Galatians 3:3-13

3 How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power?
4 Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something!
5 Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?
6 Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says, "He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." 1
7 You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. 2
8 The scripture predicted that God would put the Gentiles right with himself through faith. And so the scripture announced the Good News to Abraham: "Through you God will bless all people." 3
9 Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.
10 Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, "Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!" 4
11 Now, it is clear that no one is put right with God by means of the Law, because the scripture says, "Only the person who is put right with God through faith shall live." 5
12 But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, as the scripture says, "Whoever [does] everything the Law requires will live." 6
13 But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, "Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse." 7

Cross References 7

  • 1. 3.6Genesis 15.6;Romans 4.3.
  • 2. 3.7Romans 4.16.
  • 3. 3.8Genesis 12.3.
  • 4. 3.10Deuteronomy 27.26 (LXX).
  • 5. 3.11Hebrews 2.4.
  • 6. 3.12Leviticus 18.5.
  • 7. 3.13Deuteronomy 21.23.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. put right with God through faith shall live; [or] put right with God shall live through faith.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.