¹ From: Paul, an emissary not from people nor by a person but by Jesus Christ and God, the Father who woke him up from the dead, ² and all the members of the Family who are with me.

To: The Assembly^a in Galatia

³ Good fortune and peace be to you from Father God and our lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ the one who gave himself toward the balance of^b our deviations, so that he could rescue us from the impending age of hardship,^c based on the desire of our God and Father ⁵ who is celebrated^d from age to age.^e Amen.

⁶ I am amazed that you are shifting over so soon from the one who called you with Christ’s generosity to a different triumphant message, ⁷ which is not actually another one, except some people are causing you distress and wanting to turn the message of Christ’s triumph into something different. ⁸ Instead, even if we—or a messenger from the sky!—announce a triumphant message to you besides the triumphant message we announced to you, consider them^f designated for destruction!^{g 9} Like we have said before—and I am now saying again—if anyone announces a triumphant message besides what you have received, consider them designated for destruction!

¹⁰ Right now, am I trying to impress^h people or God? Or am I seeking to people-please? If I have still been people-pleasing, then I have not been enslaved to Christ. ¹¹ But I’m making known to you, members of the Family, the triumphant message—the triumphant message announced by me—because it is not passed down from a person. ¹² I neither received it from a person nor was I taught it; instead, I received it by revelation of Jesus Christ.ⁱ

¹³ You have heard my old^j pattern of living regarding Judaism,^k that in overachieving^l I was pursuing God’s Assembly and destroying it. ¹⁴ I was striving to advance regarding Judaism beyond many peers among my people, excessively fanatical for the presuppositions^m of the precepts of my ancestors. ¹⁵ But when it seemed good to the one who called and appointed me from my mother’s wombⁿ by his generosity ¹⁶ to reveal his son through me so that I would announce the triumphant message about him among other peoples,^o I did not immediately consult with my flesh and blood,^{p 17} nor did I go up to Jerusalem^q to those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to interview Cephas,^r and I stayed with him fifteen days, ¹⁹ but I did not see other emissaries except Jacob,^s the lord’s brother. ²⁰ —Now, with God as a witness,^t know^u that I’m not lying in what I’m writing to you— ²¹ Then, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilica, ²² but I had not met^v the Judean assemblies that are with Christ. ²³ They had only been hearing, “The one who used to pursue us now announces the triumphant message about the allegiance^w that he used to destroy,” ²⁴ and they celebrated^x God regarding^y me.

FOOTNOTES:

^a 'Or Community-responding-to-the-Call’

^b The Greek word here is huper, with three basic possible meanings according to Wallace (1996): 1) involving representation and advantage, often translated with the phrases ‘on behalf of’ or ‘for the sake of’; 2) in reference to/with respect to something, often translated with ‘concerning,’ ‘regarding,’ and ‘with reference to’; and 3) involving substitution and representation, often translated with ‘in place of’ or ‘instead of.’ This instance seems to be connected with the first meaning, but while ‘on behalf of’ could work, it leaves it pretty unclear what exactly that means. Exploring English synonyms for the phrases ‘on behalf of’ and ‘for the sake of’ the words ‘toward’ and ‘counterbalance’ caught my attention. In keeping with the themes that appear repeatedly across various books regarding debt incurred through deviation from the Path against others and from following God’s directions to represent God to the rest of creation, seeing Christ as giving himself toward the balance of debt, to erase the balance, fits neatly with other passages discussing similar concepts. With all that in mind, huper has been translated as the phrase ‘toward the balance of.’

^c Or, perhaps, ‘impending oppressive age’ or ‘impending harmful age.’

^d Traditionally, ‘to whom be glory.’ Something like ‘for/to whom be/is high reputation’ would work well. There is no linking verb (be/is) and no preposition, only a dative case that indicates ‘whom’ is an indirect object, so the exact phrasing is ambiguous.

^e Literally, it says, “throughout the ages of the ages” with a meaning of something like ‘forever and ever.’ In isolation, ‘forever and ever’ would be a good translation. There is a running theme, however, in connection with ‘ages’ that is important throughout the scriptures, and allowing the word to be visible to English readers becomes important because of that theme.

^f This is an instance of a third person mandative form, which does not exist in English. Traditionally, it is translated with ‘may they be’ or ‘let them be’ but considering that the context is to make them like a sacrificial offering or to designate them for destruction like casualties of conquest, unless the interpretation is that Paul was instructing people to murder people, then this must be seen as a way to help them understand the seriousness of the situation, to understand people who teach a different triumphant message as unredeemable enemies because of the harm they cause and keeping people from receiving the benefits of the true message.

