^3:1You¹ foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell² on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed³ as crucified! ^3:2The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law⁴ or by believing what you heard?⁵^3:3Are you so foolish? Although you began⁶ with⁷ the Spirit, are you now trying to finish⁸ by human effort?⁹^3:4Have you suffered so many things for nothing?—if indeed it was for nothing. ^3:5Does God then give¹⁰ you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law¹¹ or by your believing what you heard?¹²

^3:6Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,¹³^3:7so then, understand¹⁴ that those who believe are the sons of Abraham.¹⁵^3:8And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time,¹⁶ saying, “All the nations¹⁷ will be blessed in you.”¹⁸^3:9So then those who believe¹⁹ are blessed along with Abraham the believer. ^3:10For all who²⁰ rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.”²¹^3:11Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith.²²^3:12But the law is not based on faith,²³ but the one who does the works of the law²⁴ will live by them.²⁵^3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming²⁶ a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)²⁷^3:14in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles,²⁸ so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

Read in Logos

Galatians 3:11: Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Footnotes

1 Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.
2 Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainō) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).
3 Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” ( προγράφω 2).
4 Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.
5 Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”
6 Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.
7 Or “by the Spirit.”
8 The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisthe) has been translated as a conative present (see ). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.
9 Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”
10 Or “provide.”
11 Grk “by [the] works of [the] law” (the same phrase as in v. 2).
12 Grk “by [the] hearing of faith” (the same phrase as in v. 2).
13 A quotation from Gen 15:6.
14 Grk “know.”
15 The phrase “sons of Abraham” is used here in a figurative sense to describe people who are connected to a personality, Abraham, by close nonmaterial ties. It is this personality that has defined the relationship and its characteristics ( υἱός 2.c.α).
16 For the Greek verb προευαγγελίζομαι (proeuangelizomai) translated as “proclaim the gospel ahead of time,” compare L&N 33.216.
17 The same plural Greek word, τὰ ἔθνη (ta ethnē), can be translated as “nations” or “Gentiles.”
18 A quotation from Gen 12:3; 18:18.
19 Grk “those who are by faith,” with the Greek expression “by faith” (ἐκ πίστεως, ek pisteōs) the same as the expression in v. 8.
20 Grk “For as many as.”
21 Grk “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them.” A quotation from Deut 27:26.
22 Or “The one who is righteous by faith will live” (a quotation from Hab 2:4).
23 Grk “is not from faith.”
24 Grk “who does these things”; the referent (the works of the law, see 3:5) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 A quotation from Lev 18:5. The phrase the works of the law is an editorial expansion on the Greek text (see previous note); it has been left as normal typeface to indicate it is not part of the OT text.
26 Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.
27 A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.
28 Or “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.”