Galatia 1:13

1:13 For you have heard of my former way of life ¹  in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it.

Galatia 1:23

1:23 They were only hearing, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news ²  of the faith he once tried to destroy.”

Galatia 2:4

2:4 Now this matter arose ³  because of the false brothers with false pretenses ⁴  who slipped in unnoticed to spy on ⁵  our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves. ⁶ 

Galatia 2:9

2:9 and when James, Cephas, ⁷  and John, who had a reputation as ⁸  pillars, ⁹  recognized ¹⁰  the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me ¹¹  the right hand of fellowship, agreeing ¹²  that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹³ 

Galatia 2:14

2:14 But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ¹⁴  in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force ¹⁵  the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Galatia 2:21

2:21 I do not set aside ¹⁶  God’s grace, because if righteousness ¹⁷  could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! ¹⁸ 

Galatia 3:14

3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, ¹⁹  so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

Galatia 3:17

3:17 What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, ²⁰  so as to invalidate the promise.

Galatia 3:23

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

3:23 Now before faith ²¹  came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners ²²  until the coming faith would be revealed.

Galatia 4:5

4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. ²³ 

Galatia 4:20

4:20 I wish I could be with you now and change my tone of voice, ²⁴  because I am perplexed about you.

Galatia 4:30

4:30 But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son” ²⁵  of the free woman.

Galatia 5:13

Practice Love

5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; ²⁶  only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, ²⁷  but through love serve one another. ²⁸ 

Galatia 5:24

5:24 Now those who belong to Christ ²⁹  have crucified the flesh ³⁰  with its passions ³¹  and desires.

Galatia 6:8

6:8 because the person who sows to his own flesh ³²  will reap corruption ³³  from the flesh, ³⁴  but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

[1:13]  ¹ tn Or “lifestyle,” “behavior.”

[1:23]  ² tn The Greek verb here is εὐαγγελίζεται (euangelizetai).

[2:4]  ³ tn No subject and verb are expressed in vv. 4-5, but the phrase “Now this matter arose,” implied from v. 3, was supplied to make a complete English sentence.

[2:4]  ⁴ tn The adjective παρεισάκτους (pareisaktou"), which relates to someone joining a group with false motives or false pretenses, applies to the “false brothers.” Although the expression “false brothers with false pretenses” is somewhat redundant, it captures the emphatic force of Paul’s expression, which labels both these “brothers” as false (ψευδαδέλφους, yeudadelfou") as well as their motives. See L&N 34.29 for more information.

[2:4]  ⁵ tn The verb translated here as “spy on” (κατασκοπέω, kataskopew) can have a neutral nuance, but here the connotation is certainly negative (so F. F. Bruce, Galatians [NIGTC], 112-13, and E. Burton, Galatians [ICC], 83).

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “in order that they might enslave us.” The ἵνα (Jina) clause with the subjunctive verb καταδουλώσουσιν (katadoulwsousin) has been translated as an English infinitival clause.

[2:9]  ⁷ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Or “who were influential as,” or “who were reputed to be.” See also the note on the word “influential” in 2:6.

[2:9]  ⁹ sn Pillars is figurative here for those like James, Peter, and John who were leaders in the Jerusalem church.

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn The participle γνόντες (gnontes) has been taken temporally. It is structurally parallel to the participle translated “when they saw” in v. 7.

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn Grk “me and Barnabas.”

[2:9]  ¹² tn Grk “so,” with the ἵνα (Jina) indicating the result of the “pillars” extending the “right hand of fellowship,” but the translation “they gave…the right hand of fellowship so that we would go” could be misunderstood as purpose here. The implication of the scene is that an agreement, outlined at the end of v. 10, was reached between Paul and Barnabas on the one hand and the “pillars” of the Jerusalem church on the other.

[2:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.

[2:14]  ¹⁴ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:14]  ¹⁵ tn Here ἀναγκάζεις (anankazei") has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[2:21]  ¹⁶ tn Or “I do not declare invalid,” “I do not nullify.”

[2:21]  ¹⁷ tn Or “justification.”

[2:21]  ¹⁸ tn Or “without cause,” “for no purpose.”

[3:14]  ¹⁹ tn Or “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.”

[3:17]  ²⁰ tc Most mss (D F G I 0176 0278 Ï it sy) read “ratified by God in Christ” whereas the omission of “in Christ” is the reading in Ì⁴⁶ א A B C P Ψ 6 33 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 pc co. The shorter reading is strongly supported by the ms evidence, and it is probable that a copyist inserted the words as an interpretive gloss. However, this form of the “in Christ” expression is somewhat atypical in the corpus Paulinum (εἰς Χριστόν [ei" Criston] rather than ἐν Χριστῷ [en Cristw]), a fact which tempers one’s certainty about the shorter reading. Nevertheless, the expression is used more in Galatians than in any other of Paul’s letters (Gal 2:16; 3:24, 27), and may have been suggested by such texts to early copyists.

[3:23]  ²¹ tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”

[3:23]  ²² tc Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in Ì⁴⁶ א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 al), C D¹ 0176 0278 Ï have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses.

[3:23]  tn Grk “being confined.”

[4:5]  ²³ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”

[4:20]  ²⁴ tn Grk “voice” or “tone.” The contemporary English expression “tone of voice” is a good approximation to the meaning here.

[4:30]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 21:10. The phrase of the free woman does not occur in Gen 21:10.

[5:13]  ²⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[5:13]  ²⁷ tn Grk “as an opportunity for the flesh”; BDAG 915 s.v. σάρξ 2.c.α states: “In Paul’s thought esp., all parts of the body constitute a totality known as σ. or flesh, which is dominated by sin to such a degree that wherever flesh is, all forms of sin are likew. present, and no good thing can live in the σάρξ…Gal 5:13, 24;…Opp. τὸ πνεῦμα…Gal 3:3; 5:16, 17ab; 6:8ab.”

[5:13]  ²⁸ tn It is possible that the verb δουλεύετε (douleuete) should be translated “serve one another in a humble manner” here, referring to the way in which slaves serve their masters (see L&N 35.27).

[5:24]  ²⁹ tc ‡ Some mss (א A B C P Ψ 0122¹ 0278 33 1175 1739 pc co) read “Christ Jesus” here, while many significant ones (Ì⁴⁶ D F G 0122*^,2 latt sy), as well as the Byzantine text, lack “Jesus.” The Byzantine text is especially not prone to omit the name “Jesus”; that it does so here argues for the authenticity of the shorter reading (for similar instances of probably authentic Byzantine shorter readings, see Matt 24:36 and Phil 1:14; cf. also W.-H. J. Wu, “A Systematic Analysis of the Shorter Readings in the Byzantine Text of the Synoptic Gospels” [Ph.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 2002]). On the strength of the alignment of Ì⁴⁶ with the Western and Byzantine texttypes, the shorter reading is preferred. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[5:24]  ³⁰ tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.

[5:24]  ³¹ tn The Greek term παθήμασιν (paqhmasin, translated “passions”) refers to strong physical desires, especially of a sexual nature (L&N 25.30).

[6:8]  ³² tn BDAG 915 s.v. σάρξ 2.c.α states: “In Paul’s thought esp., all parts of the body constitute a totality known as σ. or flesh, which is dominated by sin to such a degree that wherever flesh is, all forms of sin are likew. present, and no good thing can live in the σάρξ…Gal 5:13, 24;…Opp. τὸ πνεῦμα…Gal 3:3; 5:16, 17ab; 6:8ab.”

[6:8]  ³³ tn Or “destruction.”

[6:8]  ³⁴ tn See the note on the previous occurrence of the word “flesh” in this verse.