Galatians 3

1 You [fellow believers who live in] Galatia are very foolish! (Someone must have put an evil spell on you!/Did someone put an evil spell on you?) [RHQ] I clearly explained to you [SYN] [what] Jesus Christ [accomplished when] he was crucified {he died on the cross}.

O ye Galatians, deficient in understanding! Who hath fascinated you? For lo, Jesus the Messiah hath been portrayed as in a picture, crucified before your eyes.

2 [So], I want you to tell me one thing: [Do you think that] it was because you obeyed the laws God gave Moses that you received the [Holy] Spirit? [Do you not know that] [RHQ] it was because [when you] heard [the good message concerning Christ, you] trusted in him?

This only would I learn from you, Was it by works of the law, that ye received the Spirit? or by the hearing of faith?

3 (You are acting so foolishly/Why are you being so foolish?) [RHQ]! You first [became Christians] as a result of God’s Spirit [enabling you]. So, (you should not now think that it is by what you yourselves do that you will continue [to grow spiritually]/do you now think it is by your own human efforts that you will continue [to grow spiritually?]!) [RHQ]

Are ye so foolish, that having begun in the Spirit, ye now would consummate in the flesh?

4 Keep in mind that [if what God has done for you was because of your obeying the laws that God gave to Moses and] not because of trusting in Christ, when others caused you to suffer, you suffered many things needlessly! [RHQ] [I certainly hope that you did not suffer like that] needlessly.

And have ye borne all these things in vain? And I would, it were in vain!

5 [When God now] generously gives to you his Spirit and performs miracles among you, [do you think that it is] [RHQ] because you obey the laws [that God gave to Moses? Surely you know that] it is because when you heard [the good message about Christ], you trusted in him [RHQ]!

He therefore who giveth the Spirit in you, and who worketh miracles among you, doth he these things by the deeds of the law? or by the hearing of faith?

6 [What you have experienced is] as [Moses wrote in the Scriptures about] Abraham. [He wrote that Abraham] trusted God, and as a result, he was considered as being righteous {[God] erased the record of his sins}.

In like manner Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

7 You must realize, therefore, that it is those who trust [in what Christ has done who] are [like] Abraham’s descendants [MET] [because they trust in God as Abraham did].

Know ye, therefore, that those who are of faith, they are the children of Abraham.

8 Furthermore, God planned beforehand that it was [when] non-Jews trusted [him] that he would erase the record of their sins. [Moses wrote in] the Scriptures [PRS] this good message that God told Abraham: “Because of [what] you [did], I will bless [people in] [MTY] all nations.”

For, because God knew beforehand that the Gentiles would be made just by faith, he preannounced it to Abraham; as saith the holy scripture, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

9 So, [we can conclude that] it is those who trust [in what Christ has done] whom [God] blesses. That includes [all non-Jews and Jews who trust him], along with Abraham, the one who trusted him [long ago].

Believers, therefore, it is, who are blessed with believing Abraham.

10 That is, God will eternally punish all those who [mistakenly] think [that God will erase the record of their sins] as a result of their [obeying] the laws [that God gave to Moses]. What is written in the Scriptures is that [God] will eternally punish everyone who does not continuously and completely obey all the laws [that Moses wrote].

For they who are of the deeds of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who shall not do every thing written in this law.

11 But God has declared that if he erases the record of anyone’s sins, it will not be as a result of their obeying the laws God gave Moses. [This is evident because the Scriptures say], “Every person whose record of sins God erases because that person trusts God will live [spiritually].”

And that no one becometh just before God, by the law, is manifest: because it is written, The just by faith, shall live.

12 But [when God gave] his laws [to the Jews, he did] not [say that a person must] trust [him]. Instead, [God said that] it is those who obey [all God’s laws, continuously and completely], who will live.

Now the law is not of faith; but, whoever shall do the things written in it, shall live by them.

13 Even though we humans have not continuously and completely obeyed God’s laws, Christ rescued us from [God] punishing us eternally. Christ rescued us by his being [the one God condemned] instead of God condemning us. What is written {[someone/Moses] wrote} [in the Scriptures] shows that this is true. It is written {[He] wrote}, “[God] has cursed anyone [whom people have executed for his crimes and whose body they] have hung on a tree.”

But the Messiah hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, and hath been a curse for us; (for it is written, Cursed is everyone that is hanged on a tree; )

14 Jesus Christ rescued us in order that as a result of what he [has done, God might bless the non-Jews, in a way similar to the way] God blessed Abraham. He also desired that as a result of our trusting [Christ], we [all] might receive the Spirit [whom God] promised to [give to] us.

that the blessing of Abraham might be on the Gentiles, through Jesus the Messiah; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

15 My fellow believers, I will now [illustrate] by referring to human [relationships. After an agreement is confirmed by two people] {[two people have signed] an agreement}, no one can reject it or add to it.

