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World English Bible: Galatians

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This is the Epistle to the Galatians, a first-century letter attributed to the Apostle Paul and part of the New Testament canon — one of the earliest and most theologically influential texts in Christian tradition. Paul's central argument is that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not through observance of Jewish law (particularly circumcision), and he writes with urgency to counter teachers who were persuading his Galatian converts to adopt Torah observance. He opens by defending the divine origin of his apostleship — received directly through revelation, not from human authorities — and recounts his independent commissioning and his public confrontation of Peter at Antioch over hypocrisy toward Gentile Christians. The letter's theological core (chapters 3–4) builds an extended case from Abraham and the covenant that law and promise are categorically different, the law serving only as a temporary "tutor" until Christ; faith, not law-keeping, makes one a child of Abraham and heir to the promise. A notably radical claim appears at 3:28 — that in Christ there is "neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female" — asserting a social equality that was striking for its context. This text would be essential reading for anyone interested in early Christian debates over Jewish law, Paul's theology of grace and justification, or the historical rupture between early Christianity and Judaism.

World English Bible: Galatians

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