Galatians 3

1 O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you; to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified [among you]?
2 This only I wish to learn of you, Have ye received the Spirit on the principle of works of law, or of [the] report of faith?
3 Are ye so senseless? having begun in Spirit, are ye going to be made perfect in flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if indeed also in vain?
5 He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, [is it] on the principle of works of law, or of [the] report of faith?
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
7 Know then that they that are on the principle of faith, these are Abraham's sons;
8 and the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations on the principle of faith, announced beforehand the glad tidings to Abraham: In thee all the nations shall be blessed.
9 So that they who are on the principle of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
10 For as many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse. For it is written, Cursed is every one who does not continue in all things which [are] written in the book of the law to do them;
11 but that by law no one is justified with God [is] evident, because The just shall live on the principle of faith;
12 but the law is not on the principle of faith; but, He that shall have done these things shall live by them.
13 Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, Cursed [is] every one hanged upon a tree,)
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
15 Brethren, (I speak according to man,) even man's confirmed covenant no one sets aside, or adds other dispositions to.
16 But to Abraham were the promises addressed, and to his seed: he does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed; which is Christ.
17 Now I say this, A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which took place four hundred and thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.
18 For if the inheritance [be] on the principle of law, [it is] no longer on the principle of promise; but God gave it in grace to Abraham by promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed came to whom the promise was made, ordained through angels in [the] hand of a mediator.
20 But a mediator is not of one, but God is one.
21 [Is] then the law against the promises of God? Far be the thought. For if a law had been given able to quicken, then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law;
22 but the scripture has shut up all things under sin, that the promise, on the principle of faith of Jesus Christ, should be given to those that believe.
23 But before faith came, we were guarded under law, shut up to faith [which was] about to be revealed.
24 So that the law has been our tutor up to Christ, that we might be justified on the principle of faith.
25 But, faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor;
26 for ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For ye, as many as have been baptised unto Christ, have put on Christ.
28 There is no Jew nor Greek; there is no bondman nor freeman; there is no male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus:
29 but if *ye* [are] of Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

Images for Galatians 3

Footnotes 16

  • [a]. See Gen. 15.6.
  • [b]. See Gen. 12.3.
  • [c]. See Deut. 27.26.
  • [d]. See Hab. 2.4.
  • [e]. En: meaning 'in the power of,' 'in virtue of,' 'according to the principle and nature of.'
  • [f]. See Lev. 18.5.
  • [g]. Exagorazo: only here and ch. 4.5; Eph. 5.16; Col. 4.5, 'to buy out from.'
  • [h]. See Deut. 21.23.
  • [i]. Ginomai eis, i.e. 'arrive at that point, be there.' 'Be on' would state too much, and involve application.
  • [j]. See Gen. 22.18.
  • [k]. i.e. in order to bring evil into relief by transgressions.
  • [l]. Or 'the.' It is abstract -- 'that kind of person.'
  • [m]. Or 'such as was able to quicken,' an emphatic phrase.
  • [n]. Or 'the faith.'
  • [o]. See Eph. 1.14, and Note.
  • [p]. 'Ye' is not emphatic. The passage does not imply that some might not have been. The apostle is speaking of the bearing of the ordinance

Galatians 3 Commentaries

The Darby Translation is in the public domain.