Galatians 3:1–14

Justified by the Law, or Justified by Faith?

3O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as having been crucified? ²I want only to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now trying to be made complete by the flesh? ⁴Have you suffered so many things for nothing—if indeed also it was for nothing? ⁵Therefore does the one who gives you the Spirit and who works miracles among you do so by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

⁶Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, ⁷then understand that the ones who have faith^a, these are sons of Abraham. ⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the good news in advance to Abraham: “In you all the nations^b will be blessed.”^{c 9}So then, the ones who have faith are blessed together with Abraham who believed. ¹⁰For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things that are written in the book of the law to do them.”^{d 11}Now it is clear that no one is justified in the sight of God by the law, because “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”^{e 12}But the law is not from faith, but “the one who does these things will live by them.”^f

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by^* becoming a curse for us, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”^{g 14}in order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.