My brethren, I speak as among men; a man's covenant which is confirmed, no one setteth aside, or changeth any thing in it.

16 [God] declared to Abraham and his descendant that he was promising [to give blessings to Abraham]. [The words that God spoke were not “and your] descendants.” [He was not] referring to many persons. Instead, he was referring to one person, who is Christ, [because the words that God spoke were], “and your descendant.”

Now to Abraham was the promise made, and to his seed. And it said to him, not, to thy seeds, as being many; but to thy seed, as being one, which is the Messiah.

17 This is what I am saying: [Since God] gave the laws [to the Jews] 430 years after [he declared to Abraham what he was promising to do for Abraham], those laws do not cancel that agreement [with] Abraham that God himself had previously agreed about [PRS].

And this I say: That the covenant which was previously confirmed by God in the Messiah, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot set it aside, and nullify the promise.

18 Remember that if it is because [we obey God’s] laws [that he gives to us] what [he has] promised [to give to us], then it is not [just] because he [has] promised [that he would give those things to us]. God freely gave to Abraham [what he had promised to give to him, just] because [God had] promised [that he would give it to him. Similarly, it is not because we obey God’s laws that God gives to us what he has promised to give to us].

And if the inheritance were by the law, it would not be by promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

19 So, [if someone should ask], “Why [did God later give] his laws [to Moses?” I would reply that] it was in order that [people might realize] how sinful they were. [Those laws were valid] until [Jesus came. He was] the descendant that God [was referring to when he made] the promises to Abraham. [The laws] were given {[God] gave [his laws]} [to Moses] by God’s causing angels to [speak to him. Moses was the] mediator, [the one who told the laws to the people].

What then is the law? It was added on account of transgression, until that seed should come, to whom belonged the promise: and the law was given by angels through a mediator.

20 Now, [when] a mediator [functions], one [person] is not [speaking with another] directly; but God himself [made his promises directly to Abraham].

Now a mediator is not of one; but God is one.

21 [If someone should ask, “When God gave his] laws [to Moses] long [after he told Abraham] what he was promising [to give to him, was he] changing his mind?” [I would reply that God] certainly did not [change his mind when he did that]! If God had given a law that could enable people to live [eternally], then it actually would be because of people [obeying that] law that God would erase the record of their sins.

Is the law then opposed to the promise of God? Far be it. For if a law had been given, which could make alive, certainly, righteousness would have been by the law.

22 But instead, [what we read in] the Scriptures [PRS] is that God [caused all people to be unable to escape being punished for] their [sins] [MET], just like [people] in prison [are unable to escape] [PRS, MET]. [God did that in order that he might give what he promised to those who trust Jesus Christ, just] because they trust him.

But the scripture hath inclosed all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus the Messiah might be given to them that believe.

23 Before [God revealed the good message about] trusting [in Christ], the laws [PRS] that God gave to Moses were [confining/imprisoning us Jews] [MET], [as] a prisoner [in jail is] confined. [We] were unable to escape [obeying those] [MET] [laws]. This happened in order that [we might believe] the good message [concerning Christ, the message that God would] reveal [later].

But before the faith came, the law kept us shut up unto the faith that was to be revealed.

24 [Like a father supervises his immature son by appointing a] servant to take care of him [MET], [God] was supervising us [by] his laws [MET, PRS] until Christ came. [He did this] in order that he might erase the record of our sins [only] because we trust [Christ].

The law, therefore, was a monitor for us unto the Messiah, that we might become just by faith.

25 But [now that God] has revealed the message [about trusting in Christ], the laws [that God gave to Moses] are no longer supervising us [Jews] [PRS, MET].

But the faith having come, we are not under the monitor.

26 Now all of you [Jews and] non-Jews are [as though you are] God’s children because you trusted Christ Jesus.

For ye are all the children of God, by faith in Jesus the Messiah.

27 That is, you who [began a relationship] with Christ when you were baptized identified yourselves [MET] with Christ.

For they who have been baptized into the Messiah, have put on the Messiah.

28 [If you are believers, it does] not [matter to God if you are] Jews or non-Jews; slaves or ones [who are] not slaves; males or females, because all of you are [as] one [sort of person because of your relationship] with Christ Jesus.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free-born, neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Jesus the Messiah.

29 Furthermore, since you belong to Christ, you are [like] Abraham’s descendants [because you trust God as Abraham did], and you will possess/receive all that God has promised [MET].

And if ye are the Messiah's, then are ye the seed of Abraham, and heirs by the promise.