Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks
Law or Faith
3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. 2 I want to learn only this from you: Did you receive the Spirit through the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Have you endured so many things for nothing, if indeed it was for nothing? 5 Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? 6 Even Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a] 7 Therefore know that those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel in advance to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”[b] 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them.”[c] 11 Now it is evident that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, for “The just shall live by faith.”[d] 12 But the law is not of faith, for “The man who does them shall live by them.”[e] 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us—as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”[f]— 14 so that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The Law and the Promise
15 Brothers, I am speaking in human terms: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is ratified, no one annuls or adds to it. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and his Seed. He does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your Seed,”[g] meaning one, who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul the covenant that was ratified by God in Christ, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise. But God gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not a mediator for only one party, but God is one.
Slaves and Sons
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? God forbid! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, righteousness would indeed come through the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all things under sin, that the promise through faith in Jesus Christ[h] might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were imprisoned under the law, kept for the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 You are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, and there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
4 Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ from a servant though he is lord of all. 2 But he is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father. 3 So when we were children, we were in bondage to the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born from a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Paul’s Concern for the Galatians
8 Previously, when you did not know God, you served those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how do you turn again to the weak and beggarly elemental forces to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have worked for you in vain.
12 Brothers, I ask you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. 13 You know that it was because of an infirmity of the flesh that I first preached the gospel to you. 14 Though my infirmity was a trial to you, you neither despised nor rejected me, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 So where is your blessing? For I bear witness of you that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 They would zealously influence you, but not favorably. Yes, they would exclusively control you, so that you might consult them. 18 But it is good to be zealous in a good manner always and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, of whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, 20 I desire to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am displeased with you.
The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. 23 But he who was of the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but he of the free woman through the promise.
24 These things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants. The one is from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and represents the present Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, barren woman
who does not bear;
break forth and shout,
you who have no labor pains!
For the desolate has many more children
than she who has a husband.”[i]
28 Now we, brothers, like Isaac, are the children of promise. 29 But as it was then, he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.”[j] 31 So then, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.