Galatians: Nijay's English Translation
Galatians 1
Every time I work on a biblical book for a commentary and/or for a set of course lectures, I try to translate through the whole book. I have spent the last several years on Galatians, both for my Story of God Bible Commentary and for my New Word Biblical Themes volume. I have taught Galatians numerous times over the last decade, as recently as a month ago. Such a powerful text!
In this Substack series, I am going to share my personal translation with my Substack readers—but a few heads up notes. #1: This is unrelated to my work with the New Living Translation. This is a “for my benefit” kind of translation, as I process the words Paul used and how they make sense then and now. #2: I want to give you advance notice that I will share my Galatians chapters 1-3 for free, but chs 4-6 will be only for the Engaging Scripture Superfans (=paid subscribers). #3: I would be happy to engage with brief comments and questions here on Substack; but I won’t be offering long explanations, because you can find all of that in my commentary. BTW: none of my published works or forthcoming works include this translation. This is a Substack exclusive!
Footnotes: they are a bit hard to distinguish from the verse numbers; FYI: the footnotes are in purple. If you hover over a number and it is hyperlinked, it is a footnote.
Galatians Chapter One
Opening
1 Paul the apostle, not from a line of mortals, not “ordained” through a mortal, but sent by Jesus Christ and Father God,1 the One who raised him from among the dead. 2 This letter is also from the whole Christian family2 who are with me—to the churches of Galatia.
3 A blessing of grace and peace to you from our Father God and the Ruler3 Jesus Christ— 4 the one who gave his own life to deal with our sins, and so rescue us from evil of this age. All this happened by the will of our Father God— 5 to him be glory forever, Amen!
The One Sacred Gospel
6 I am shocked that you are so flippantly betraying the One who has called you through the grace of Christ, turning towards a different “gospel” 7 (which is not “good news” at all). I know there are certain people who are provoking you and trying to turn the true gospel of Christ upside down.4 8 Now hear this: if we or even an angel from heaven announce a gospel to you contrary to what we first preached to you, let that person be cursed! 9 Like I said before, and now again repeat, if anyone announces a gospel contrary to what you first received, let that person be cursed!
10 Answer this: do you think I try to persuade people, or God? Or, do I try to please people? If I still were pleasing people, I would not be a slave of Christ! 11 For I want you to know, my dear family, that the gospel announced by me is not a human creation. 12 Neither did I first receive it from a mortal, nor was I taught this in a school,5 but I received it through a divine revelation from Jesus Christ himself!
Paul’s Former Life
13 You heard about my former life in the Jewish way,6 how I zealously hunted people of the church of God and I was trying to destroy it. 14 Back then I was growing in status in the Jewish way far beyond most of my peers among my people, extremely passionate about the traditions of the ancestors.
Paul’s New Life and Calling
15 But then God—the one who had set me apart from the time of being in the womb and called me by his grace—16 when God saw it fit to reveal his Son in and through me,7 so that I would preach the gospel about him among the gentiles, I didn’t go straightaway to consult with flesh and blood people. 17 And I didn’t go up to Jerusalem to the original apostles; instead I set out for Arabia and went back again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years, I did go up to Jerusalem to get the full story from Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 I didn’t see any other apostles, except for Jacob,8 the brother of the Ruler. 20 Now what I am writing to you, I solemnly swear before God, I am not lying.
From Persecutor to Preacher
21 Then I went to parts of Syria and Cilia. 22 And I was not yet known by face to the Christian churches of Judea. 23 They were only hearing people say, “The person who hunted us before is now announcing the gospel and faith which before he was trying to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of what happened to me.
Father God: the Greek pater functions like a title here, hence my “Father God”
Christian family: I wanted to break out of the language of “brothers/sisters” (which is not used as endearment language in popular English); I think “family” captures that well. I’m not settled on it, but I do like how it sounds, and I think it expresses what Paul was trying to get at. Family is a master theme of Galatians.
Ruler: The Greek kyrios is usually translated “lord,” but we often spiritualize the language (esp in America). Whereas kyrios was used of magistrates, kings, and slave-masters. “Ruler” expresses that notion of sovereignty and power over and responsibility for a person or group.
Turning…upside down: The verb here (metastrepho) is a very strong action, not just of twisting or perverting, but turning something into its opposite (see LXX Amos 8:10).
School: Paul doesn’t use the word “school” here explicitly, but the language of teaching (didasko) implies some kind of formal training, perhaps at some kind of apostolic school.
Jewish way: I am insistent that the Greek ioudaismos does NOT mean “Judaism” as a religion or in terms of the “old covenant.” The Greek -ismos terms typically refer to a culture or way of life, hence hellenismos (hellenism). Paul did not forsake his Jewish identity, but rather a certain sub-culture of Jewishness. Specifically here he refers to violent persecution of Christians.
In and through me: The Greek text has en emoi which could mean “through me” or “in me.” It’s hard to say which it is (the preposition en is very elastic); so I think it could be both— “in me” (existentially) and “through me” (missionally). I typically shy away from overloading multiple meanings, but this one might be warranted.
Jacob: Most translations here say “James,” but the Greek is Iakobos. Technically “Jacob” and “James” are the same name in Greek, but a more straightforward translation would be “Jacob.” You might be wondering why the name “James” ever came to be used? English translations have tended to translate Iakobos as “James” when referring to a “Christian” (a follower of Jesus; hence the Book of “James”), but as “Jacob” when it refers to an OT figure (i.e., “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”). The problem is that they both reflect the same Greek name Iakobos, and it is an artificial differentiation. And I am concerned that there is an anti-Semitic history to this differentiation, putting NT “Christian” figures in a different class than OT (“Jewish”) figures. I propose keeping names as phonetic as possible: Iakobos = “Jacob.”
If you enjoyed this translation, subscribe to get the next chapter.
If you want to more depth in your study of Galatians, check out my other resources:
Nice. I like it. Especially the comments. I’d never thought of James revealing an antisemitic bias.
I’ve often wrestled with some way of describing Jesus’s role / authority for secular, egalitarian, and individualistic people. “Ruler” works better than Lord and much better than King, and yet… it’s a hard one. Much like “gospel,” it probably takes a conversation and digging through scripture to refill Jesus’s title with meaning.
“Turning…upside down: The verb here (metastrepho) is a very strong action, not just of twisting or perverting, but turning something into its opposite (see LXX Amos 8:10).”
This verb could be applied to what misogyny and patriarchy have done to humanity. I am thinking of Christine Forner’s proposal that misogyny is phobia and disdaining for human nurturing, and patriarchy is best understood as a world run by psychopaths for psychopaths.
See here— https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/misogyny-and-trauma-with-christine-forner