Believers are Approved by God

1You foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus the Messiaha clearly portrayed before your very eyes as having been crucified? 2I want to learn only one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doingb the actions of the Law or by believing what you heard?c 3Are you so foolish? Having started out with the Spirit, are you now ending up with the flesh? 4Did you suffer so much for nothing? (If it really was for nothing!) 5Does Godd supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do the actionse of the Law or because you believe what you heard?f 6In the same way, Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”g

7You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham’s real descendants. 8Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentilesh by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, “Through you all nationsi will be blessed.”j 9Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the one who believed.

No One is Justified by the Law

10Certainly 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 11Now it is obvious that no one is justified in the sight of God by the Law, because “The righteous will live by faith.”l 12But the Law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, “The person who keeps the commandmentsm will have life in them.”n 13The Messiaho 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 14This happenedq in order that the blessing promised tor Abraham would come to the gentiles through the Messiahs Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spiritt through faith.

15Brothers, let me use an example from everyday life.u Once a person’s will has been ratified, no one can cancel it or add conditions to it. 16Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn’t say “descendants,” referring to many, but “your descendant,”v referring to one person, who is the Messiah.w 17This 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. 18For 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

19Why, then, was the Law added?x Because of transgressions, until the descendanty came about whom the promise pertained. It was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. 20Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one. 21So 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. 22But the Scripture has captured everything by means of sin’s net, so that what was promised by the faithfulness ofz the Messiahaa might be granted to those who believe. 23Now before faith came about, we were held in custody and confined under the Law in preparation for the faith that was to be revealed. 24And so the Law was our guardian until the Messiahbb came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come about, we are no longer under a guardian.

You are God’s Children

26For all of you are God’s children through faith in the Messiahcc Jesus. 27Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiahdd have clothed yourselves with the Messiah.ee 28Because all of you are one in the Messiahff Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female. 29And if you belong to the Messiah,gg then you are Abraham’s descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.