and chose
1:16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not stop to discuss this with any human being,
1:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia[*c] at once and later went straight back from there to Damascus.
1:18 Even when after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days,
1:19 I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord,
1:20 and I swear before God that what I have just written is the literal truth.
1:21 After that I went to Syria and Cilicia,
1:22 and was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judaea,
1:23 who had heard nothing except that their one-time persecutor was now preaching the faith he had previously tried to destroy;
1:24 and they gave glory to God for me.
JB GALATIANS Chapter 1
The meeting at Jerusalem
2:1 It was not till fourteen years had passed that I went up to Jerusalem again. I went with Barnabas and took Titus with me.
2:2 I went there as the result of a revelation, and privately I laid before the leading men the Good News as I proclaim it among the pagans; I did so for fear the course I was adopting or had already adopted would not be allowed.
2:3 And what happened? Even though Titus who had come with me is a Greek, he was not obliged to be circumcised.
2:4 The question came up only because some who do not really belong to the brotherhood have furtively crept in to spy on the liberty we enjoy in Christ Jesus, and want to reduce us all to slavery.
2:5 I was so determined to safeguard for you the true meaning of the Good News, that I refused even out of deference to yield to such people for one moment.
2:6 As a result, these people who are acknowledged leaders – not that their importance matters to me, since God has no favourites – these leaders, as I say, had nothing to add to the Good News as I preach it.
2:7 On the contrary, they recognised that I had been commissioned to preach the Good News to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been commissioned to preach it to the circumcised.
2:8 The same person whose action had made Peter the apostle of the circumcised had given me a similar mission to the pagans.
2:9 So, James, Cephas and John, these leaders, these pillars, shook hands with Barnabas and me as a sign of partnership: we were to go to the pagans and they to the circumcised.[*a]
2:10 The only thing they insisted on was that we should remember to help the poor, as indeed I was anxious to do.
Peter and Paul at Antioch
2:11 When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, since he was manifestly in the wrong.
2:12 His custom had been to eat with the pagans,[*b] but after certain friends of James arrived he stopped doing this and kept away from them altogether for fear of the group that insisted on circumcision.
2:13 The other Jews joined him in this pretence, and even Barnabas felt himself obliged to copy their behaviour.
2:14 When I saw they were not respecting the true meaning of the Good News, I said to Cephas in front of everyone, ‘In spite of being a Jew, you live like the pagans and not like the Jews, so you have no right to make the pagans copy Jewish ways’.
The Good News as proclaimed by Paul
2:15 ‘Though we were born Jews and not pagan sinners,
2:16 we acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ. We had to become believers in Christ Jesus no less than you had, and now we hold that faith in Christ rather than fidelity to the Law is what justifies us, and that no one can be justified[*c] by keeping the Law.
2:17 Now if we were to admit that the result of looking to Christ to justify us is to make us sinners like the rest, it would follow that Christ had induced us to sin, which would be absurd.
2:18 If I were to return to a position I had already abandoned, I should be admitting I had done something wrong.
2:19 In other words, through the Law I am dead to the Law, so that now I can live for God. I have been crucified with Christ,
2:20 and I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake.
2:21 I cannot bring myself to give up God’s gift: if the Law can justify us, there is no point in the death of Christ.’
JB GALATIANS Chapter 3
- DOCTRINAL MATTERS
Justification by faith
3:1 Are you people in Galatia mad? Has someone put a spell on you, in spite of the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?
3:2 Let me ask you one question: was it because you practised the Law that you received the Spirit, or because you believed what was preached to you?
3:3 Are you foolish enough to end in outward observances what you began in the Spirit?
3:4 Have all the favours you received been wasted? And if this were so, they would most certainly have been wasted.
3:5 Does God give you the Spirit so freely and work miracles among you because you practice Law, or because you believed what was preached to you?
3:6 Take Abraham for example: he put his faith in God, and this faith was considered as justifying him.[*a]
3:7 Don’t you see that it is those who rely on faith who are the sons of Abraham?
3:8 Scripture foresaw that God was going to use faith to justify the pagans, and proclaimed the Good News long ago when Abraham was told: In you all the pagans will be blessed.[*b]
3:9 Those therefore who rely on faith receive the same blessing as Abraham, the man of faith.
