Galatians 3

⁷You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?

⁸Such persuasion does not come from the One who calls you.

³I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.

²⁰But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

⁶I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

³Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?

⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.

¹⁶But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”

¹⁷Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

¹⁴He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

⁸And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.

¹³And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

¹⁴who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

⁵Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

⁴and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

⁴You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

⁵But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness.

⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

¹⁶one who has become a priest not by a law of succession, but by the power of an indestructible life.

¹⁷For it is testified: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁹It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.

¹⁰They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.

¹²Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.

¹³For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

⁸Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be fully rewarded.

²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³²Remember the early days that you were in the light. In those days, you endured a great conflict in the face of suffering.

³³Sometimes you were publicly exposed to ridicule and persecution; at other times you were partners with those who were so treated.

⁴It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,

⁵who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age—

²⁴But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.

²⁰If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.

²¹It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.

²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

⁹This man was listening to the words of Paul, who looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed.

¹⁰In a loud voice Paul called out, “Stand up on your feet!” And the man jumped up and began to walk.

¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,

¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

³So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who affirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

³since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful among you.

⁴I always thank my God for you because of the grace He has given you in Christ Jesus.

⁵For in Him you have been enriched in every way, in all speech and all knowledge,

⁶Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

²¹being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.

²²This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

²³And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.

³For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation.

²⁴but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

⁹Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.

¹⁰In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.

⁹So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

⁷Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”

⁸So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.

²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

³Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

²⁴but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

³⁹“Abraham is our father,” they replied. “If you were children of Abraham,” said Jesus, “you would do the works of Abraham.

³I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

¹⁸And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

²For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.

¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

²⁴but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

¹⁴He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

²⁶‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

⁷because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

²⁶See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—

²⁷a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today,

⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

¹⁵because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

⁴Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith—

¹⁷For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

³⁸But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”

¹⁶know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

²⁰Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

³If You, O Lord, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?

⁴But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.

⁵Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the Lord.

⁵For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.”

⁶But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down)

²⁹You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They turned a stubborn shoulder; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.

¹⁴For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,

²⁵One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”

¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

²⁴He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

²³you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹²He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

¹⁵Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

⁴because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

¹⁸For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

²⁷And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

¹⁹And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,

¹⁷because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive.

¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.

⁷I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

⁸And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

¹³For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁵⁵as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

¹⁸And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

³⁹These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.

⁴⁰God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.

¹³For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹⁴For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,

⁴⁰Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years.

⁴¹At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.

¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

²⁰For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.

¹³When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,

¹⁴saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply your descendants.”

¹³For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹⁴For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,

¹²Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

¹³When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,

²¹I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

⁴²For He remembered His holy promise to Abraham His servant.

⁵⁴He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful,

⁵⁵as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

⁵³you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”

⁷What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

⁸But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

²For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,

¹⁶The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.

²⁰The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

²¹so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

⁸Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately.

⁹We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers,

⁵For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

⁴Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

³³Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.

¹⁵Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

⁶Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.

²⁹Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

³⁰since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

²¹I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

³¹but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.

²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

²¹But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.

¹⁹For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.

³Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

⁴For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.

⁷What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

⁸But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

³²For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.

¹⁵Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

²⁶And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²³Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.

²⁵And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.

³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

²⁴So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

²⁵Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not!

³²For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.

¹⁹Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

⁴For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.

³⁸Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

³⁹Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

¹For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

²If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.

²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

²⁵Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

¹⁷Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

¹⁸For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

¹⁶know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

⁴Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says:

¹⁶“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”

¹¹Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?

¹²For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed as well.

³And since every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, it was necessary for this One also to have something to offer.

⁴Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer gifts according to the law.

¹What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything.

²He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.

⁵He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,

¹⁸And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

¹²But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—

¹³children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

⁵to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.

⁶And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

¹Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

²Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

¹⁴Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

³Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

⁴We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

²¹And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

¹²The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

¹¹Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

²⁹Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

³⁰since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.

¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him,

¹³for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.

⁶This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

⁷Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”

⁸So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.

⁷Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham.

¹⁷And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

¹⁶Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

¹⁷As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist.

²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.

²³His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.