15 We follow Jewish laws and not the customs of other nations, 16 but we know that we’re not saved by following rules[ref] but only by faith in Yeshua the messiah. So we’ve believed in Yeshua the messiah so that we can be made guiltless by our faith in the messiah, and not by obeying all those rules, because all of those rules can never make any person guiltless. 17 However if we attempt to be made guiltless through the messiah yet find that we’re sinners, does that mean that the messiah is servant to sin? That could never be so! 18 If I rebuild what I’ve already torn down, that would show me to be a law-breaker. 19 [ref]It was the law that showed me that I needed die to the idea of following the law so that I could live to serve God instead. I was executed on a stake along with the messiah 20 and I’m not living any more, but it’s the messiah now living in me. The way that my body stays alive now is by living by faith in God’s son—the one who loved me and allowed himself to be executed for me. 21 I’m not rejecting God’s grace, because if the law could make me guiltless, that would mean that the messiah died unnecessarily.

3 You foolish Galatians, who tricked you into changing? You know that Yeshua the messiah was publicly known to have been executed on a stake. 2 So I just want to ask you one thing: did you receive the spirit from obeying all the rules, or was it by faith when you heard? 3 So aren’t you being foolish? Having begun in the spirit, now you’re all focussing back on bodily discipline. 4 You vainly endured so many things—it was vain wasn’t it? 5 So the one who gave the spirit to you and worked miracles among you all, did all that come about from obeying the rules or by the faith that came from hearing the good message?