Galatians 3:1–18

Law or Faith

3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!* 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?* 3 Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?* 4 Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing.* 5 Well then, does Godk supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?

6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”* 7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would reckon as righteous the gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the gentiles shall be blessed in you.”* 9 For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”* 11 Now it is evident that no one is reckoned as righteous before God by the law, for “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”l,* 12 But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the lawm will live by them.”* 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”*—14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.*

The Promise to Abraham

15 Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s willn has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.* 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;o it does not say, “And to offsprings,”p as of many, but it says, “And to your offspring,”q that is, to one person, who is Christ.* 17 My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.* 18 For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise, but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.*