Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks
Believers are Approved by God
3 You foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus the Messiah[a] clearly portrayed before your very eyes as having been crucified? 2 I want to learn only one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing[b] the actions of the Law or by believing what you heard?[c] 3 Are you so foolish? Having started out with the Spirit, are you now ending up with the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so much for nothing? (If it really was for nothing!) 5 Does God[d] supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do the actions[e] of the Law or because you believe what you heard?[f] 6 In the same way, Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[g]
7 You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham’s real descendants. 8 Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles[h] by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, “Through you all nations[i] will be blessed.”[j] 9 Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the one who believed.
No One is Justified by the Law
10 Certainly all who depend on the actions of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who does not obey everything that is written in the Book of the Law!”[k] 11 Now it is obvious that no one is justified in the sight of God by the Law, because “The righteous will live by faith.”[l] 12 But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, “The person who keeps the commandments[m] will have life in them.”[n] 13 The Messiah[o] redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who is hung on a tree!”[p] 14 This happened[q] in order that the blessing promised to[r] Abraham would come to the gentiles through the Messiah[s] Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spirit[t] through faith.
15 Brothers, let me use an example from everyday life.[u] Once an agreement[v] has been ratified, no one can cancel it or add conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn’t say “descendants,” referring to many, but “your descendant,”[w] referring to one person, who is the Messiah.[x] 17 This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified. 18 For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.
The Purpose of the Law
19 Why, then, was the Law added?[y] Because of transgressions, until the descendant[z] came to whom the promise pertained. It was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one. 21 So is the Law in conflict with the promises of God? Of course not! For if a law had been given that could give us life, then certainly righteousness would come through the Law. 22 But the Scripture has captured everything by means of sin’s net, so that what was promised by the faithfulness of[aa] the Messiah[ab] might be granted to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came about, we were held in custody and confined under the Law in preparation for the faith that was to be revealed. 24 And so the Law was our guardian until the Messiah[ac] came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come about, we are no longer under a guardian.
You are God’s Children
26 For all of you are God’s children through faith in the Messiah[ad] Jesus. 27 Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah[ae] have clothed yourselves with the Messiah.[af] 28 Because all of you are one in the Messiah[ag] Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female. 29 And if you belong to the Messiah,[ah] then you are Abraham’s descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.
4 Now what I am saying is this: As long as an heir is a child, he is no better off than a slave, even though he owns everything. 2 Instead, he is placed under the care of[ai] guardians and servant managers until the time set by the father. 3 It was the same way with us. While we were children, we were slaves to the basic principles of the world.[aj] 4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent his Son, born by a woman, born under the Law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the Law, and thus to adopt them as his children. 6 Now because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our[ak] hearts to cry out, “Abba![al] Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir because of what God did.
8 However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.[am] 9 But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles?[an] Why do you want to become their slaves all over again? 10 You are observing days, months, seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid for you! I don’t want my work for you to have[ao] been wasted!
Paul’s Concern for the Galatians
12 I beg you, brothers, to become like me, since I became like you. You did not do anything wrong to me. 13 You know that it was because I was ill[ap] that I brought you the gospel the first time. 14 Even though my condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. On the contrary, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, or as if I were the Messiah[aq] Jesus. 15 What, then, happened to your positive attitude?[ar] For I testify that if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So have I now become your enemy for telling you the truth?
17 These people who have been instructing you[as] are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them. 18 (Now it is always good to be devoted to a good cause, even when I am not with you.) 19 My children, I am suffering birth pains for you again until the Messiah[at] is formed in you. 20 Indeed, I wish I were with you right now so that I could change the tone of my voice, because I am completely baffled by you!
You are Children of a Free Woman
21 Tell me, those of you who want to live under the Law: Are you really listening to what the Law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. 23 Now the slave woman’s son was conceived through human means, while the free woman’s son was conceived through divine[au] promise. 24 This is being said as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. The one woman, Hagar, is from Mount Sinai, and her children are born into slavery. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery along with her children. 26 But the heavenly Jerusalem is the free woman, and she is our spiritual mother.[av] 27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, you childless woman,
who cannot give birth to any children!
Break into song and shout,
you who feel no pains of childbirth!
For the children of the deserted woman
are more numerous than the children
of the woman who has a husband.”[aw]
28 So you,[ax] brothers, are children of the promise, like Isaac. 29 But just as then the son who was conceived according to the flesh persecuted the son who was conceived according to the Spirit, so it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman must never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.”[ay] 31 So then, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.
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