Galatians 3

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

You Galatians, you've lost your heads! Who has put you under a spell? The death of Jesus Christ on a cross was clearly presented to you so you could see!

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?

So tell me—did you receive the Spirit by keeping the law, or by placing your trust in what you heard?

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

You really have lost your heads! You began living in the Spirit. Do you really think you can now make yourselves perfect by your own human efforts?

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

Did you go through so much suffering for nothing? (It really wasn't for nothing was it?)

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?

Let me ask you: does God give you the Spirit and do so many miracles among you because you keep the law, or is it because you trust in what you heard?

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

It's just like Abraham who “trusted God, and was considered to be right.”

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

So you should acknowledge that those who trust in God are the children 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.’

In Scripture it's foreseen that God would make right the foreigners who trusted in him. The good news is revealed to Abraham beforehand with the words, “Through you all the nations will be blessed.”

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

Consequently those who trust in God are blessed along with Abraham who trusted God.

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.’

All those who rely on keeping the law are under a curse, for as Scripture says, “Cursed is everyone who doesn't carefully obey everything that's written in the book of the law.”

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.’

Clearly nobody is made right with God by attempting to keep the law, for “Those who are made right will live by trusting God.”

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

Obedience to the law has nothing to do with trusting God. Scripture only says, “You will live if you observe everything the law requires.”

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 has rescued us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. As Scripture says, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged 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.

so that through Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham could come to the foreigners as well, and we could receive the promise of the Spirit by trusting God.

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 and sisters, here's an example from daily life. If a contract is drawn up and agreed, signed and sealed, nobody can ignore it or add to it.

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.

Now the promises were given to Abraham, and to his son. It doesn't say, “sons” as if plural, but singular: “and to your son,” meaning 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.

Let me explain. The law, coming four hundred and thirty years later, doesn't cancel the previous agreement that God made, breaking 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.

If the inheritance is derived from obedience to the law, it no longer comes from the promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham by means of the 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.

What was the point of the law, then? It was added to show what wrongdoing really is, until the son came to whom the promise had been made. The law was put in place by angels through the hand of a mediator.

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

But a mediator isn't needed when there's only one person involved. And 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.

So does the law work against God's promises? Of course not! For if there was a law that could give life, then we could be made right by keeping it.

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 Scripture tells us that we all are prisoners of sin. The only way we can receive God's promises is by trusting in Jesus Christ.

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.

Before we trusted in Jesus we remained in the custody of the law until this way of trusting was 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.

The law was our guardian until Christ came, so that we could be made right by trusting him.

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

But now this way of trusting Jesus has come, we no longer need such a guardian.

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

For you are all God's children through your trust in Christ Jesus.

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

All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with 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's no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female—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.

If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's children, and you are heirs of the promise!