rsv Galatians:1-2 SEEK
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Paul an apostle--not from men nor through man ,
but through Jesus Christ and God the Father ,
who raised him from the dead --
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and all the brethren who are with me ,
To the churches of Galatia :
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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ ,
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who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age ,
according to the will of our God and Father ;
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to whom be the glory for ever and ever .
Amen .
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I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel --
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not that there is another gospel ,
but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ .
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But even if we ,
or an angel from heaven ,
should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you ,
let him be accursed .
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As we have said before ,
so now I say again ,
If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received ,
let him be accursed .
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Am I now seeking the favor of men ,
or of God ?
Or am I trying to please men ?
If I were still pleasing men ,
I should not be a servant of Christ .
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For I would have you know ,
brethren ,
that the gospel which was preached by me is not man '
s gospel .
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For I did not receive it from man ,
nor was I taught it ,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ .
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For you have heard of my former life in Judaism ,
how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it ;
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and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people ,
so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers .
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But when he who had set me apart before I was born ,
and had called me through his grace ,
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was pleased to reveal his Son to me ,
in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles ,
I did not confer with flesh and blood ,
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nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me ,
but I went away into Arabia ;
and again I returned to Damascus .
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Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas ,
and remained with him fifteen days .
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But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord '
s brother .
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In what I am writing to you ,
before God ,
I do not lie !)
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Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cili '
cia .
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And I was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea ;
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they only heard it said , "
He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy ."
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And they glorified God because of me .
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Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas ,
taking Titus along with me .
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I went up by revelation ;
and I laid before them (
but privately before those who were of repute )
the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles ,
lest somehow I should be running or had run in vain .
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But even Titus ,
who was with me ,
was not compelled to be circumcised ,
though he was a Greek .
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But because of false brethren secretly brought in ,
who slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus ,
that they might bring us into bondage --
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to them we did not yield submission even for a moment ,
that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you .
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And from those who were reputed to be something (
what they were makes no difference to me ;
God shows no partiality )--
those ,
I say ,
who were of repute added nothing to me ;
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but on the contrary ,
when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised ,
just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised
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for he who worked through Peter for the mission to the circumcised worked through me also for the Gentiles ),
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and when they perceived the grace that was given to me ,
James and Cephas and John ,
who were reputed to be pillars ,
gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship ,
that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised ;
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only they would have us remember the poor ,
which very thing I was eager to do .
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But when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him to his face ,
because he stood condemned .
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For before certain men came from James ,
he ate with the Gentiles ;
but when they came he drew back and separated himself ,
fearing the circumcision party .
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And with him the rest of the Jews acted insincerely ,
so that even Barnabas was carried away by their insincerity .
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But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel ,
I said to Cephas before them all , "
If you ,
though a Jew ,
live like a Gentile and not like a Jew ,
how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews ?"
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We ourselves ,
who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners ,
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yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ ,
even we have believed in Christ Jesus ,
in order to be justified by faith in Christ ,
and not by works of the law ,
because by works of the law shall no one be justified .
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But if ,
in our endeavor to be justified in Christ ,
we ourselves were found to be sinners ,
is Christ then an agent of sin ?
Certainly not !
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But if I build up again those things which I tore down ,
then I prove myself a transgressor .
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For I through the law died to the law ,
that I might live to God .
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I have been crucified with Christ ;
it is no longer I who live ,
but Christ who lives in me ;
and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God ,
who loved me and gave himself for me .
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I do not nullify the grace of God ;
for if justification were through the law ,
then Christ died to no purpose .
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O foolish Galatians !
Who has bewitched you ,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified ?