Galatia 1:7-10

1:7 not that there really is another gospel, ¹  but ²  there are some who are disturbing you and wanting ³  to distort the gospel of Christ. 1:8 But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach ⁴  a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, ⁵  let him be condemned to hell! ⁶  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! ⁷  1:10 Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, ⁸  or of God? Or am I trying to please people? ⁹  If I were still trying to please ¹⁰  people, ¹¹  I would not be a slave ¹²  of Christ!

Galatia 2:4-6

2:4 Now this matter arose ¹³  because of the false brothers with false pretenses ¹⁴  who slipped in unnoticed to spy on ¹⁵  our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves. ¹⁶  2:5 But ¹⁷  we did not surrender to them ¹⁸  even for a moment, ¹⁹  in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. ²⁰ 

2:6 But from those who were influential ²¹  (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people ²² ) – those influential leaders ²³  added ²⁴  nothing to my message. ²⁵ 

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 ²⁶  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 ²⁷  the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Galatia 3:1-3

Justification by Law or by Faith?

3:1 You ²⁸  foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell ²⁹  on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed ³⁰  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 ³¹  or by believing what you heard? ³²  3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began ³³  with ³⁴  the Spirit, are you now trying to finish ³⁵  by human effort? ³⁶ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Grk “which is not another,” but this could be misunderstood to mean “which is not really different.” In fact, as Paul goes on to make clear, there is no other gospel than the one he preaches.

[1:7]  ² tn Grk “except.”

[1:7]  ³ tn Or “trying.”

[1:8]  ⁴ tc ‡ Most witnesses have ὑμῖν (Jumin, “to you”) either after (א² A [D* ὑμᾶς] 6 33 326 614 945 1881 Ï Tert^pt Ambst) or before (Ì^51vid B H 0278 630 1175 [1739* ἡμῖν]) εὐαγγελίζηται (euaggelizhtai, “should preach” [or some variation on the form of this verb]). But the fact that it floats suggests its inauthenticity, especially since it appears to be a motivated reading for purposes of clarification. The following witnesses lack the pronoun: א* F G Ψ ar b g Cyp Mcion^T Tert^pt Lcf. The external evidence admittedly is not as weighty as evidence for the pronoun, but coupled with strong internal evidence the shorter reading should be considered original. Although it is possible that scribes may have deleted the pronoun to make Paul’s statement seem more universal, the fact that the pronoun floats suggests otherwise. NA²⁷ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Or “other than the one we preached to you.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Grk “let him be accursed” (ἀνάθεμα, anaqema). The translation gives the outcome which is implied by this dreadful curse.

[1:9]  ⁷ tn See the note on this phrase in the previous verse.

[1:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “of men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") is used in a generic sense of both men and women.

[1:10]  ⁹ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") is used in a generic sense of both men and women.

[1:10]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verb has been translated conatively (ExSyn 550).

[1:10]  ¹¹ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") is used in a generic sense of both men and women.

[1:10]  ¹² tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:10]  sn Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10); all these men were “servants (or slaves) of the Lord.”

[2:4]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.

[2:5]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Or “we did not cave in to their demands.”

[2:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “even for an hour” (an idiom for a very short period of time).

[2:5]  ²⁰ 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).

[2:6]  ²¹ tn Or “influential leaders.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a.β has “the influential men Gal 2:2, 6b. A fuller expr. w. the same mng., w. inf. added…vss. 6a, 9.” This refers to the leadership of the Jerusalem church.

[2:6]  ²² tn Grk “God does not receive the face of man,” an idiom for showing favoritism or partiality (BDAG 887-88 s.v. πρόσωπον 1.b.α; L&N 88.238).

[2:6]  ²³ tn Or “influential people”; here “leaders” was used rather than “people” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy with the word “people” in the previous parenthetical remark. See also the note on the word “influential” at the beginning of this verse.

[2:6]  ²⁴ tn Or “contributed.” This is the same word translated “go to ask advice from” in 1:16, but it has a different meaning here; see L&N 59.72.

[2:6]  ²⁵ tn Or “added nothing to my authority.” Grk “added nothing to me,” with what was added (“message,” etc.) implied.

[2:14]  ²⁶ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:14]  ²⁷ tn Here ἀναγκάζεις (anankazei") has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[3:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.

[3:1]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).

[3:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.

[3:2]  ³² tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”

[3:3]  ³³ tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.

[3:3]  ³⁴ tn Or “by the Spirit.”

[3:3]  ³⁵ tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.

[3:3]  ³⁶ tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”