Galatians 3:1–28

¹O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

³Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? ⁴Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing? ⁵Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

⁶So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^{a 7}Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. ⁸The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{b 9}So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

¹⁰All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”^{c 11}Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”^{d 12}The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”^e

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

¹⁵Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended. ¹⁶The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,”^h meaning One, who is Christ.

¹⁷What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. ¹⁸For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.

¹⁹Why then was the law given ? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator. ²⁰A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party ; but God is one.

²¹Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. ²²But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.

²³Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. ²⁴So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.