For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.
Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.
I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.
Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.