New Living Translation

Darby Bible Translation

The Law and Faith in Christ

Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.

1

Faith and Belief

O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you; to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified [among you]?

2

Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.

2

This only I wish to learn of you, Have ye received the Spirit on the principle of works of law, or of [the] report of faith?

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How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

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Are ye so senseless? having begun in Spirit, are ye going to be made perfect in flesh?

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Have you experienceda so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?

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Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if indeed also in vain?

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I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.

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He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, [is it] on the principle of works of law, or of [the] report of faith?

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In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”b

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Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

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The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.

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Know then that they that are on the principle of faith, these are Abraham's sons;

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What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”c

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and the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations on the principle of faith, announced beforehand the glad tidings to Abraham: In thee all the nations shall be blessed.

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So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.

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So that they who are on the principle of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

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But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”d

10

Christ Redeemed Us

For as many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse. For it is written, Cursed is every one who does not continue in all things which [are] written in the book of the law to do them;

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So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”e

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but that by law no one is justified with God [is] evident, because The just shall live on the principle of faith;

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This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”f

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but the law is not on the principle of faith; but, He that shall have done these things shall live by them.

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But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”g

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Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, Cursed [is] every one hanged upon a tree,)

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Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promisedh Holy Spirit through faith.

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that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

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The Law and God’s Promise

Dear brothers and sisters,i here’s an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case.

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The Purpose of the Law

Brethren, (I speak according to man,) even man's confirmed covenant no one sets aside, or adds other dispositions to.

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God gave the promises to Abraham and his child.j And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children,k” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child” — and that, of course, means Christ.

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But to Abraham were the promises addressed, and to his seed: he does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed; which is Christ.

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This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise.

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Now I say this, A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which took place four hundred and thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.

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For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise.

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For if the inheritance [be] on the principle of law, [it is] no longer on the principle of promise; but God gave it in grace to Abraham by promise.

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Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.

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Why then the law? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed came to whom the promise was made, ordained through angels in [the] hand of a mediator.

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Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.

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But a mediator is not of one, but God is one.

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Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises?l Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it.

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[Is] then the law against the promises of God? Far be the thought. For if a law had been given able to quicken, then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law;

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But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.

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but the scripture has shut up all things under sin, that the promise, on the principle of faith of Jesus Christ, should be given to those that believe.

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God’s Children through Faith

Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.

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But before faith came, we were guarded under law, shut up to faith [which was] about to be revealed.

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Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.

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So that the law has been our tutor up to Christ, that we might be justified on the principle of faith.

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And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

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But, faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor;

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For you are all childrenm of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

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Sons Through Faith in Christ

for ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus.

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And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.n

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For ye, as many as have been baptised unto Christ, have put on Christ.

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There is no longer Jew or Gentile,o slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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There is no Jew nor Greek; there is no bondman nor freeman; there is no male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus:

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And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true childrenp of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

29

but if *ye* [are] of Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

Parallel

New Living Translation

Darby Bible Translation

Galatians 3

Galatians 3