The Law and the Gospel

15 We, though we are Jews by birth and not sinners of Gentile origin, know that no one is pronounced righteous as the result of obedience to Law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 So we placed our faith in Christ Jesus, in order that we might be pronounced righteous, as the result of faith in Christ, and not of obedience to Law; for such obedience will not result in even one soul’s being pronounced righteous. 17 If, while seeking to be pronounced righteous through union with Christ, we were ourselves seen to be sinners, would that make Christ an agent of sin? Heaven forbid! 18 For, if I rebuild the things that I pulled down, I prove myself to have done wrong. 19 I, indeed, through Law became dead to Law, in order to live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. So it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and, as for my present earthly life, I am living it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not reject the love of God. If righteousness comes through Law, then there was no need for Christ to die!

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3 Foolish Galatians! Who has been enchanting you – you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was depicted on the cross? 2 Here is the one thing that I want to find out from you – Did you receive the Spirit as the result of obedience to Law, or of your having listened with faith? 3 Can you be so foolish? After beginning with what is spiritual, do you now end with what is external? 4 Did you go through so much to no purpose? – if indeed it really was to no purpose! 5 He who supplies you abundantly with his Spirit and endows you with such powers – does he do this as the result of obedience to Law? Or as the result of your having listened with faith? 6 It is just as it was with Abraham –

he had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.

7 You see, then, that those whose lives are based on faith are the sons of Abraham. 8 And scripture, foreseeing that God would pronounce the Gentiles righteous as the result of faith, foretold the good news to Abraham in the words –

“Through you all the Gentiles will be blessed.”

9 And, therefore, those whose lives are based on faith share the blessings bestowed on the faith of Abraham. 10 All who rely on obedience to Law are under a curse, for scripture says –

“Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all that is written in the book of the Law, and do it.”

11 Again, it is evident that no one is pronounced righteous before God through Law, for we read –

“Through faith the righteous will find life.”

12 But the Law is not based on faith; no, its words are –

“Those who practice these precepts will find life through them.”

13 Christ ransomed us from the curse pronounced in the Law, by taking the curse on himself for us, for scripture says –

“Cursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree.”

14 And this he did that the blessing given to Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through their union with Jesus Christ; that so, through our faith, we also might receive the promised gift of the Spirit.

15 To take an illustration, friends, from daily life – No one sets aside even an agreement between two people, when once it has been confirmed, nor do they add conditions to it. 16 Now it was to Abraham that the promises were made, “and to his offspring.” It was not said “to his offsprings,” as if many persons were meant, but the words were “to your offspring,” showing that one person was meant – and that was Christ. 17 My point is this – An agreement already confirmed by God cannot be canceled by the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, so as to cause the promise to be set aside. 18 If our heritage is the result of Law, then it has ceased to be the result of a promise. Yet God conferred it on Abraham by a promise.

19 What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make people conscious of their wrongdoings, and intended to last only until the coming of that offspring to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator. 20 Now mediation implies more than one person, but God is one only. 21 Does that set the Law in opposition to God’s promises? Heaven forbid! For, if a Law had been given capable of bestowing life, then righteousness would have actually owed its existence to Law. 22 But the words of scripture represent the whole world as being in bondage to sin, so that the promised blessing, dependent, as it is, on faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to those who have faith in him.Titleless Section Break

23 Before the coming of faith, we were kept under the guard of the Law, in bondage, awaiting the faith that was destined to be revealed. 24 Thus the Law has proved a guide to lead us to Christ, in order that we may be pronounced righteous as the result of faith. 25 But now that faith has come we no longer need a guide.

26 For you are all sons of God, through your faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into union with Christ clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 All distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, have vanished; for in union with Christ Jesus you are all one. 29 And, since you belong to Christ, it follows that you are Abraham’s offspring and, under the promise, sharers in the inheritance.

4 My point is this – as long as the heir is under age, there is no difference between him and a slave, though he is master of the whole estate. 2 He is subject to the control of guardians and stewards, during the period for which his father has power to appoint them. 3 And so is it with us; when we were under age, as it were, we were slaves to the puerile teaching of this world; 4 but, when the full time came, God sent his Son – born a woman’s child, born subject to Law – 5 to ransom those who were subject to Law, so that we might take our position as sons.

6 And it is because you are sons that God sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, with the cry – “Abba, our Father.” 7 You, therefore, are no longer a slave, but a son; and, if a son, then an heir also, by God’s appointment.Titleless Section Break

8 Yet formerly, in your ignorance of God, you became slaves to “gods” which were no gods. 9 But now that you have found God – or, rather, have been found by him – how is it that you are turning back to that poor and feeble puerile teaching, to which yet once again you are wanting to become slaves? 10 You are scrupulous in keeping days and months and seasons and years! 11 You make me fear that the labour which I have spent on you may have been wasted.Titleless Section Break

12 I entreat you, friends, to become like me, as I became like you. You have never done me any wrong. 13 You remember that it was owing to bodily infirmity that on the first occasion I told you the good news. 14 And as for what must have tried you in my condition, it did not inspire you with scorn or disgust, but you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God – or Christ Jesus himself! 15 What has become then, of your blessings? For I can bear witness that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me! 16 Am I to think, then, that I have become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Certain people are seeking your favour, but with no honourable object. No, indeed, they want to isolate you, so that you will have to seek their favour. 18 It is always honourable to have your favour sought in an honourable cause, and not only when I am with you, my dear children – 19 you for whom I am again enduring a mother’s pains, until a likeness to Christ will have been formed in you. 20 But I could wish to be with you now and speak in a different tone, for I am perplexed about you.Titleless Section Break

21 Tell me, you who want to be still subject to Law – Why don’t you listen to the Law? 22 Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one the child of the slave-woman and the other the child of the free woman. 23 But the child of the slave-woman was born in the course of nature, while the child of the free woman was born in fulfilment of a promise. 24 This story may be taken as an allegory. The women stand for two covenants. One covenant, given from Mount Sinai, produces a race of slaves and is represented by Hagar. 25 Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and represents the Jerusalem of today, for she and her children are in slavery. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she it is who is our mother. 27 For scripture says –

“Rejoice, you barren one, who have never given birth,

break into shouts, you who are never in labour,

for many are the children of her who is desolate –

yes, more than of her who has a husband.”

28 As for ourselves, friends, we, like Isaac, are children born in fulfilment of a promise. 29 Yet at that time the child born in the course of nature persecuted the child born by the power of the Spirit; and it is the same now. 30 But what does the passage of scripture say?

“Send away the slave-woman and her son; for the slave’s son will not be coheir with the son of the free woman.”

31 And so, friends, we are not children of a slave, but of her who is free.