Galatians 2:15-3:9

Common English Bible

¹⁵ We are born Jews—we’re not Gentile sinners. ¹⁶ However, we know that a person isn’t made righteous by the works of the Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. We ourselves believed in Christ Jesus so that we could be made righteous by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the Law—because no one will be made righteous by the works of the Law. ¹⁷ But if it is discovered that we ourselves are sinners while we are trying to be made righteous in Christ, then is Christ a servant of sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild the very things that I tore down, I show that I myself am breaking the Law. ¹⁹ I died to the Law through the Law, so that I could live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I don’t ignore the grace of God, because if we become righteous through the Law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Works versus the Spirit

3 You irrational Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Jesus Christ was put on display as crucified before your eyes! ² I just want to know this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so irrational? After you started with the Spirit, are you now finishing up with your own human effort? ⁴ Did you experience so much for nothing? I wonder if it really was for nothing. ⁵ So does the one providing you with the Spirit and working miracles among you do this by you doing the works of the Law or by you believing what you heard?

Abraham: an example of righteousness

⁶ Understand that in the same way that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,^{[a] 7} those who believe are the children of Abraham. ⁸ But when it saw ahead of time that God would make the Gentiles righteous on the basis of faith, scripture preached the gospel in advance to Abraham: All the Gentiles will be blessed in you.^{[b] 9} Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham who believed.