^g Anathema is traditionally translated as ‘accursed.’ Here it is translated as ‘designated for destruction.’ It literally means ‘placed upon.’ It is the word used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint) to translate the Hebrew word Herem, which means ‘a thing devoted to God,’ including the animals that were to be sacrificed on the altar—what was to be ‘placed upon’ the altar. Robert Alter translates Leviticus 27:28-29 this way, with ‘anything proscribed’ being used to translate herem: “But anything proscribed, that a man may proscribe for the LORD, of anything he has, whether of humans or animals or of the field of his holding, shall not be sold and shall not be redeemed. Anything proscribed is holy of holies to the LORD. No human who has been proscribed may be ransomed. He is doomed to die.” Alter (2019) also writes in the footnotes for those verses: “The Hebrew term is herem, which in martial contexts means the ‘ban’ of total destruction to which a conquered population and its possessions are subjected” (1:464). Two connections also come to mind from Matthew. While the wording is not shared between this section and Matthew 23, the concepts seem reminiscent of each other. Matthew 23 is a list of ‘woes’ or ‘you’d better watch out’ against the Pharisees who are accused of being pretenders, misleading people and causing them harm by teaching them a competing message with Jesus. In Matthew 23:15, they are compared to ‘a child of the Valley of Hinnom,’ which is where children were placed on altars to Molech and burned alive. Other connections in that chapter seem relevant as well. The second connection that seems relevant is Matthew 12:31 and the deviation of speaking with contempt against the Life-breath. It seems that leading people away from the triumphant message of Christ is connected with a harsh judgment unlike any other form of deviating from the Path of Christ.

^h Most literally, ‘persuade.’ Other related words and phrases are listed as possible variations based on context, such as ‘seek approval’ and ‘win over’ and ‘convince.’

ⁱ The seeming intention is that he received the news of Christ’s triumph directly from the source and not as hearsay from some other person. ‘Revelation of Jesus Christ’ is not a precise phrase and could be that Jesus Christ revealed something in some way or that Jesus Christ was revealed by God or someone else in some way. The wording is not specific.

^j As in ‘former’ or ‘previous’

^k This paragraph contains the only two places in the Bible to use this word, Ioudaismo, so there’s very little context. Certainly it has to do with being Jewish, and it seems to do with his status among religious leaders, though ‘Judaism’ as we know it today had not yet taken shape.

^l Literally, this means ‘throwing beyond’ and can be used for excelling or surpassing in a positive sense.

^m This phrase is difficult to know how to put together. The ‘beginning under’ could be in the sense of ‘coming to exist’ or ‘starting based on’… and it could be connected to zealous or to the ancestors’ precepts. In addition to how it is translated here, another viable option would be “I was becoming excessively zealous for my ancestors’ precepts.” The same word is used in Galatians 2:14 regarding to foreign ‘presuppositions’ or ‘starting points.’

ⁿ Not ‘birth’ as some others translate it.

^o Traditionally, ‘the Gentiles.’ It is the Greek word ethnos where we get ‘ethnicities’ in English, which could be an appropriate translation here.

^p The word ‘my’ is added here as an interpretive decision to indicate he is talking about his family. Most translations emphasize the physical here, which makes sense and could be most appropriate. They translate it as something like ‘ask any human being’ (NET). I also translate sarx with that sense and often use ‘body’ to do so. However, the English idiom ‘flesh and blood’ means ‘family’ and it also does so in the Bible, at least at times. It becomes a judgment call for the translator at this point, and I believe ‘family’ seems to be most appropriate here. He’s consulting with people who would have an investment in his personal path: family and the original people appointed by Christ to carry on his work.

^q Throughout the Bible, traveling to Jerusalem is referred to as ‘going up to Jerusalem’ regardless of the starting point. It was considered the highest point in spiritual reality. The Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) were sung during pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

^r Kephas – it is from the Hebrew/Aramaic keph for ‘rock’ or ‘stone.’ Compare to Matthew 16:18.

^s Traditionally, ‘James,’ but it’s Iakob, the same spelling that’s translated as ‘Jacob’ in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1:2 and 1:15-16.

^t Literally, ‘in front of God’

^u Literally, ‘look’ or ‘see’

^v Literally, ‘I was unknown in/to/with the face’

^w Traditionally, ‘faith.’ ‘Faithfulness’ could also work here. ‘Trust’ is sometimes used to translate this word, but it does not fit well in this context.

^x Traditionally, ‘glorified.’ The idea of this word is to view someone/something highly, have a high opinion, speak highly of it, for it to have a high reputation.

^y Or ‘because of,’ but I decided against that because it was not him who caused them to think highly of God but about the change God brought about in him that inspired gratitude and wonder in them.