Galatians 3:1-20
Galatians 3:1-20 (Good News Translation)
1You 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!
2Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing
what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it?
3How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you
now want to finish by your own power?
4Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant
something!
5Does 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?
6Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says,
"He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as
righteous."
7You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham
are the people who have faith.
8The 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."
9Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are
blessed as he was.
10Those 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!
11Now, 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."
12But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, as the
scripture says,
Whoever
does everything the Law requires will live.
13But 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."
14Christ 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.
15My 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.
16Now, 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.
17What 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.
18For 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.
19What, 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.
20But a go-between is not needed when only one person is
involved; and God is one.
1You 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!
2Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing
what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it?
3How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you
now want to finish by your own power?
4Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant
something!
5Does 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?
6Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says,
"He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as
righteous."
7You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham
are the people who have faith.
8The 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."
9Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are
blessed as he was.
10Those 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!
11Now, 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."
12But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, as the
scripture says,
Whoever
does everything the Law requires will live.
13But 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."
14Christ 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.
15My 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.
16Now, 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.
17What 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.
18For 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.
19What, 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.
20But a go-between is not needed when only one person is
involved; and God is one.
God bless you.
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