Galatians 3

1 Foolish Galatians! Who has been enchanting you – you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was depicted on the cross?

O thoughtless Galatians, who bewitched you, not to obey the truth—before whose eyes [it] was previously written [about] Jesus Christ having been crucified?

2 Here is the one thing that I want to find out from you – Did you receive the Spirit as the result of obedience to Law, or of your having listened with faith?

I only wish to learn this from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?

3 Can you be so foolish? After beginning with what is spiritual, do you now end with what is external?

Are you so thoughtless? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now end in the flesh?

4 Did you go through so much to no purpose? – if indeed it really was to no purpose!

So many things you suffered in vain! If, indeed, even in vain.

5 He who supplies you abundantly with his Spirit and endows you with such powers – does he do this as the result of obedience to Law? Or as the result of your having listened with faith?

He, therefore, who is supplying the Spirit to you and working mighty acts among you—[is it] by works of law or by the hearing of faith?

6 It is just as it was with Abraham – he had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.

According as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness;

7 You see, then, that those whose lives are based on faith are the sons of Abraham.

know, then, that those of faith—these are sons of Abraham,

8 And scripture, foreseeing that God would pronounce the Gentiles righteous as the result of faith, foretold the good news to Abraham in the words – “Through you all the Gentiles will be blessed.”

and the Writing, having foreseen that God declares righteous the nations by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham:

9 And, therefore, those whose lives are based on faith share the blessings bestowed on the faith of Abraham.

“All the nations will be blessed in you”; so that those of faith are blessed with the believing Abraham,

10 All who rely on obedience to Law are under a curse, for scripture says – “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all that is written in the book of the Law, and do it.”

for as many as are of works of law are under a curse, for it has been written: “Cursed [is] everyone who is not remaining in all things that have been written in the Scroll of the Law—to do them,”

11 Again, it is evident that no one is pronounced righteous before God through Law, for we read – “Through faith the righteous will find life.”

and [it] is evident that in law no one is declared righteous with God, because “The righteous will live by faith”;

12 But the Law is not based on faith; no, its words are – “Those who practice these precepts will find life through them.”

and the Law is not by faith, rather, “The man who did them will live in them.”

13 Christ ransomed us from the curse pronounced in the Law, by taking the curse on himself for us, for scripture says – “Cursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree.”

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, for it has been written: “Cursed is everyone who is hanging on a tree,”

14 And this he did that the blessing given to Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through their union with Jesus Christ; that so, through our faith, we also might receive the promised gift of the Spirit.

that the blessing of Abraham may come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15 To take an illustration, friends, from daily life – No one sets aside even an agreement between two people, when once it has been confirmed, nor do they add conditions to it.

Brothers, I say [it] as a man, no one even makes void or adds to a confirmed covenant of man,

16 Now it was to Abraham that the promises were made, “and to his offspring.” It was not said “to his offsprings,” as if many persons were meant, but the words were “to your offspring,” showing that one person was meant – and that was Christ.

and to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his Seed; He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” which is Christ;

17 My point is this – An agreement already confirmed by God cannot be canceled by the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, so as to cause the promise to be set aside.

and this I say, a covenant confirmed before by God to Christ, the Law, that came four hundred and thirty years after, does not set aside, to make void the promise,

18 If our heritage is the result of Law, then it has ceased to be the result of a promise. Yet God conferred it on Abraham by a promise.

for if the inheritance [is] by law, [it is] no longer by promise, but God granted [it] to Abraham through promise.

19 What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make people conscious of their wrongdoings, and intended to last only until the coming of that offspring to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator.

Why, then, the Law? It was added on account of the transgressions, until the Seed might come to which the promise has been made, having been set in order through messengers in the hand of a mediator—

20 Now mediation implies more than one person, but God is one only.

and the mediator is not of one, but God is one.

21 Does that set the Law in opposition to God’s promises? Heaven forbid! For, if a Law had been given capable of bestowing life, then righteousness would have actually owed its existence to Law.

[Is] the Law, then, against the promises of God? Let it not be! For if a law was given that was able to make alive, truly there would have been righteousness by law,

22 But the words of scripture represent the whole world as being in bondage to sin, so that the promised blessing, dependent, as it is, on faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to those who have faith in him.

but the Writing shut up the whole under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be given to those believing.

23 Before the coming of faith, we were kept under the guard of the Law, in bondage, awaiting the faith that was destined to be revealed.

And before the coming of faith, we were being kept under law, shut up to the faith about to be revealed,

24 Thus the Law has proved a guide to lead us to Christ, in order that we may be pronounced righteous as the result of faith.

so that the Law became our tutor—to Christ, that we may be declared righteous by faith,

25 But now that faith has come we no longer need a guide.

and faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor,

26 For you are all sons of God, through your faith in Christ Jesus.

for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,

27 For all of you who were baptized into union with Christ clothed yourselves with Christ.

for as many as were immersed into Christ put on Christ;

28 All distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, have vanished; for in union with Christ Jesus you are all one.

there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither servant nor freeman, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus;

29 And, since you belong to Christ, it follows that you are Abraham’s offspring and, under the promise, sharers in the inheritance.

and if you [are] of Christ then you are seed of Abraham, and heirs according to promise.