Galatians 5 and 6 NLT

Outline

• Introduction (1:1-10)
  • Greetings (1:1-5)
  • Denunciation (1:6-10)
• Personal: Authentication of the Apostle of Liberty and Faith (1:11;2:21)
  • Paul's Gospel Was Received by Special Revelation (1:11-12)
  • Paul's Gospel Was Independent of the Jerusalem Apostles and the Judean Churches (1:13;2:21)
    1. Evidenced by his early activities as a Christian (1:13-17)
    2. Evidenced by his first post-Christian visit to Jerusalem (1:18-24)
    3. Evidenced by his second post-Christian visit to Jerusalem (2:1-10)
    4. Evidenced by his rebuke of Peter at Antioch (2:11-21)
• Doctrinal: Justification of the Doctrine of Liberty and Faith (chs. 3-4)
  • The Galatians' Experience of the Gospel (3:1-5)
  • The Experience of Abraham (3:6-9)
  • The Curse of the Law (3:10-14)
  • The Priority of the Promise (3:15-18)
  • The Purpose of the Law (3:19-25)
  • Sons, Not Slaves (3:26;4:7)
  • The Danger of Turning Back (4:8-11)
  • Appeal to Embrace the Freedom of God's Children (4:12-20)
  • God's Children Are Children of the Free Woman (4:21-31)
• Practical: Practice of the Life of Liberty and Faith (5:1;6:10)
  • Exhortation to Freedom (5:1-12)
  • Life by the Spirit, Not by the Flesh (5:13-26)
  • Call for Mutual Help (6:1-10)
• Conclusion and Benediction (6:11-18)

Galatians 5 NLT

1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. 

2Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. 

3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. 

4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. 

5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.

6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. 

7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 

8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 

9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!

10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. 

11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. 

12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. 

13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 

14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. 

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 

17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 

18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 

19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 

20idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 

21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 

24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 

25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 

26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

Galatians 6 NLT

1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 

2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 

3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. 

4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 

5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct. 

6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. 

7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 

8Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 

9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 

10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. 

11 NOTICE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I WRITE THESE CLOSING WORDS IN MY OWN HANDWRITING. 

12 Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. 

13 And even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples. 

14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. 

15 It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. 

16 May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.

17 From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus. 

18 Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

2 Corinthians 10 -13 NIV

Outline

• Apologetic: Paul's Explanation of His Conduct and Apostolic Ministry (chs. 1-7)
  • Greetings (1:1-2)
  • Thanksgiving for Divine Comfort in Affliction (1:3-11)
  • The Integrity of Paul's Motives and Conduct (1:12;2:4)
  • Forgiving the Offending Party at Corinth (2:5-11)
  • God's Direction in Ministry (2:12-17)
  • The Corinthian Believers -- a Letter from Christ (3:1-11)
  • Seeing the Glory of God with Unveiled Faces (3:12;4:6)
  • Treasure in Clay Jars (4:7-16a)
  • The Prospect of Death and What It Means for the Christian (4:16b;5:10)
  • The Ministry of Reconciliation (5:11;6:10)
  • A Spiritual Father's Appeal to His Children (6:11;7:4)
  • The Meeting with Titus (7:5-16)
• Hortatory: The Collection for the Christians at Jerusalem (chs. 8-9)
  • Generosity Encouraged (8:1-15)
  • Titus and His Companions Sent to Corinth (8:16;9:5)
  • Results of Generous Giving (9:6-15)
• Polemical: Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (chs. 10-13)
• Paul's Defense of His Apostolic Authority and the Area of His Mission (ch. 10)
• Paul Forced into Foolish Boasting (chs. 11-12)
• Final Warnings (13:1-10)
• Conclusion, Final Greetings and Benediction (13:11-14)

2 Corinthians 10 NIV

Paul’s Defense of His Ministry

1 By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! 

2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 

4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 

5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 

6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

7 You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. 

8 So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 

9 I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 

10 For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” 

11 Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. 

12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 

13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. 

14 We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 

15 Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, 

16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory. 

17 But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” 

18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

2 Corinthians 11 NIV

Paul and the False Apostles

1 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 

2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 

3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 

4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” 

6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 

7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?

8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.

9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 

10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 

11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 

12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 

13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 

14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 

15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Paul Boasts About His Sufferings

16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 

17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 

18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 

19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 

20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 

21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 

23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 

24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 

25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 

26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 

27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 

28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 

29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 

31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 

32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 

33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

2 Corinthians 12 NIV

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 

2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 

3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 

4was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 

5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 

6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say,

7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 

10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

11 I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,”even though I am nothing. 

12 I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. 

13 How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong! 

14 Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 

15 So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? 

16Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! 

17 Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you? 

18 I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same Spirit? 

19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 

20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 

21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

2 Corinthians 13 NIV

Final Warnings

1 This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” 

2 I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, 

3 since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 

4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you. 

5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 

7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 

8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 

9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. 

10 This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

Final Greetings

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 

13 All God’s people here send their greetings. 

14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.