The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Part 44

WOULD that ye could bear with me in a little folly! Nay, ye do bear with me. (2)For I am jealous over you with a G.o.dly jealousy; for I espoused you to one husband, that I may present a chaste virgin to Christ. (3)But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from your simplicity toward Christ. (4)For if indeed he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we preached not, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye received not, or a different gospel, which ye accepted not, ye might well bear with it. (5)For I reckon that I am in no respect behind these overmuch apostles. (6)And though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but in everything we have been made manifest among all, in respect to you.

(7)Did I commit an offense in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of G.o.d without charge. (8)I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, in order to do you service. (9)And when I was present with you, and in want, I was a charge to no one; for what was lacking to me the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied; and in every thing I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so will keep myself.

(10)As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting shall not be shut up against me in the regions of Achaia. (11)Wherefore? Because I love you not? G.o.d knows. (12)But what I do, and will do, is that I may cut off the occasion of those who desire an occasion, that wherein they boast they may be found even as we. (13)For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

(14)And no wonder; for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (15)It is no great thing then, if also his ministers transform themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

(16)I say again, let no one think me foolish; but if it can not be so, yet receive me even if as foolish, that I too may boast myself a little. (17)What I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. (18)Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I also will boast. (19)For ye gladly bear with the foolish, being yourselves wise. (20)For ye bear with it, if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes you, if one exalts himself, if one smites you on the face.

(21)I say it as a reproach, that we were weak. But in whatever any one is bold (I say it in foolishness), I also am bold. (22)Are they Hebrews? So am I Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's seed? So am I. (23)Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as beside myself,) I am more; in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more abundantly, in deaths often; (24)of the Jews five times I received forty stripes save one; (25)thrice I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; thrice I suffered s.h.i.+pwreck; a night and a day I have spent in the deep; (26)by journeyings often, by perils of rivers, by perils of robbers, by perils from my countrymen, by perils from the heathen, by perils in the city, by perils in the wilderness, by perils in the sea, by perils among false brethren; (27)by weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. (28)Beside those things that are without, there is that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the churches. (29)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I do not burn? (30)If I must needs boast, I will boast of things which belong to my infirmity. (31)G.o.d, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forevermore, knows that I lie not. (32)In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king kept guard over the city of the Damascenes, wis.h.i.+ng to apprehend me; (33)and through a window I was let down in a basket through the wall, and escaped his hands.

XII.

TO boast is surely not expedient for me; for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

(2)I know a man in Christ, above fourteen years ago (whether in the body I know not, or whether out of the body I know not, G.o.d knows) such a one caught up even to the third heaven. (3)And I know such a man (whether in the body or without the body I know not, G.o.d knows), (4)that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

(5)Of such a one I will boast; but of myself I will not boast, save in my infirmities. (6)For if I should desire to boast, I shall not be foolish, for I shall speak truth; but I forbear, lest any one should reckon of me above what he sees me to be, or hears from me.

(7)And that I might not be exalted overmuch through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I might not be exalted overmuch.

(8)Concerning this I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. (9)And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may abide upon me.

(10)Wherefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then I am powerful.

(11)I have become foolish; ye compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind these overmuch apostles, though I am nothing. (12)Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs, and wonders, and miracles.

(13)For what is there, wherein ye were inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself was not a charge to you? Forgive me this wrong.

(14)Behold, I am ready to come to you the third time; and I will not be a charge to you; for I seek not yours, but you; for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

(15)And I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. (16)But be it so, I was not myself a charge to you[12:16]; but yet, being crafty, I caught you with guile. (17)Did I make gain of you, by any of those whom I have sent to you? (18)I exhorted t.i.tus [to go], and sent with him the brother. Did t.i.tus make gain of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit; did we not in the same steps?

(19)Do ye again suppose that we are excusing ourselves to you[12:19]?

Before G.o.d in Christ we speak; and all, beloved, for your edification.

(20)For I fear, lest haply, when I come, I shall find you not such as I would, and I too shall be found by you such as ye would not; lest there be wranglings, envyings, wraths, rivalries, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults; (21)lest, when I come again, my G.o.d shall humble me among you, and I shall bewail many of those who have sinned before, and repented not of the uncleanness, and fornication, and wantonness, which they committed.

XIII.

THIS third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two witnesses, and of three, shall every word be established. (2)I have before said, and now say beforehand, as when present the second time, so also now when absent, to those who heretofore have sinned, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare; (3)since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you.

(4)For even if he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of G.o.d. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of G.o.d toward you.

(5)Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye are reprobate? (6)But I trust that ye shall know, that we are not reprobate.

(7)Now I pray to G.o.d that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye may do what is good, though we be as reprobate.

(8)For we have no power against the truth, but for the truth. (9)For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are powerful; this also we pray for, even your perfection.

(10)For this cause I write these things being absent, that when present I may not use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord gave me for edification, and not for destruction.

(11)Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of the same mind, be at peace; and the G.o.d of love and peace will be with you.

(12)Salute one another with a holy kiss. (13)All the saints salute you.

(14)The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of G.o.d, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE GALATIANS.

I.

