Galatians 3
“You
foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes JESUS CHRIST was
clearly portrayed as crucified.
2 I would like to learn just one thing from you:
Did you receive THE SPIRIT by the works of the
law, or by believing what you heard?
3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of THE SPIRIT,
are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
4 Have you experienced so much
in vain—if it really was in vain?
5 So again I ask, does GOD give you HIS SPIRIT and work miracles among
you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
6 So also Abraham ‘believed GOD, and it was credited to him as RIGHTEOUSNESS.’
7 Understand, then, that those who
have FAITH are
children of Abraham.
8 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.’
9 So those who rely on FAITH are
blessed along with Abraham, the man of FAITH.
10 For all who rely on the works of
the law are under a curse,
as it
is written:
‘Cursed
is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the
Law.’
11 Clearly
no one who relies on the law is justified before GOD, because ‘the righteous will
live by FAITH’.
12 The
law is not based on FAITH;
on the contrary, it says,
‘The
person who does these things will live by them.’
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 pole.’
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.
15 Brothers and sisters, 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.
16 The promises were spoken to
Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning
many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning
one person, WHO is CHRIST.
17 What 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.
18 For if the inheritance depends on
the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but GOD in HIS GRACE gave it to
Abraham through a promise.
19 Why, then, was the law given at
all? It was added because of transgressions until THE SEED to WHOM
the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and
entrusted to a mediator.
20 A mediator, however, implies
more than one party; but GOD
is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to
the promises of GOD?
Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart LIFE, then RIGHTEOUSNESS would
certainly have come by the law.
22 But Scripture has locked up
everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being
given through faith in JESUS
CHRIST, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this FAITH, we were held
in custody under the law, locked up until THE FAITH that was to come would be revealed.
24 So
the law was our guardian until CHRIST came that we might be justified by FAITH.
25 Now that THIS FAITH has come,
we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in CHRIST JESUS you are all children of GOD through FAITH,
27 for all of you who were baptized
into CHRIST have
clothed yourselves with CHRIST.
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all
one in CHRIST JESUS.
29 If you belong to CHRIST, then you
are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to THE PROMISE.”
