Galatians 1:6

Occasion of the Letter

1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one ¹  who called you by the grace of Christ ²  and are following ³  a different ⁴  gospel –

Galatians 1:23

1:23 They were only hearing, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news ⁵  of the faith he once tried to destroy.”

Galatians 2:5

2:5 But ⁶  we did not surrender to them ⁷  even for a moment, ⁸  in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. ⁹ 

Galatians 2:7-8

2:7 On the contrary, when they saw ¹⁰  that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised ¹¹  just as Peter was to the circumcised ¹²  2:8 (for he who empowered ¹³  Peter for his apostleship ¹⁴  to the circumcised ¹⁵  also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles) ¹⁶ 

Galatians 2:11

Paul Rebukes Peter

2:11 But when Cephas ¹⁷  came to Antioch, ¹⁸  I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. ¹⁹ 

Galatians 2:17

2:17 But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages ²⁰  sin? Absolutely not!

Galatians 2:21

2:21 I do not set aside ²¹  God’s grace, because if righteousness ²²  could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! ²³ 

Galatians 3:2

3:2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law ²⁴  or by believing what you heard? ²⁵ 

Galatians 3:15

Inheritance Comes from Promises and not Law

3:15 Brothers and sisters, ²⁶  I offer an example from everyday life: ²⁷  When a covenant ²⁸  has been ratified, ²⁹  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.

Galatians 3:23

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

3:23 Now before faith ³⁰  came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners ³¹  until the coming faith would be revealed.

Galatians 4:1

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ³²  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ³³  of everything.

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ³⁴  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ³⁵  of slavery.

Galatians 5:3

5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ³⁶  the whole law.

[1:6]  ¹ sn The one who called you is a reference to God the Father (note the mention of Christ in the following prepositional phrase and the mention of God the Father in 1:1).

[1:6]  ² tc Although the majority of witnesses, including some of the most important ones (Ì⁵¹ א A B F^c Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï f vg sy^p bo), read “by the grace of Christ” (χάριτι Χριστοῦ, cariti Cristou) here, this reading is not without variables. Besides alternate readings such as χάριτι ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (cariti Ihsou Cristou, “by the grace of Jesus Christ”; D 326 1241^s pc sy^h**) and χάριτι θεοῦ (cariti qeou, “by the grace of God”; 327 pc Thret^lem), a few mss (Ì^46vid F* G H^vid ar b Tert Cyp Ambst Pel) have simply χάριτι with no modifier. Internally, the reading that seems best to explain the rise of the others is the shortest reading, χάριτι. Indeed, the fact that three different adjuncts are found in the mss seems to be a natural expansion on the simple “grace.” At the same time, the witnesses for the shortest reading are not particularly impressive, being that they largely represent one textual strand (Western), and a less-than-reliable one at that. Further, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see the construction χάρις (cari", “grace”) followed by Χριστοῦ without some other name (such as κυρίου [kuriou, “Lord”] or ᾿Ιησοῦ). The construction χάρις θεοῦ is likewise frequent in Paul. Thus, upon closer inspection it seems that the original wording here was χάριτι Χριστοῦ (for it is difficult to explain how this particular reading could have arisen from the simple χάριτι, in light of Paul’s normal idioms), with the other readings intentionally or accidentally arising from it.

[1:6]  ³ tn Grk “deserting [turning away] to” a different gospel, implying the idea of “following.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “another.”

[1:23]  ⁵ tn The Greek verb here is εὐαγγελίζεται (euangelizetai).

[2:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “slaves, nor did we…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, οὐδέ (oude) was translated as “But…even” and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 5.

[2:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “we did not cave in to their demands.”

[2:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “even for an hour” (an idiom for a very short period of time).

[2:5]  ¹² sn In order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. Paul evidently viewed the demands of the so-called “false brothers” as a departure from the truth contained in the gospel he preached. This was a very serious charge (see Gal 1:8).

[2:7]  ¹³ tn The participle ἰδόντες (idontes) has been taken temporally to retain the structure of the passage. Many modern translations, because of the length of the sentence here, translate this participle as a finite verb and break the Greek sentences into several English sentences (NIV, for example, begins new sentences at the beginning of both vv. 8 and 9).

[2:7]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “to the uncircumcision,” that is, to the Gentiles.

[2:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.

[2:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “worked through”; the same word is also used in relation to Paul later in this verse.

[2:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “his ministry as an apostle.”

[2:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” i.e., the Jewish people.

[2:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “also empowered me to the Gentiles.”

[2:11]  ²¹ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:11]  ²² map For location see JP1 F2; JP2 F2; JP3 F2; JP4 F2.

[2:11]  ²³ tn Grk “because he stood condemned.”

[2:17]  ²⁵ tn Or “does Christ serve the interests of sin?”; or “is Christ an agent for sin?” See BDAG 230-31 s.v. διάκονος 2.

[2:21]  ²⁹ tn Or “I do not declare invalid,” “I do not nullify.”

[2:21]  ³⁰ tn Or “justification.”

[2:21]  ³¹ tn Or “without cause,” “for no purpose.”

[3:2]  ³³ tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.

[3:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”

[3:15]  ³⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[3:15]  ³⁸ tn Grk “I speak according to man,” referring to the illustration that follows.

[3:15]  ³⁹ tn The same Greek word, διαθήκη (diaqhkh), can mean either “covenant” or “will,” but in this context the former is preferred here because Paul is discussing in vv. 16-18 the Abrahamic covenant.

[3:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “has been put into effect.”

[3:23]  ⁴¹ tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”

[3:23]  ⁴² 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.

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

[5:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ⁵⁰ sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

[5:3]  ⁵³ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”