PAUL, an apostle, not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and G.o.d the Father who raised him from the dead, (2)and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: (3)Grace to you, and peace, from G.o.d the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ; (4)who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of the present evil world, according to the will of G.o.d and our Father; (5)to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

(6)I marvel that ye are so soon removing from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel; (7)which is not another, except that there are some who trouble you, and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. (8)But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel to you contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. (9)As we have said before, so I now say again, if any one preaches a gospel to you contrary to that which ye received, let him be accursed. (10)For do I now seek the favor of men or of G.o.d? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be Christ's servant.

(11)Now I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man; (12)for I also did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ. (13)For ye heard of my conduct formerly in Judaism; that beyond measure I persecuted the church of G.o.d, and was destroying it, (14)and pressed forward in Judaism beyond many companions of the same age in my nation, being more exceedingly a zealot for the traditions of my fathers.

(15)But when it pleased G.o.d, who set me apart from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, (16)to reveal his Son in me, that I should make known the glad news of him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; (17)neither went up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but went away[1:17] into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

(18)Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. (19)But no other of the apostles did I see, save James, the brother of the Lord.

(20)Now as to the things which I write to you, behold before G.o.d, I lie not.

(21)Afterward, I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; (22)and was unknown by face to the churches of Juda which were in Christ; (23)but they were only hearing, that he who was once our persecutor now preaches the faith which once he was destroying; (24)and they glorified G.o.d in me.

II.

THEN, after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking also t.i.tus with me. (2)And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles; but privately, to those of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain. (3)But not even t.i.tus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circ.u.mcised; (4)and that because of the false brethren stealthily brought in, who crept in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage; (5)to whom not even for an hour did we yield by the [required] submission, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. (6)But from those reputed to be something,--whatever they were[2:6], it matters not to me, G.o.d accepts not man's person,--for to me those of reputation communicated nothing in addition. (7)But, on the contrary, seeing that I have been entrusted with the gospel of the uncirc.u.mcision, as Peter was with that of the circ.u.mcision; (8)(for he who wrought for Peter in behalf of the apostles.h.i.+p of the circ.u.mcision, wrought also for me in behalf of the Gentiles;) (9)and having learned the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas right hands of fellows.h.i.+p, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circ.u.mcision; (10)only, that we should remember the poor, which very thing also I was forward to do.

(11)But when Cephas came to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was blamed. (12)For before certain ones came from James, he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circ.u.mcision. (13)And the other Jews also dissembled with him, so that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. (14)But when I saw that they walk not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of all: If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles and not that of Jews, how dost thou compel the Gentiles to become as Jews? (15)We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles; (16)but knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we also believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of law; because by works of law no flesh shall be justified. (17)But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is then Christ a minister of sin? Far be it! (18)For if the things which I pulled down these I build up again, I make myself a transgressor. (19)For I through law died to law, that I might live to G.o.d. (20)I have been crucified with Christ; and no longer do I live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in the faith of the Son of G.o.d, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (21)I do not set aside the grace of G.o.d; for if there be righteousness through law, then Christ died without cause.

III.

O FOOLISH Galatians, who bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was evidently set forth[3:1], crucified among you? (2)This only I desire to learn from you: Was it from works of law that ye received the Spirit, or from the hearing of faith? (3)Are ye so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are ye now being made perfect[3:3] with the flesh? (4)Did ye suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it be in vain. (5)Does he, therefore, who supplies to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you[3:5], do it from works of law, or from the hearing of faith? (6)As Abraham believed G.o.d, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. (7)Know then that they who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham. (8)And the Scripture, foreseeing that G.o.d justifies the Gentiles by faith, announced beforehand the glad tidings to Abraham, saying: In thee shall all the nations be blessed. (9)So that they who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

(10)For as many as are of works of law are under a curse; for it is written: Cursed is every one that continues not in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them. (11)And that in the law no one is justified with G.o.d, is evident; because, the just shall live by faith. (12)Now the law is not of faith; but, he that has done them shall live in them. (13)Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; because it is written: Cursed is every one that is hanged on a tree; (14)that unto the Gentiles the blessing of Abraham might come in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

(15)Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. If a covenant has been confirmed, though it be a man's, no one sets it aside, or adds thereto. (16)Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed.

He says not, and to seeds, as concerning many; but as concerning one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. (17)But this I say, that a covenant before confirmed by G.o.d, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not annul, to make the promise of no effect. (18)For if the inheritance is of law, it is no more of promise; but G.o.d has freely given it to Abraham by promise.

(19)What then is the law? It was added because of the transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made; having been ordained through angels, by the hand of a mediator. (20)Now the mediator is not of one; but G.o.d is one. (21)Is then the law against the promises of G.o.d? Far be it! For if a law had been given which is able to make alive, truly righteousness would have been of law.

(22)But the Scripture shut up all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (23)But before faith came, we were guarded under law, shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed. (24)So that the law has become our schoolmaster, unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (25)But faith having come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (26)For ye are all sons of G.o.d by faith in Christ Jesus. (27)For all ye who were immersed unto Christ[3:27], did put on Christ. (28)There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is no male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (29)And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.