Galatians 6
1 My fellow believers, if [you] discover that a person [among your congregation] is sinning, [those of] you whom [God’s] Spirit [is directing and empowering] should gently correct that person. [Furthermore, each of] you [who corrects another person should] be very cautious in order that you might not [sin like that when] you are tempted {[when something] tempts you}.
Brothers, even if a man should be caught committing a sin, you who are spiritually minded should, in a gentle spirit, help him to recover himself, taking care lest any one of you also should be tempted.
2 [When there are ones who have] problems, you should help each other. By doing that, you will complete what Christ requires.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so carry out the Law of the Christ.
3 Keep in mind that those who [refuse to help others because they think that they are more important than other people, although they are] not really more important, are deceiving themselves.
If a man imagines himself to be somebody, when he is really nobody, he deceives himself.
4 Instead, each [of you] should [constantly] test/judge [and decide if you can approve what you yourself are doing and thinking]. Then you can boast because of what you yourself [are doing and thinking], and not because what you are doing is superior to what other persons [are doing].
Let every one test his own work, and then his cause for satisfaction will be in himself and not in a comparison of himself with his neighbour;
5 Keep in mind that you must each perform your own [individual] tasks.
for every one must bear his own load.
6 [You] who are being taught {whom others are teaching} [God’s truth] should share your various [material] things [EUP] with your teachers.
He, however, who is being instructed in the Message ought always to share his blessings with the man who instructs him.
7 You should not deceive yourselves. [Remember that] God is never outwitted {no one ever fools God}. [Just like] a farmer will reap exactly the kind [of crop that] he plants [MET], [God will reward people according to what they have done] [MET].
Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. What a man sows that he will reap.
8 [God] will punish eternally those who do what their self-directed natures urge them to do. But those who please [God’s] Spirit will live forever [with God] because of what [God’s] Spirit does for them. (aiōnios g166)
For he who sows the field of his earthly nature will from that earthly nature reap corruption; while he who sows the field of the spirit will from that spirit reap Immortal Life. (aiōnios g166)
9 But we should not (tire of/become discouraged while) doing what pleases God, because [eventually], at the time [that God] has determined, we will receive a reward [MET], if we do not stop [doing the good things that we have been doing].
Let us never tire of doing right, for at the proper season we shall reap our harvest, if we do not grow weary.
10 So, whenever we have opportunities, we should do [what is] good to all people. But especially we should do what is good to all our fellow believers.
Therefore, I say, as the opportunity occurs, let us treat every one with kindness, and especially members of the Household of the Faith.
11 I am now writing this last part of this letter to you in my own handwriting. Notice the large letters with which I am now writing. I am doing this in order that I might emphasize this:
See in what large letters I am writing with my own hand.
12 Some Jewish believers are trying to force you to perform certain rituals so that other Jews will think highly of them. They are insisting that you be circumcised {that someone must circumcise you}. They are doing that only in order that other Jews would no longer (persecute them/cause them to suffer) for proclaiming that God will save us because of our trusting in what Christ accomplished when he died on the cross [MTY, MET].
Those who wish to appear to advantage in regard to outward observances are the very people who are trying to compel you to be circumcised; and they do it only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Jesus, the Christ.
13 The reason that I say that is that the ones who are insisting that you be circumcised {that someone circumcise you} do not themselves fully obey the laws that God gave to Moses. Instead, they desire that you let someone circumcise you in order that they might boast to those Jews who would (persecute them/cause them to suffer) that you did that because they insisted [MTY] that you do it.
Even these men who are circumcised do not themselves keep the Law; yet they want you to be circumcised, so that they may boast of your observance of the rite.
14 I myself, however, strongly desire that I never boast about anything like that. The only thing I will boast about is what our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished by dying on the cross [MTY]. Because of what Christ did on the cross, I no longer am interested in the things that those who do not trust Christ [MTY] think are important, and those people are no longer interested in the things that I [MET] think are important.
But, for my part, may I never boast of anything except the cross of Jesus Christ, our Master, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
15 I will boast about Christ dying on the cross because God is concerned neither that people are circumcised nor that people are not circumcised. Instead, he is concerned only that people conduct their lives in a completely new way.
For neither is circumcision nor the omission of it anything; but a new nature is everything.
16 I pray that God will give inner peace and act kindly towards all who will act according to this new way of life. It is all those who live according to this new way of life who are now truly God’s people [MET], as the Israeli people were God’s people previously.
May all who rule their conduct by this principle find peace and mercy — they who are the Israel of God.
17 Finally, I say that people have persecuted me/caused me to suffer for declaring the truth about Jesus, and as a result I have scars on my body. Your new teachers do not have scars like mine! So do not trouble/bother me about these matters again!
For the future let no one trouble me; for I bear the marks of Jesus branded on my body.
18 My fellow believers, I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will kindly accomplish what he desires within you. (Amen!/May it be so!)
May the blessing of Jesus Christ, our Lord, rest on your souls, Brothers. Amen.
