Galatians 3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Law or Faith
3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!(A) 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?(B) 3 Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?(C) 4 Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing.(D) 5 Well then, does God[a] supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?
6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”(E) 7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would reckon as righteous the gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the gentiles shall be blessed in you.”(F) 9 For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”(G) 11 Now it is evident that no one is reckoned as righteous before God by the law, for “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”[b](H) 12 But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law[c] will live by them.”(I) 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”(J)— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.(K)
The Promise to Abraham
15 Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will[d] has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.(L) 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;[e] it does not say, “And to offsprings,”[f] as of many, but it says, “And to your offspring,”[g] that is, to one person, who is Christ.(M) 17 My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.(N) 18 For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise, but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.(O)
The Purpose of the Law
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring[h] would come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.(P) 20 Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.(Q)
21 Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. 22 But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through the faith of Jesus Christ[i] might be given to those who believe.(R)
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous[j] by faith.(S) 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.(T) 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.(U) 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.(V) 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,[k] heirs according to the promise.(W)
Ephesians 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
From Death to Life
2 You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world,[a] following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.[b](A) 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else,(B) 4 but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us(C) 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ[c]—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places[d] in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.(D)
One in Christ
11 So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth,[e] called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a circumcision made in the flesh by human hands(E)— 12 remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.(F) 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.(G) 14 For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us,(H) 15 abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,(I) 16 and might reconcile both to God in one body[f] through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.[g](J) 17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.(K) 19 So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,(L) 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone;[h](M) 21 in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord,(N) 22 in whom you also are built together spiritually[i] into a dwelling place for God.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.