Ga-la-ti 3

Faith or works of the law?

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? Jesus Christ was set out in full view before your eyes as the crucified one. ²Tell me just this one thing: did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by faith in what you heard?^{a 3}Are you really that foolish? You made your start by the Spirit; are you now going to reach the goal by the flesh? ⁴Did you go through so much for nothing?^b If it really was for nothing. ⁵So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because of works of the law, or because of faith in what you heard? ⁶So it was with Abraham: he believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Abraham’s children by faith

⁷You can see, then, that the people of faith are the ones who are Abraham’s children.^{c 8}Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and so it announced the gospel ahead of time to Abraham: “In you all the nations will be blessed.” ⁹So the people of faith share in the blessing together with Abraham, who believed.

Christ set us free from the curse

¹⁰For everyone whose standing rests on works of the law is under a curse. Scripture says, “A curse is on everyone who does not hold fast to everything written in the book of the law and do it.”^{d 11}It is plain that no one is justified in God’s sight through the law, since “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” ¹²But the law does not rest on faith. Instead, “Whoever does these things will live by them.”^{ef 13}Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse on our behalf, for it is written, “A curse is on everyone who is hung on a tree.” ¹⁴He did this so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would reach the Gentiles, and so that through faith we would receive the Spirit who was promised.^gh

The law cannot cancel the promise

¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I will use an illustration from human life. Even a human will, once it has been made binding, is something no one can cancel or add new terms to.^{i 16}The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Notice that Scripture does not say “and to descendants,” as if many people were meant. It speaks of one: “and to your descendant,” and that one is Christ. ¹⁷My point is this. God had already ratified a covenant, and the law, coming 430 years afterward, cannot overturn it and so cancel the promise. ¹⁸For if the inheritance depends on the law, it no longer depends on a promise. But God gave it freely to Abraham by means of a promise.

Why the law was given

¹⁹What, then, was the law for? It was added because of transgressions, and only until the offspring should come, the one to whom the promise was made. Angels set it in order, and it came through the hand of a mediator.^{j 20}Now a mediator does not act for one party alone, but God is one.^k

²¹Does the law, then, oppose God’s promises?^l Certainly not! Had any law been given with the power to make people alive, then righteousness would in fact come by way of the law. ²²But Scripture has locked up everything under the power of sin, so that what was promised might be given, on the ground of faith in Jesus Christ, to those who believe.^m

No longer under a guardian

²³Until faith came, the law held us in custody. We were kept shut in, waiting for the faith that was going to be revealed. ²⁴In this way the law served as our guardian until the coming of Christ, so that faith would be the way we are justified.^{n 25}Faith has now come, and we are no longer in the care of a guardian. ²⁶For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith.^{op 27}Every one of you who was baptized into Christ has put on Christ like clothing. ²⁸There is no Jew or Greek, there is no slave or free person, there is no male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, it follows that you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs in keeping with the promise.