Galatians 3:1-18 (NIV84)

Galatians 3

Faith or Observance of the Law

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? ³Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? ⁴Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? ⁵Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

⁶Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^{[a] 7}Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. ⁸The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{[b] 9}So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

¹⁰All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”^{[c] 11}Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”^{[d] 12}The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”^{[e] 13}Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”^{[f] 14}He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. ¹⁶The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”^[g] meaning one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. ¹⁸For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

Footnotes:

1. Galatians 3:6 Gen. 15:6
2. Galatians 3:8 Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18
3. Galatians 3:10 Deut. 27:26
4. Galatians 3:11 Hab. 2:4
5. Galatians 3:12 Lev. 18:5
6. Galatians 3:13 Deut. 21:23
7. Galatians 3:16 Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7