The curse brought by the Law
3:10 On the other hand, those who rely on the keeping of the Law are under a curse, since scripture says: Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in observing everything prescribed in the book of the Law.[*c]
3:11 The Law will not justify anyone in the sight of God, because we are told: the righteous man finds life through faith.[*d]
3:12 The Law is not even based on faith, since we are told: The man who practises these precepts finds life through practising them.[*e]
3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being cursed for our sake, since scripture says: Cursed be everyone who is hanged on a tree.[*f]
3:14 This was done so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might include the pagans, and so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.
The Law did not cancel the promise
3:15 Compare this, brothers, with what happens in ordinary life. If a will has been drawn up in due form, no one is allowed to disregard it or add to it.
3:16 Now the promises were addressed to Abraham and to his descendants – notice, in passing, that scripture does not use a plural word as if there were several descendants, it uses the singular: to his posterity, which is Christ.
3:17 But my point is this: once God had expressed his will in due form, no law that came four hundred and thirty years later could cancel that and make the promise meaningless.
3:18 If you inherit something as a legal right, it does not come to you as the result of a promise, and it was precisely in the form of a promise that God made his gift to Abraham.
The purpose of the Law
3:19 What then was the purpose of adding the Law? This was done to specify crimes, until the posterity came to whom the promise was addressed. The Law was promulgated by angels,[*g] assisted by an intermediary.
3:20 Now there can only be an intermediary between two parties, yet God is one.
3:21 Does this mean that there is opposition between the Law and the promises of God? Of course not. We could have been justified by the Law if the Law we were given had been capable of giving life,
3:22 but it is not: scripture makes no exceptions when it says that sin is master everywhere. In this way the promise can only be given through faith in Jesus Christ and can only be given to those who have this faith.
The coming of faith
3:23 Before faith came, we were allowed no freedom by the Law; we were being looked after till faith was revealed.
3:24 The Law was to be our guardian until the Christ came and we could be justified by faith.
3:25 Now that that time has come we are no longer under that guardian,
3:26 and you are, all of you, sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
3:27 All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ,
3:28 and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
3:29 Merely by belonging to Christ you are the posterity of Abraham, the heirs he was promised.
JB GALATIANS Chapter 4
Sons of God
4:1 Let me put this another way: an heir, even if he has actually inherited everything, is no different from a slave for as long as he remains a child.
4:2 He is under the control of guardians and administrators until he reaches the age fixed by his father.
4:3 Now before we came of age we were as good as slaves to the elemental principles of this world,[*a]
4:4 but when the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law,
4:5 to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.
4:6 The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’,
4:7 and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave any more; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.
4:8 Once you were ignorant of God, and enslaved to ‘gods’ who are not really gods at all;
4:9 but now that you have come to acknowledge God – or rather, now that God has acknowledged you – how can you want to go back to elemental things like these, that can do nothing and give nothing, and be their slaves?
4:10 You and your special days and months and seasons and years!
4:11 You make me feel I have wasted my time with you.
A personal appeal
4:12 Brothers, all I ask is that you should copy me as I copied you. You have never treated me in an unfriendly way before;
4:13 even at the beginning, when that illness gave me the opportunity to preach the Good News to you,
4:14 you never showed the least sign of being revolted or disgusted by my disease that was such a trial to you; instead you welcomed me as an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.
4:15 What has become of this enthusiasm you had? I swear that you would even have gone so far as to pluck out your eyes and give them to me.
4:16 Is it telling you the truth that has made me your enemy?
4:17 The blame lies in the way they have tried to win you over: by separating you from me, they want to win you over to themselves.
4:18 It is always a good thing to win people over – and I do not have to be there with you – but it must be for a good purpose,
4:19 my children! I must go through the pain of giving birth to you all over again, until Christ is formed in you.
4:20 I wish I were with you now so that I could know exactly what to say; as it is, I have no idea what to do for the best.
The two covenants: Hagar and Sarah
4:21 You want to be subject to the Law? Then listen to what the Law says.
4:22 It says, if you remember, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl, and one by his free-born wife.
