Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Law or Faith

3 You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross! ² Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it? 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 (A)Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says, “He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous.” ^7 (B)You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. ^8 (C)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.” ⁹ Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.

^10 (D)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!” ^11 (E)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.”^{[a] 12 (F)}But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, as the scripture says, “Whoever does everything the Law requires will live.”

^13 (G)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.” ¹⁴ Christ did this in order that the blessing which God promised to Abraham might be given to the Gentiles by means of Christ Jesus, so that through faith we might receive the Spirit promised by God.

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵ My friends, I am going to use an everyday example: when two people agree on a matter and sign an agreement, no one can break it or add anything to it. ¹⁶ Now, God made his promises to Abraham and to his descendant. The scripture does not use the plural “descendants,” meaning many people, but the singular “descendant,” meaning one person only, namely, Christ. ^17 (H)What I mean is that God made a covenant with Abraham and promised to keep it. The Law, which was given four hundred and thirty years later, cannot break that covenant and cancel God's promise. ^18 (I)For if God's gift depends on the Law, then it no longer depends on his promise. However, it was because of his promise that God gave that gift to Abraham.

¹⁹ What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between. ²⁰ But a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one.^[b]

The Purpose of the Law

²¹ Does this mean that the Law is against God's promises? No, not at all! For if human beings had received a law that could bring life, then everyone could be put right with God by obeying it. ²² But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin; and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe.

²³ But before the time for faith came, the Law kept us all locked up as prisoners until this coming faith should be revealed. ²⁴ And so the Law was in charge of us until Christ came, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith. ²⁵ Now that the time for faith is here, the Law is no longer in charge of us.

²⁶ It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus. ²⁷ You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. ²⁸ So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus. ^29 (J)If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised.

4 But now to continue—the son who will receive his father's property is treated just like a slave while he is young, even though he really owns everything. ² While he is young, there are men who take care of him and manage his affairs until the time set by his father. ³ In the same way, we too were slaves of the ruling spirits of the universe before we reached spiritual maturity. ⁴ But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, ^5 (K)to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.

^6 (L)To show that you are^[c] his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, “Father, my Father.” ⁷ So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.

Paul's Concern for the Galatians

⁸ In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods. ⁹ But now that you know God—or, I should say, now that God knows you—how is it that you want to turn back to those weak and pitiful ruling spirits? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again? ¹⁰ You pay special attention to certain days, months, seasons, and years. ¹¹ I am worried about you! Can it be that all my work for you has been for nothing?

¹² I beg you, my friends, be like me. After all, I am like you. You have not done me any wrong. ¹³ You remember why I preached the gospel to you the first time; it was because I was sick. ¹⁴ But even though my physical condition was a great trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you received me as you would an angel from heaven; you received me as you would Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ You were so happy! What has happened? I myself can say that you would have taken out your own eyes, if you could, and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷ Those other people show a deep interest in you, but their intentions are not good. All they want is to separate you from me, so that you will have the same interest in them as they have in you. ¹⁸ Now, it is good to have such a deep interest if the purpose is good—this is true always, and not merely when I am with you. ¹⁹ My dear children! Once again, just like a mother in childbirth, I feel the same kind of pain for you until Christ's nature is formed in you. ²⁰ How I wish I were with you now, so that I could take a different attitude toward you. I am so worried about you!

The Example of Hagar and Sarah

²¹ Let me ask those of you who want to be subject to the Law: do you not hear what the Law says? ^22 (M)It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. ²³ His son by the slave woman was born in the usual way, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of God's promise. ²⁴ These things can be understood as a figure: the two women represent two covenants. The one whose children are born in slavery is Hagar, and she represents the covenant made at Mount Sinai. ²⁵ Hagar, who stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, is^[d] a figure of the present city of Jerusalem, in slavery with all its people. ^26 (N)But the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother. ^27 (O)For the scripture says,

²⁸ Now, you, my friends, are God's children as a result of his promise, just as Isaac was. ^29 (P)At that time the son who was born in the usual way persecuted the one who was born because of God's Spirit; and it is the same now. ^30 (Q)But what does the scripture say? It says, “Send the slave woman and her son away; for the son of the slave woman will not have a part of the father's property along with the son of the free woman.” ³¹ So then, my friends, we are not the children of a slave woman but of a free woman.