Galatians 3 (New American Standard)

Faith Brings Righteousness

1 ^aYou foolish ¹Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ ²was publicly portrayed as crucified ? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of ^bthe Law, or by ^c3hearing with faith ? 3 Are you so foolish ? Having begun ^dby the Spirit, are you now ^ebeing perfected by the flesh ? 4 Did you ^fsuffer so many things in vain -⁴if indeed it was in vain ? 5 So then, does He who ⁵provides you with the Spirit and ⁶works ^gmiracles among you, do it by the works of ^hthe Law, or by ⁱ⁷hearing with faith ? 6 ^jEven so ⁸Abraham ⁹BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 Therefore, ^kbe sure that ¹⁰it is those who are of faith who are ¹¹sons of Abraham. 8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God ^lwould justify the ^mGentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "¹²ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU. 9 So then ¹³those who are of faith are blessed with ⁿAbraham, the believer. 10 For as many as are of the works of ^othe Law are under a curse ; for it is written, "¹⁴CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM 11 Now that ¹⁵no one is justified ^pby ^qthe Law before God is evident ; for, "^r16THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." 12 ^sHowever, the Law is not ^tof faith ; on the contrary, "¹⁷HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE ^uBY THEM." 13 Christ ¹⁸redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, "¹⁹CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON ²⁰A ^vTREE "- 14 in order that ²¹in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might ^wcome to the Gentiles, so that we ²²would receive ²³the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Intent of the Law

15 ²⁴Brethren, ²⁵I speak ^xin terms of human relations : ²⁶even though it is only a man's ^ycovenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds ^zconditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken ²⁷to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "²⁸And to your seed," that is, Christ. 17 What I am saying is this : the Law, which came ²⁹four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For ³⁰if the inheritance is ^aabased on law, it is no longer ^bbbased on a promise ; but ³¹God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. 19 ³²Why the Law then ? It was added ^ccbecause of transgressions, having been ³³ordained through angels ³⁴by the ^ddagency of a mediator, until ³⁵the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. 20 Now ³⁶a mediator is not ^eefor one party only; whereas God is only one. 21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God ? ³⁷May it never be! For ³⁸if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness ^ffwould indeed have been ^ggbased on law. 22 But the Scripture has ³⁹shut up ^hheveryone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, ⁴⁰being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our ⁴¹tutor to lead us to Christ, so that ⁴²we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a ⁱⁱ⁴³tutor. 26 For you are all ⁴⁴sons of God through faith in ⁴⁵Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were ⁴⁶baptized into Christ have ⁴⁷clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 ⁴⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is ^jjneither male nor female ; for ⁴⁹you are all one in ⁵⁰Christ Jesus. 29 And if ⁵¹you ^kkbelong to Christ, then you are Abraham's ^lldescendants, heirs according to ⁵²promise.