1 My brothers, perhaps a man has done something wrong. If so, you who are strong in the Spirit must help him to do the right thing again. Help him in a gentle way. Take care yourself, that you are not tried and will want to do wrong.
2 Help each other in your troubles. In that way you obey Christs law.
3 A man who thinks that he is an important person when he is not, that man fools himself.
4 Let every man test his own work. Then he will be proud of his own work. He will not be proud because he thinks his own work is better than someone elses work.
5 Each man must carry his own load.
6 People are taught the word of God. They should give some of all the good things they have to those who teach them.
7 Do not be fooled about this. God cannot be fooled. A man gets what he plants.
8 The man who plants the wrong things he wants to do will get death, because of those wrong things. But the person who plants what the Spirit wants him to do will live for ever, because of the Spirit.
9 We must not get tired of doing good things. If we do not stop doing them, we will get something back when the right time comes.
10 So then, when we can, we should do good to all people. But most of all, we should do it to those who are in Gods family.
11 (See, I am writing this to you in big letters with my own hand.)
12 Some people want to do things that can be seen. They try to force you to be circumcised. They want to hide from trouble which would come to them if they talk about the cross of Christ.
13 Even those who are circumcised do not obey the law. But they want you to be circumcised. Then they can be proud that they made you do it.
14 But I will not be proud of anything but of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of it, the things of the world have become dead to me, and I have become dead to the world.
15 It does not matter if a person is circumcised or not, but he must become a new person.
16 May all who live by this rule have peace. And may God bless them. They are the true people of Israel and they belong to God.
17 From now on, please do not trouble me. For I have marks on my body that show I belong to the Lord Jesus.
18 My brothers, may the kindness and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ bless your spirit. May he do it!