4:23 The child of the slave-girl was born in the ordinary way; the child of the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
4:24 This can be regarded as an allegory: the women stand for the two covenants. The first who comes from Mount Sinai, and whose children are slaves, is Hagar –
4:25 since Sinai is in Arabia – and she corresponds to the present Jerusalem that is a slave like her children.
4:26 The Jerusalem above, however, is free and is our mother, since scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren women who bore no children! Break into shouts of joy and gladness, you who were never in labour. For there are more sons of the forsaken one than sons of the wedded wife.[*b]
4:28 Now you, my brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise,
4:29 and as at that time the child born in the ordinary way persecuted the child born in the Spirit’s way, so also now.
4:30 Does not scripture say: Drive away that slave-girl and her son; this slave-girl’s son is not to share the inheritance with the son[*c] of the free woman?
4:31 So, my brothers, we are the children, not of the slave-girl, but of the free-born wife.
JB GALATIANS Chapter 5
III. EXHORTATION
Christian liberty
5:1 When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
5:2 It is I, Paul, who tell you this: if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all.
5:3 With all solemnity I repeat my warning: Everyone who accepts circumcision is obliged to keep the whole Law.
5:4 But if you do look to the Law to make you justified, then you have separated yourselves from Christ, and have fallen from grace.
5:5 Christians are told by the Spirit to look to faith for those rewards that righteousness hopes for,
5:6 since in Christ Jesus whether you are circumcised or not makes no difference – what matters is faith that makes its power felt through love.
5:7 You began your race well: who made you less anxious to obey the truth?
5:8 You were not prompted by him who called you!
5:9 The yeast seems to be spreading through the whole batch of you.
5:10 I feel sure that, united in the Lord, you will agree with me, and anybody who troubles you in future will be condemned, no matter who he is.
5:11 As for me, my brothers, if I still preach circumcision,[*a] why am I still persecuted? If I did that now, would there be any scandal of the cross?
5:12 Tell those who are disturbing you I would like to see the knife slip.
Liberty and charity
5:13 My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty; but be careful, or this liberty will provide an opening for self-indulgence. Serve one another, rather, in works of love,
5:14 since the whole of the Law is summarised in a single command: Love your neighbour as yourself.[*b]
5:15 If you go snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, you had better watch or you will destroy the whole community.
5:16 Let me put it like this: if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence,
5:17 since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions.
5:18 If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you.
5:19 When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility;
5:20 idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions,
5:21 envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
5:22 What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness,
5:23 gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course.
5:24 You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires.
5:25 Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit.
5:26 We must stop being conceited, provocative and envious.
JB GALATIANS Chapter 6
On kindness and perseverance
6:1 Brothers, if one of you misbehaves, the more spiritual of you who set him right should do so in a spirit of gentleness, not forgetting that you may be tempted yourselves.
6:2 You should carry each other’s troubles and fulfil the law of Christ.
6:3 It is the people who are not important who often make the mistake of thinking that they are.
6:4 Let each of you examine his own conduct; if you find anything to boast about, it will at least be something of your own, not just something better than your neighbour has.
6:5 Everyone has his own burden to carry.
6:6 People under instruction should always contribute something to the support of the man who is instructing them.
6:7 Don’t delude yourself into thinking God can be cheated: where a man sows, there he reaps:
6:8 if he sows in the field of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if he sows in the field of the Spirit he will get from it a harvest of eternal life.
6:9 We must never get tired of doing good because if we don’t give up the struggle we shall get our harvest at the proper time.
6:10 While we have the chance, we must do good to all, and especially to our brothers in the faith.
Epilogue
6:11 Take good note of what I am adding in my own handwriting and in large letters.
6:12 It is only self-interest that makes them want to force circumcision on you – they want to escape persecution for the cross of Christ –
6:13 they accept circumcision but do not keep the Law themselves; they only want you to be circumcised so that they can boast of the fact.
6:14 As for me, the only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
6:15 It does not matter if a person is circumcised or not; what matters is for him to become an altogether new creature.
6:16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, who form the Israel of God.
6:17 I want no more trouble from anybody after this; the marks on my body are those of Jesus.
6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, my brothers. Amen.
END OF JB GALATIANS [6 Chapters].