1 You foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus Christ clearly portrayed as crucified before your very eyes?
2 I want to learn only one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?
3 Are you so foolish? Having started out with the Spirit, are you now ending up with the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so much for nothing? (If it really was for nothing!)
5 Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do the works of the law or because you believe what you heard?
6 In the same way, Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
7 You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham's real descendants.
8 Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, "Through you all nations will be blessed."
9 Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the one who believed.
10 Certainly all who depend on the works 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!"
11 Now it is obvious that no one is justified in the sight of God by the law, because "The righteous will live by faith."
12 But the law has nothing to do with faith. Instead, "The person who keeps the commandments will have life in them."
13 Christ 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!"
14 This happened in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
15 Brothers, let me use an example from everyday life. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one can cancel it or add conditions to it.
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn't say "descendants," referring to many, but "your descendant," referring to one person, who is Christ.
17 This is what I mean: The law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant previously ratified by God so as to nullify the promise.
18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by the promise. But it was by a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.
19 Why, then, was the law given? It was added because of transgressions until the descendant came to whom the promise was given. It was put into effect through angels by means of an intermediary.
20 Now an intermediary involves more than one party, but God has acted on his own.
21 So 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.
22 But the Scripture has put everything under the power of sin, so that what was promised by the faithfulness of Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before this faith came, we were held in custody and carefully guarded under the law in preparation for the faith that was to be revealed.
24 And so the law was our guardian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the control of a guardian.
26 For all of you are God's children through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 Indeed, all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 A person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female, because all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants and heirs according to the promise.