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.
INDEX:
Galatians Chapter One
Galatians Chapter Two
Galatians Chapter Three
The Abrahamic Prototype
1 Galatians—you idiots!1 Did someone put a spell on you and put you in a trance2?? How can your eyes turn to anything else when you have already seen the cross of Jesus Christ? 2 Let me just learn one thing from you: did you receive the Spirit when you performed works of the Law, or when you heard and had faith? 3 Can you be this idiotic! Did you begin with the Spirit, only now to “graduate”3 to the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so much—for nothing? 5 So, did He give all of you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you performed works of the Law, or as you heard and had faith?
6 Just like this: “Abraham believed God, and this was credited to him, making him right with God.”4
7 You can be sure, then, that these “faith” people,5 they are the real descendants of Abraham. 8 And when Scripture saw in advance that God would make the gentiles right with him by faith, it preached the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying “all the nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So then the “faith” people are blessed with “faithful”6 Abraham.
The Law-Way vs. The Faith-Way
10 For whoever commits themselves to be the “works-of-the-Law” people are under a divine curse, for it is written, “Cursed is anyone who does not stay within all the things written in the book of the Law, careful to perform them all.” 11 Now it is clear that no one is made right with God through the Law, because “The righteous person will live by faith.” 12 And the Law does not operate “by faith.” But rather “The one who has performed them will live by them.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, taking on the curse for our benefit, because it is written, “There is a curse on anyone who hangs on a tree.” 14 All this so that the blessing for Abraham might extend to the benefit of the gentiles in Jesus Christ, and we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.
The Priority of the Promise
15 My dear family, here’s a simple analogy about human affairs: when a simple human will has been ratified, no one can cancel it or add to it. 16 Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his “seed.” He does not say, “And to seeds,” as if talking about many; no, just one: “And to your seed,” and this refers to Christ. 17 So, I say this, the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not void a covenant made official beforehand by God; it cannot cancel the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is dependent on the Law, it is no longer dependent on the promise. But God has granted it to Abraham through a promise.
The Insufficiency of the Law
19 Why the Law then? It was established7 because of transgressions, until the “seed” would come to whom the promise was made, it was established through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now the mediator does not serve one party only, but God is One.
21 Is the Law then hostile to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law could be given which was able to give life, being right with God would happen through such a law. 22 But Scripture enclosed8 all things under sin, so that the promise would ultimately be fulfilled by faith for those who believe.
The Law Must Be Set Aside to Fully Become Family
23 Now, before the arrival of the faith era,9 we were held in custody10 under the Law, confined,11 until the time of faith was revealed. 24 So think about it this way: the Law took on the role of a designated guardian12 for us until Christ, so that we would ultimately become right with God by faith. 25 And since faith has arrived, we are no longer under that designated guardian. 26 For all of you are true and fully children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For however many of you have been baptized into Christ, each of you have put on Christ. 28 These categories are not relevant: Jew or gentile, slave or free, “male and [then] female.”13 For all of you belong equally to the same family community14 in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are connected to Christ, then you belong to the family of Abraham, genuine heirs according to the promise.
O anoētoi: literally, “thoughtless ones.” This is a pretty harsh insult.
The verb baskanō was used at the time for bewitching.
epiteleō: this is language of reaching an advanced or final stage. In some religious contexts, this had the sense of graduating into the highest level of transcendence.
dikaiosynē: traditionally rendered “righteousness,” but in my desire to breakdown “Christianeze,” I prefer the relational aspect of “rightness,” hence my gloss “right with God.”
Literally, those from faith; Paul contrasts this with “those from works of the Law.” There is no easy way to render this in English, but the gist is “faith-people” and “works-of-the-Law people.” Paul presents these as mutually exclusive approaches to God; hence my gloss.
“faithful Abraham”: many translations get this wrong. Paul uses the adjective pistos here; when it is directly paired with a noun it doesn’t typically mean “believing.” I think Paul was saying that faith (as in dependence) in the end leads to faithfulness. So: Abraham was first and foremost the Abraham who trusted God, but he can also be recognized as “faithful Abraham” because of how that relationship with God shaped him. See my commentary for a more complete explanation.
“It was established”: this phrase is not in the Greek text, but it is implied.
sygkleiō (“enclosed”): Paul uses a set of verbs in Galatians in reference to the Law that could be interpreted negatively (“locked up”!) or more neutrally (“enclosed”). I have chosen the latter, because Paul seems careful not to vilify the Law, though he does put it at odds with faith.
“faith era”: Paul simply says “faith” (pistis) here; but it doesn’t make sense to say “faith” arrived. Whose faith? Ours? Abraham’s? Jesus’s faith? He appears to mean a “faith era,” which focuses on a relationship with God through Christ alone and not through works of the Law. For a more complete discussion see my Paul and the Language of Faith.
phroureō: Again, a verb of restriction, the NIV has “locked up” (taking a more negative approach), but I chose “custody” (taking a more neutral approach).
sygkleiō again, “confined.”
“designated guardian.” The noun here is paidagōgos, which refers to a household slave assigned to look after a male child. This slave had a more pedagogical role than a babysitter, but did not function as a teacher or tutor. “Guardian” seems like the closest fit to me.
Literally, “male and female.” It is odd that Paul uses kai (“and”) here and not oude (which can be translated “or/nor”). I agree with those scholars who think Paul is indicating a particular ancient interpretation of Genesis 1:27, where the ordering “male and [then] female” became indicative of status, male first and most important. Paul was rejecting this interpretation.
“same family community: in Greek, Paul simply has (literally) “all of you are one.” I took the liberty of connecting the dots; the “oneness” is not simply about generic unity, but specifically full status and participation in the family of Abraham, the true family of God.