Galatians 3:11

11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”^[a]

Galatians 3:11 in Other Translations

11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith."

11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

11 The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God - and that's the real life."

11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.

Galatians 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Galatians 3:11

But that no man is justified
There are some that are justified, as all God's elect are, in his own mind and will from eternity; which will of his to justify them, upon the righteousness of his Son, undertook by him to bring in, is their justification in the court of heaven; and all that believe in Christ are openly and manifestly justified in the court of conscience, under the testimony of the Spirit of God: but no one is justified

by the law;
it is in the Greek text, "in the law"; there were many justified before the law was given, as Noah, Job, Abraham, and all the Ante-Mosaic believers; and there were many justified "in", or under the legal dispensation; but none of them were justified by their obedience to the law, but by the righteousness they believed they had in the Lord: especially no man is justified

in the sight of God;
who sees the heart, knows the spring of actions, and whose judgment is according to truth; that is, by the law and the deeds of it, however they may before men:

it is evident;
it is a clear case, out of all dispute, as appears from ( Habakkuk 2:4 )

for the just shall live by faith;
which may be read either, "the just by faith, shall live": that is, the man who is just by faith, or justified by faith, not by it as a principle or act, or as the cause or matter of his justification, but by the object of his faith, Christ and his righteousness apprehended by faith, and so not just or justified by works; he shall live a life of justification, through that righteousness his faith receives; he shall live comfortably, with much peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, as the result of his being justified by faith; and shall live eternally, and never die the second death: or the "just shall live by faith"; he that is righteous, not by his own works, but by the obedience of Christ, shall live not upon faith, but by it on Christ, and his righteousness, which is revealed from faith to faith; and this makes it a clear point, that he is not justified by the law, for if he was, he would not live by faith on Christ, but in and by the deeds of the law.

Galatians 3:11 In-Context

9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”

12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”

13 Christ 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 pole.”

Cross References

• 1. S Romans 3:28
• 2. Habakkuk 2:4; S Romans 9:30; Galatians 2:16; Hebrews 10:38

Footnotes

• [a]. Hab. 2:4