I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit(A) by the works of the law,(B) or by believing what you heard?(C) Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?[a] Have you experienced[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles(D) among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?(E) So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[c](F)

Understand, then, that those who have faith(G) are children of Abraham.(H) Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”[d](I) So those who rely on faith(J) are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.(K)

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Footnotes

  1. Galatians 3:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
  2. Galatians 3:4 Or suffered
  3. Galatians 3:6 Gen. 15:6
  4. Galatians 3:8 Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18

14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,(A) so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.(B)

The Law and the Promise

15 Brothers and sisters,(C) let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.(D) Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[a](E) meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years(F) later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise;(G) but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

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Footnotes

  1. Galatians 3:16 Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7

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