Galatians 3–4

CHAPTER 3

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹O foolish ^aGalatians, who bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ ^bwas publicly portrayed as crucified?

²This is the only thing I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of ¹the Law, or by ^2ahearing with faith?

³Are you so foolish? Having begun ¹by the Spirit, are you now ²being perfected by the flesh?

⁴Did you ¹suffer so many things for nothing—^aif indeed it was for nothing?

⁵So then, does He who ^aprovides you with the Spirit and ^bworks ¹miracles among you, do it by the works of ²the Law, or by ^3chearing with faith?

⁶Just as ^aAbraham ^bbelieved God and it was counted to him as righteousness,

⁷so know that ^athose who are of faith, those are ^bsons of Abraham.

⁸And the Scripture, foreseeing that God ¹would justify the ²Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “^aAll the nations will be blessed in you.”

⁹So then ^athose who are of faith are blessed with ¹Abraham, the believer.

¹⁰For as many as are of the works of ¹the Law are under a curse, for it is written, “^aCursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to do them.”

¹¹Now that ^ano one is justified ¹by ²the Law before God is evident, ³for ^bThe righteous shall live by faith.”

¹²¹However, the Law is not ²of faith; rather, “^aHe who does them shall live ³by them.”

¹³Christ ^aredeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “^bCursed is everyone who hangs on ^ca ¹tree”—

¹⁴in order that ^ain Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might ¹come to the Gentiles, so that we ^bwould receive ^cthe promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Promise by Faith

^15aBrothers, ^bI speak ¹in human terms: ^ceven though it is only a man’s ²covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds ³conditions to it.

¹⁶Now the promises were spoken ^ato Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And ^bto your seed,” that is, Christ.

¹⁷And what I am saying is this: the Law, which came ^a430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to abolish the promise.

¹⁸For ^aif the inheritance is by law, it is no longer by promise, but ^bGod has granted it to Abraham through promise.

^19aWhy the Law then? It was added ¹because of trespasses, having been ^bordained through angels ^cby the hand of a mediator, until ^dthe seed would come to whom the promise had been made.

²⁰Now ^aa mediator is not ¹for one person only, whereas God is one.

²¹Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? ^aMay it never be! For ^bif a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed be by law.

²²But the Scripture has ^ashut up ¹everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

²³But before faith came, we were held in custody under the Law, ^abeing shut up for the coming faith to be revealed.

²⁴Therefore the Law has become our ^atutor unto Christ, so that ^bwe may be justified by faith.

²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a ^1atutor.

²⁶For you are all ^asons of God through faith in ^bChrist Jesus.

²⁷For all of you who were ^abaptized into Christ have ^bclothed yourselves with Christ.

^28aThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no ^bmale and female, for ^cyou are all one in ^dChrist Jesus.

²⁹And if ^ayou ¹belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s ²seed, heirs according to ^bpromise.

CHAPTER 4

Sonship in Christ

¹Now I say, as long as the heir is a ¹child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is ²owner of everything,

²but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father.

³So also we, while we were children, were ^aenslaved under the ^1belemental things of the world.

⁴But when ^athe fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, ^bborn of a woman, born ^cunder ¹the Law,

⁵so that He might redeem those who were under ¹the Law, that we might receive the adoption as ^asons.

⁶And because you are sons, ^aGod sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “^bAbba! Father!”

⁷Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and ^aif a son, then an heir ¹through God.

⁸However at that time, ^awhen you did not know God, you were ^bslaves to ^cthose which by nature are no gods.

⁹But now, having known God, or rather having been ^aknown by God, ^bhow is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless ^1celemental things, to which you want to be enslaved all over again?

¹⁰You ^aobserve days and months and seasons and years.

¹¹I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored ¹over you for nothing.

¹²I beg of you, ^abrothers, ^bbecome as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.

¹³But you know that it was because of a ¹bodily illness that I proclaimed the gospel to you the ²first time;

¹⁴and that which was a ¹trial to you in my ²bodily condition you did not despise or ³loathe, but ^ayou received me as an angel of God, as ^bChrist Jesus Himself.

¹⁵Where then is ¹that sense of blessing you had? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶So have I become your enemy ^aby ¹telling you the truth?

¹⁷They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will zealously seek them.

¹⁸But it is good always to be zealously sought in a commendable ¹manner, and ^anot only when I am present with you.

^19aMy children, with whom ^bI am again in labor until ^cChrist is formed in you—

²⁰but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, because ^aI am perplexed about you.

An Allegory of Two Covenants

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not ^alisten to the Law?

²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, ^aone by the servant-woman and ^bone by the free woman.

²³But ^athe son by the servant-woman had been born according to the flesh, while ^bthe son by the free woman through the promise.

^241aThis is ²spoken with allegory, for these women are two covenants: one from ^bMount Sinai bearing children into ^cslavery; ³she is Hagar.

²⁵Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

²⁶But ^athe Jerusalem above is free; ¹she is our mother.

²⁷For it is written,

“^aRejoice, barren woman who does not give birth;

Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor;

For more numerous are the children of the desolate one

Than of the one who has a husband.”

²⁸And you brothers, ^ain accordance with Isaac, are ^bchildren of promise.

²⁹But as at that time ^ahe who was born according to the flesh ^bwas persecuting him who was born according to the Spirit, ^cso it is now also.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say?

“^aCast out the servant-woman and her son,

For ^bthe son of the servant-woman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.”

³¹So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant-woman, ¹but of the free woman.