Galatians 3

¹O stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?[#: not just senseless, for they were in danger of deserting their salvation.; #5:7; 1 Cor 1:23.]

²I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from faith in what you heard?[#2:16 / 3:14; Rom 10:17.; #: Paul’s message received with faith. The Greek can also mean “the proclamation of the faith” or “a hearing that comes from faith.”]

³Are you so stupid? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?[#5:16–18.; #On the contrast of and , cf. Rom 8:1–11. Having received the Spirit, they need not be circumcised now.]

⁴Did you experience so many things in vain?—if indeed it was in vain.[#: probably the of Gal 3:5 but possibly the experience of sufferings.]

⁵Does, then, the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds among you do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?[#2:16.]

⁶Thus Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[#Gn 15:6; Rom 4:3; Jas 2:23.; #: see Gn 15:6; Rom 4:3. The Galatians like Abraham heard with faith and experienced justification. This first argument forms the basis for the further scriptural evidence that follows.]

⁷Realize then that it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham.[#is what matters, for and the , in contrast to the claims of the opponents that circumcision and observance of the law are needed to bring the promised blessing of Gn 12:3; cf. Gn 18:18; Sir 44:21; Acts 3:25.; #3:29; Rom 4:11–12 / Sir 44:19–21.]

⁸Scripture, which saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, “Through you shall all the nations be blessed.”[#Gn 12:3; 18:17–19; Acts 3:25.]

⁹Consequently, those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham who had faith.[#Rom 4:16.]

¹⁰For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in doing all the things written in the book of the law.”[#Those not on promise and faith but because they do (Gal 3:10; Dt 27:26) in order to gain life (Gal 3:12; Lv 18:5; cf. Rom 10:5). But scripture teaches that (Gal 3:11; Heb 2:4, adapted from the Greek version of Habakkuk; cf. Rom 1:17; Heb 10:38). Salvation, then, depends on faith in Christ who died on the cross (Gal 3:13), taking upon himself a curse found in Dt 21:23 (about executed criminals hanged in public view), to free us from (Gal 3:13). That the Gentile Galatians have received the promised Spirit (Gal 3:14) by faith and in no other way returns the argument to the experience cited in Gal 3:1–5.; #Dt 27:26; Jas 2:10.]

¹¹And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, for “the one who is righteous by faith will live.”[#2:16; Hb 2:4; Rom 1:17.]

¹²But the law does not depend on faith; rather, “the one who does these things will live by them.”[#Lv 18:5; Rom 10:5.]

¹³Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,”[#Dt 21:23; Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 5:21.]

¹⁴that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.[#3:2–3, 5; Is 44:3; Jl 3:1–2; Acts 2:33.]

The Law Did Not Nullify the Promise.

¹⁵Brothers, in human terms I say that no one can annul or amend even a human will once ratified.[#A third argument to support Paul’s position that salvation is not through the law but by promise (Gal 3:1–14) comes from legal practice and scriptural history. A legal agreement or , duly , is unalterable (Gal 3:15). God’s with and its repeated promises (Gn 12:2–3, 7; 13:15; 17:7–8; 22:16–18; 24:7) is not superseded by , which came much later, in the time of Moses. (of the Spirit and the blessings) is by promise, not by law (Gal 3:18). Paul’s argument hinges on the fact that the same Greek word, diathēkē , can be rendered as or testament (Gal 3:15) and as (Gal 3:17).; #Rom 3:5 / Heb 9:16–17.]

¹⁶Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. It does not say, “And to descendants,” as referring to many, but as referring to one, “And to your descendant,” who is Christ.[#: literally, “and to his seed.” The Hebrew, as in Gn 12:7; 15:18; 22:17–18, is a collective singular, traditionally rendered as a plural, , but taken by Paul in its literal number to refer to as descendant of Abraham.; #Gn 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 22:17; 24:7; Mt 1:1.]

¹⁷This is what I mean: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to cancel the promise.[#: follows Ex 12:40 in the Greek (Septuagint) version, in contrast to Gn 15:13 and Acts 7:6, for chronology.; #Ex 12:40.]

¹⁸For if the inheritance comes from the law, it is no longer from a promise; but God bestowed it on Abraham through a promise.[#Rom 4:16; 11:6.; #This refutes the opponents’ contention that the promises of God are fulfilled only as a reward for human observance of the law.]

¹⁹Why, then, the law? It was added for transgressions, until the descendant came to whom the promise had been made; it was promulgated by angels at the hand of a mediator.[#A digression: if the Mosaic law, then, does not save or , why was it given? Elsewhere, Paul says the law served to show what sin is (Rom 3:20; 7:7–8). Here the further implication is that the law in effect served to produce transgressions. Moreover, it was received at second hand , through a , not directly from God (Gal 3:19). The law does not, however, oppose God’s purposes, for it carries out its function (Gal 3:22), so that comes by and , not by human works of the law.; #: Christ (Gal 3:16). : Dt 33:2–4 stressed their presence as enhancing the importance of the law; Paul uses their role to diminish its significance (cf. Acts 7:38, 53). : Moses. But in a covenant of promise, where all depends on the one God, no mediator is needed (Gal 3:20).; #Rom 4:15; 5:20; 7:7, 13 / Acts 7:38, 53.]

²⁰Now there is no mediator when only one party is involved, and God is one.[#Dt 6:4.]

²¹Is the law then opposed to the promises [of God]? Of course not! For if a law had been given that could bring life, then righteousness would in reality come from the law.[#Rom 7:7, 10; 8:2–4.]

²²But scripture confined all things under the power of sin, that through faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.[#Rom 3:9–20, 23; 11:32.]

What Faith Has Brought Us.

²³Before faith came, we were held in custody under law, confined for the faith that was to be revealed.[#4:3–5; 5:18.]

²⁴Consequently, the law was our disciplinarian for Christ, that we might be justified by faith.[#: the Greek paidagōgos referred to a slave who escorted a child to school but did not teach or tutor; hence, a guardian or monitor. Applying this to the law fits the role of the law described in Gal 3:19–25.; #2:16.]

²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian.[#Rom 10:4.]

²⁶For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.[#: literally “sons,” in contrast to the young child under the disciplinarian in Gal 3:24–25. The term includes males and females (Gal 3:28).; #4:5–7; Jn 1:12; Rom 8:14–17.]

²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.[#Likely a formula used at baptism that expresses racial, social-economic, and sexual equality in Christ (cf. Col 3:11).; #Rom 6:3; 13:14; Eph 4:24.; #: literally, “have put on Christ”; cf. Rom 13:14; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10. Baptismal imagery, traceable to the Old Testament (Jb 29:14; Is 59:17) but also found in pagan mystery cults.]

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.[#Rom 10:12; 1 Cor 12:13; Col 3:11.]

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendant, heirs according to the promise.[#3:7, 14, 16, 18; Rom 4:16–17; 9:7 / Gal 4:1, 7; Rom 4:13–14; 8:17; Heb 6:12; Jas 2:5.]