Galatia 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 –

Galatia 1:9

1:9 As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell! ⁵ 

Galatia 2:21--3:2

2:21 I do not set aside ⁶  God’s grace, because if righteousness ⁷  could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! ⁸ 

Justification by Law or by Faith?

3:1 You ⁹  foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell ¹⁰  on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed ¹¹  as crucified! 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 ¹²  or by believing what you heard? ¹³ 

Galatia 3:15

Inheritance Comes from Promises and not Law

3:15 Brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  I offer an example from everyday life: ¹⁵  When a covenant ¹⁶  has been ratified, ¹⁷  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.

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, ¹⁸  so as to invalidate the promise.

Galatia 4:18

4:18 However, it is good ¹⁹  to be sought eagerly ²⁰  for a good purpose ²¹  at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

[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.”

[1:9]  ⁵ tn See the note on this phrase in the previous verse.

[2:21]  ⁶ tn Or “I do not declare invalid,” “I do not nullify.”

[2:21]  ⁷ tn Or “justification.”

[2:21]  ⁸ tn Or “without cause,” “for no purpose.”

[3:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainw) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).

[3:2]  ¹² tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”

[3:15]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

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

[3:15]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Or “has been put into effect.”

[3:17]  ¹⁸ 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.

[4:18]  ¹⁹ tn Or “commendable.”

[4:18]  ²⁰ tn Or “to be zealous.”

[4:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “But it is always good to be zealous in good.”