Justified by the Law, or Justified by Faith?

3 O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as having been crucified? 2 I want only to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now trying to be made complete by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things for nothing—if indeed also it was for nothing? 5 Therefore does the one who gives you the Spirit and who works miracles among you do so by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

6 Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, 7 then understand that the ones who have faith[fn], these are sons of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the good news in advance to Abraham: “In you all the nations[fn] will be blessed.”[fn] 9 So then, the ones who have faith are blessed together with Abraham who believed. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things that are written in the book of the law to do them.”[fn] 11 Now it is clear that no one is justified in the sight of God by the law, because “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”[fn] 12 But the law is not from faith, but “the one who does these things will live by them.”[fn]

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by[fn] becoming a curse for us, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”[fn] 14 in order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.