Galatians 6
1 Brethren, if anybody be detected in any misconduct, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. And let each of you keep watch over himself, lest he also fall into temptation.
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}.
2 Always carry one another's burdens, and so obey the whole of Christ's Law.
[When there are ones who have] problems, you should help each other. By doing that, you will complete what Christ requires.
3 For if there is any one who thinks himself to be somebody when he is nobody, he is deluding himself.
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.
4 But let every man scrutinize his own conduct, and then he will find out, not with reference to another but with reference to himself, what he has to boast of.
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].
5 For every man will have to carry his own load.
Keep in mind that you must each perform your own [individual] tasks.
6 But let those who receive instruction in Christian truth share with their instructors all temporal blessings.
[You] who are being taught {whom others are teaching} [God’s truth] should share your various [material] things [EUP] with your teachers.
7 Do not deceive yourselves. God is not to be scoffed at. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
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].
8 He who sows in the field of his lower nature, will from that nature reap destruction; but he who sows to serve the Spirit will from the Spirit reap the Life of the Ages. (aiōnios g166)
[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)
9 Let us not abate our courage in doing what is right; for in due time we shall reap a reward, if we do not faint.
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].
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us labour for the good of all, and especially of those who belong to the household of the faith.
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.
11 See in what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.
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:
12 All who desire to display their zeal for external observances try to compel you to receive circumcision, but their real object is simply to escape being persecuted for the Cross of Christ.
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].
13 For these very men do not really keep the Law of Moses, but they would have you receive circumcision in order that they may glory in your bodies.
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.
14 But as for me, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world.
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.
15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only a renewed nature.
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.
16 And all who shall regulate their lives by this principle--may peace and mercy be given to them--and to the true Israel of God.
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.
17 From this time onward let no one trouble me; for, as for me, I bear, branded on my body, the scars of Jesus as my Master.
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!
18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits, brethren. Amen.
My fellow believers, I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will kindly accomplish what he desires within you. (Amen!/May it be so!)
