Galatians 3–4

¹O thoughtless Galatians, who did bewitch you, not to obey the truth—before whose eyes Jesus Christ was described before among you crucified? ²this only do I wish to learn from you—by works of law the Spirit did ye receive, or by the hearing of faith? ³so thoughtless are ye! having begun in the Spirit, now in the flesh do ye end? ⁴so many things did ye suffer in vain! if, indeed, even in vain. ⁵He, therefore, who is supplying to you the Spirit, and working mighty acts among you—by works of law or by the hearing of faith is it?

⁶According as Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him—to righteousness; ⁷know ye, then, that those of faith—these are sons of Abraham, ⁸and the Writing having foreseen that by faith God doth declare righteous the nations did proclaim before the good news to Abraham— ⁹‘Blessed in thee shall be all the nations;’ so that those of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham, ¹⁰for as many as are of works of law are under a curse, for it hath been written, ‘Cursed is every one who is not remaining in all things that have been written in the Book of the Law—to do them,’ ¹¹and that in law no one is declared righteous with God, is evident, because ‘The righteous by faith shall live;’ ¹²and the law is not by faith, but—‘The man who did them shall live in them.’ ¹³Christ did redeem us from the curse of the law, having become for us a curse, for it hath been written, ‘Cursed is every one who is hanging on a tree,’ ¹⁴that to the nations the blessing of Abraham may come in Christ Jesus, that the promise of the Spirit we may receive through the faith. ¹⁵Brethren, as a man I say it, even of man a confirmed covenant no one doth make void or doth add to, ¹⁶and to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed; He doth not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to thy seed,’ which is Christ; ¹⁷and this I say, A covenant confirmed before by God to Christ, the law, that came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not set aside, to make void the promise, ¹⁸for if by law be the inheritance, it is no more by promise, but to Abraham through promise did God grant it.

¹⁹Why, then, the law? on account of the transgressions it was added, till the seed might come to which the promise hath been made, having been set in order through messengers in the hand of a mediator— ²⁰and the mediator is not of one, and God is one— ²¹the law, then, is against the promises of God?—let it not be! for if a law was given that was able to make alive, truly by law there would have been the righteousness, ²²but the Writing did shut up the whole under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be given to those believing. ²³And before the coming of the faith, under law we were being kept, shut up to the faith about to be revealed, ²⁴so that the law became our child-conductor—to Christ, that by faith we may be declared righteous, ²⁵and the faith having come, no more under a child-conductor are we, ²⁶for ye are all sons of God through the faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷for as many as to Christ were baptized did put on Christ; ²⁸there is not here Jew or Greek, there is not here servant nor freeman, there is not here male and female, for all ye are one in Christ Jesus; ²⁹and if ye are of Christ then of Abraham ye are seed, and according to promise—heirs.

Chapter 4

¹And I say, so long time as the heir is a babe, he differeth nothing from a servant—being lord of all, ²but is under tutors and stewards till the time appointed of the father, ³so also we, when we were babes, under the elements of the world were in servitude, ⁴and when the fulness of time did come, God sent forth His Son, come of a woman, come under law, ⁵that those under law he may redeem, that the adoption of sons we may receive; ⁶and because ye are sons, God did send forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ ⁷so that thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ.

⁸But then, indeed, not having known God, ye were in servitude to those not by nature gods, ⁹and now, having known God—and rather being known by God—how turn ye again unto the weak and poor elements to which anew ye desire to be in servitude? ¹⁰days ye observe, and months, and times, and years! ¹¹I am afraid of you, lest in vain I did labour toward you.

¹²Become as I am—because I also am as ye brethren, I beseech you; to me ye did no hurt, ¹³and ye have known that through infirmity of the flesh I did proclaim good news to you at the first, ¹⁴and my trial that is in my flesh ye did not despise nor reject, but as a messenger of God ye did receive me—as Christ Jesus; ¹⁵what then was your happiness? for I testify to you, that if possible, your eyes having plucked out, ye would have given to me; ¹⁶so that your enemy have I become, being true to you?

¹⁷They are zealous for you—yet not well, but they wish to shut us out, that for them ye may be zealous; ¹⁸and it is good to be zealously regarded, in what is good, at all times, and not only in my being present with you.

¹⁹My little children, of whom again I travail in birth, till Christ may be formed in you, ²⁰and I was wishing to be present with you now, and to change my voice, because I am in doubt about you.

²¹Tell me, ye who are willing to be under law, the law do ye not hear? ²²for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, and one by the free-woman, ²³but he who is of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who is of the free-woman, through the promise; ²⁴which things are allegorized, for these are the two covenants: one, indeed, from mount Sinai, to servitude bringing forth, which is Hagar; ²⁵for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now is, and is in servitude with her children, ²⁶and the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all, ²⁷for it hath been written, ‘Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many are the children of the desolate—more than of her having the husband.’ ²⁸And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise, ²⁹but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now; ³⁰but what saith the Writing? ‘Cast forth the maid-servant and her son, for the son of the maid-servant may not be heir with the son of the free-woman;’ ³¹then, brethren, we are not a maid-servant’s children, but the free-woman’s.

Chapter 5