Galatians 3:1-18

Faith or Works of the Law

1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?

3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?^[a]

4 Have you experienced^[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain?

5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[c]

7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.

8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^[d]

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.”^[e]

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

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

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.”^[h]

14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The Law and the Promise

15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.

16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”^[i] meaning one person, who is Christ.

17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.

18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

Galatians 3:1-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GALATIANS 3

In this chapter the apostle reproves the Galatians for their disobedience to the Gospel, and departure from it; confirms the doctrine of justification by faith, by various arguments; shows the use of the law, and the abrogation of it, and makes mention of several privileges which belong to believers in Christ. He begins with a sharp reproof of the Galatians, and represents them as foolish and bewitched, and charges them with disobedience to the truth of the Gospel, which is aggravated by the clearness of the Gospel ministry, in which a crucified Christ, and justification by him, had been so evidently set before them, Ga 3:1, and by the fruit and effect of it, they having received the Spirit by it, and not by the preaching of the law of works, Ga 3:2 and it still increased their folly, that whereas they had begun with the Spirit of God, and set out in a dependence on him and his grace, they seemed now as if they would end in a carnal and legal way, Ga 3:3. To which is added, the consideration of their having suffered many things for the sake of the Gospel, which must be suffered in vain should they relinquish the Gospel, though the apostle hoped otherwise of them, Ga 3:4, nay, they had not only received through the preaching of the Gospel the Spirit, and his graces, but even extraordinary gifts attended it, for the confirmation of it, Ga 3:5, so that this case of theirs was a very aggravated one, and they were guilty of great folly and madness: from hence the apostle passes to the main thing in dispute, the great truth of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ, which these persons were departing from, and which he establishes by several arguments; and first from the instance and example of Abraham, who was justified by faith, as appears from that which he believed, being imputed to him as his justifying righteousness, Ga 3:6, and as many as are believers in Christ are his spiritual children, and so undoubtedly are justified the same way their father was, Ga 3:7, and particularly that the Gentiles are justified by faith is clear from the preaching of the Gospel to Abraham, and the promise made unto him, that in his seed all nations should be blessed; that is, with the blessing of justification, Ga 3:8. The conclusion of which instance and example is, that as faithful Abraham was blessed with a justifying righteousness through faith, so all that believe are blessed along with him with the same blessing, Ga 3:9, and that no man can be justified by the works of the law is certain, since the law is so far from justifying any on account of obedience to it, that it pronounces a curse upon all that do not perfectly and constantly fulfil it, Ga 3:10. And this is still further evident from a passage in the prophecy of Hab 2:4 which declares, that the just live by faith, or that those who are truly righteous are such who are justified by it, Ga 3:11. And this is illustrated by the law and faith being contrary; for if a just man lives by faith, then not by the law, for the law does not direct a man to believe, but to work, and to live by his works, Ga 3:12. And the apostle having spoken of the law as a cursing law, takes the opportunity of showing how believers are delivered from the curse of it, which is done by Christ's being made a curse for them; and that he was, appears from his being crucified and hanged on a tree; the ends of which were, that the same blessing of justification Abraham had, might come upon the Gentiles through Christ, and that they might by faith receive the promise of the Spirit, Ga 3:13,14 so that it is clear from hence, that the blessing of justification is through Christ's being made a curse, and is received by faith, and is not by the works of the law. The apostle next argues from the inheritance being by covenant, testament, or promise, and therefore not by the law: he observes, that a man's covenant or testament, when confirmed, can neither be disannulled, nor have anything added to it, and much less can the covenant or testament of God, confirmed of him in Christ, be disannulled by the law, or the promise in it be made of none effect by that which was several hundred years after a declaration of it to Abraham, to whom, and to whose seed, the promises were made; so that it unavoidably follows, that since the inheritance or blessing of life is by promise, as is clear from its being given to Abraham by promise, then it is not of the law, Ga 3:15-18. And whereas an objection might arise, if this be the case, of what use and service can the law be? to what purpose, or for what end, was that given? The apostle answers, that it was added because of transgressions; and that it was to endure until Christ should come, to whom the promise was made; and accordingly it was published in a very grand and solemn manner by angels, and was put into the hands of a mediator, Moses, who stood between God as one party, and the people of Israel as another, Ga 3:19,20. Moreover, as it might be further objected, that, according to this way of reasoning, the law is against the promises; the apostle replies in a way of detestation and abhorrence of any such thing, and by an argument from the insufficiency of the law to justify, since it cannot give life, Ga 3:21. And then proceeds to point out another use of the law, which is to conclude men under sin, or convince men of it, that they, seeing their need of righteousness and life by Christ might receive the promise of it through faith in him Ga 3:22, and so far were men from being justified by the law under the former dispensation, that they were kept under it as in a garrison, and shut up in it as in a prison, until Christ, the object of faith, was revealed, and released them, Ga 3:23, and was moreover as a rigid and severe schoolmaster; and so it continued until the times of Christ; and these therefore being the uses of the law, it is a clear case that justification is by faith, and not by that, Ga 3:24. Besides, Christ being now come, the Jews themselves are no more under this law as a schoolmaster; it is now abolished, and therefore there is no justification by it, Ga 3:25. And that this is the case of true believers in Christ is evident, because such are the children of God, and are taught and led by the Spirit of God, and are free, and not under the law as a schoolmaster, Ga 3:26. Besides, as they are baptized into Christ, they have put him on, as the Lord their righteousness, and so profess to be justified by him, and him only, Ga 3:27, and these, let them be of what nation, sex, state, and condition soever, are all one in Christ, and are all justified in one and the same way; and being Christ's they are Abraham's spiritual seed, and so heirs of the same promise of righteousness and life as he, Ga 3:28,29.

Cross References

• 1. Luke 24:25
• 2. S Acts 16:6
• 3. Galatians 5:7
• 4. 1 Corinthians 1:23
• 5. S John 20:22
• 6. ver 5,10; Galatians 2:16
• 7. Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:2
• 8. 1 Corinthians 12:10
• 9. ver 2,10; Galatians 2:16
• 10. Genesis 15:6; S Romans 4:3
• 11. ver 9
• 12. S Luke 3:8
• 13. Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Acts 3:25
• 14. ver 7; Romans 4:16
• 15. Romans 4:18-22
• 16. ver 2,5; Galatians 2:16
• 17. ver 13; S Romans 4:15
• 18. Deuteronomy 27:26; Jeremiah 11:3
• 19. S Romans 3:28
• 20. Habakkuk 2:4; S Romans 9:30; Galatians 2:16; Hebrews 10:38
• 21. Leviticus 18:5; S Romans 10:5
• 22. Galatians 4:5
• 23. Deuteronomy 21:23; S Acts 5:30
• 24. Romans 4:9,16
• 25. ver 2; Joel 2:28; S John 20:22; S Acts 2:33
• 26. S Romans 7:1
• 27. Genesis 17:19; Psalms 132:11; Micah 7:20; Luke 1:55; Romans 4:13,16; Romans 9:4,8; Galatians 3:29; Galatians 4:28
• 28. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:7,8,10; Genesis 24:7
• 29. Genesis 15:13,14; Exodus 12:40; Acts 7:6
• 30. Romans 4:14

Footnotes

• [a] In contexts like this, the Greek word for "flesh" ("sarx" ) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
• [b] Or "suffered"
• [c] Gen. 15:6
• [d] Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18
• [e] Deut. 27:26
• [f] Hab. 2:4
• [g] Lev. 18:5
• [h] Deut. 21:23
• [i] Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7