Galatians 3:1-18

Galatians 3

Believers Are Abraham’s Children

¹ O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? ^[1]

³ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now trying to reach the goal by the flesh? ⁴ Did you experience so many things for nothing, if it were indeed for nothing? ⁵ So then, does the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the law? Or does he do it by your believing what you hear— ⁶ in the same way as Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”? ^[2]

⁷ Understand, then, that those who believe are the children of Abraham. ⁸ Foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, Scripture proclaimed the gospel in advance to Abraham, saying, “In you, all nations will be blessed.” ^{[3] 9} So then, those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Difference Between Law and Gospel

¹⁰ In fact, those who rely on the works of 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.” ^{[4] 11} Clearly no one is declared righteous before God by the law, because “The righteous will live by faith.” ^{[5] 12} The law does not say “by faith.” Instead it says, “The one who does these things will live by them.” ^[6]

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. As it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” ^{[7] 14} He redeemed us in order that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.

The Promise Came First

¹⁵ Brothers, I am speaking in human terms. When someone has established a last will and testament, no one nullifies it or adds to it. ¹⁶ The promises God spoke referred to Abraham and to his seed. It doesn’t say, “And to seeds,” as if it were referring to many, but, as referring to one, “And to your seed,” ^[8] who is Christ. ¹⁷ What I am saying is this: The law, which came into being 430 years after the covenant established earlier by God in Christ, ^[9] does not annul that covenant, with the result that it invalidates the promise. ¹⁸ In fact, if the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by the promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham by a promise.