Galatians — Greek text and reception
Choose a chapter to explore the source readings and their notes. Original references, source labels, and review records are retained.
Source guide and review record
SAINTS TRANSLATION
Galatians
V2 • Working translation draft • Sep 13, 2026
Complete working translation draft, V1, Sep 8, 2026. All 149 source verses were read directly in Greek and independently translated. Selected verified patristic reception is distinguished from translation. No Hebrew parallel, LXX counterpart, or critical-apparatus collation is claimed. Independent specialist review remains outstanding.
6 chapters • 149 translation rows
Reader’s guide
The three columns identify the verse, give its literal-smooth English translation from the declared Greek, and distinguish textual observations from attributed reception.
Six chapters, 149 source verses and translation rows, counts 24/21/29/31/26/18. The accessed verse division places I have been crucified with Christ at 2:19. All source verse labels are preserved in order. The five Hebrew/Greek comparison classifications do not apply.
Source basis and review scope
SBLGNT Greek running main text, Michael W. Holmes, ed. (2010), official Faithlife electronic file.
Sources, Method & Decisions
Source register
[G] Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (2010), official Faithlife/SBLGNT electronic text. All six chapters, 149 source verses, directly read in full and independently translated. Running main text only; no manuscript or critical-apparatus collation. Direct access to the publisher-maintained Greek electronic text. Source [G]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[LIC] SBLGNT publisher license, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Publisher licensing terms consulted for this translation project; Greek text copyright 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software. Direct publisher license access. Source [LIC]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[CHR4] John Chrysostom, Homily 4 on Galatians, New Advent presentation. Exposition of 4:4–5, release and adoption as effects of the Incarnation. Published English translation of patristic reception; relevant passage directly read, Greek homily not collated. Source [CHR4]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[CHR5] John Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Galatians, New Advent presentation. Exposition of 5:6 and 5:17, faith with love and flesh as a moral rather than anti-body category. Published English translation of patristic reception; relevant passages directly read, Greek homily not collated. Source [CHR5]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
Contextual term record
pistis Christou → faith in Christ. Objective-genitive choice; Christ’s faithfulness is a documented alternative at 2:16,20 and 3:22.
erga nomou → works of law. The phrase is not narrowed by inserting ceremonial, identity, or meritorious.
sperma → seed. Preserves the explicit singular/plural argument at 3:16.
paidagōgos → guardian. A child’s supervisor; distinct from the guardians and stewards in 4:2.
huiothesia → adoption as sons. Retains the familial and inheritance imagery.
stoicheia → elements. Possible elementary principles or cosmic powers remain unresolved.
sarx → flesh. Embodied life, descent, and moral opposition occur in different contexts; one fixed interpretive substitute would conceal that range.
doulos / douleuō → slave / be enslaved or serve as slaves. Literal status and metaphorical uses are distinguished by context, including mutual loving service.
pistis at 5:22 → faithfulness. Contextual ethical-list sense; faith remains a possible rendering.
Material decisions
New English translation from the directly accessed Greek; no modern English Bible served as a paraphrase base.
Greek base text copyright 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. This English translation and its notes adapt the Greek text; they are not the publishers’ English translation and imply no publisher endorsement. License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
Followed G’s actual Cephas/Peter forms, our hearts at 4:6, through God at 4:7, Hagar at 4:25, you at 4:28 and we at 4:31, and future you will fulfill at 6:2.
Preserved the source’s 2:19 verse boundary, interrupted syntax at 2:4–6, compressed argument at 3:20, seed wordplay, and male and female wording.
Selected faith in Christ while documenting the alternative subjective genitive. The choice remains open for specialist review.
Retained severe polemic and slavery imagery without adding named modern targets or converting rhetorical statements into new commands.
Selected patristic comments are verified reception notes, not claims to exhaust the Saints or to revise the Greek source according to the homilist’s quotations.
Open questions and remaining review
Independent specialist Greek review is especially needed for 1:10–12,16; 2:4–6,16–20; 3:2–5,15–24; 4:3,13–18,24–25; 5:5–6,12,17; 6:14–16.
Faith in Christ versus Christ’s faithfulness, the elements, the mediator argument, and the Israel of God remain interpretive questions; this working translation does not claim a settled scholarly or ecclesial judgment.
No independent manuscript collation has been performed. Final linguistic, theological, and publication review remains outstanding.
Version record
V1: First working translation of the declared scope under the updated Saints Translation reference.
Collation against Nestle–Aland 28
On 13 September 2026 every verse of this book where the SBLGNT and NA28 differ was identified from the edition marks of Tyndale House's Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0) and the SBLGNT apparatus, and the rendering above was read at each one. 5 verses differ; 3 of them would read differently in English if NA28 were translated instead of the SBLGNT, and each of those carries a note above beginning "NA28". The collation is against TAGNT's edition marks and the SBLGNT apparatus; a printed NA28 apparatus has not been consulted, and NA28's square brackets are inferred, not recorded.
At no place was the rendering found to follow a reading other than the SBLGNT it declares.