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OET (OET-LV) For/Because you_all_are all sons of_god through the faith in chosen_one/messiah Yaʸsous.
In the previous section, Paul talked about people from a Jewish background. In this section, he returned to focus on the non-Jews whom he had talked about earlier.
This section has two parts. In the first one (3:26 to 3:29), Paul reminded the non-Jewish Christians in Galatia that they had become children of God through faith. When people become children of God, there is no longer a difference between Jew or non-Jew, male or female, slave or free. He further pointed out that once people have become children of God, they are entitled to all the blessings of the new life in Christ.
In the second part (4:1 to 4:7), Paul compared the time under the law to a time of slavery. But when Christ came, he freed people from slavery. The time under the law ended. So believers in Jesus Christ are God’s sons. They are not slaves to the law. It is no longer necessary to follow the law.
Some other examples for a heading for this section are:
By faith we are sons of God and are rescued from the law
You are not slaves but children of God
No longer prisoners to the law but sons
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
¶ In/Through Christ, all of you are sons of God by means of believing.
¶ All of you who are united with Christ Jesus are God’s children because you believe in Jesus.
In 3:26, Paul further explained the faith in Christ that he had talked about in 3:24–25. He introduced this further explanation with a Greek conjunction that most English versions translate as “for.” Here is another way to translate this conjunction:
So (NIV)
The BSB has not translated this conjunction, and some other versions, such as the GNT and GW, also do not translate it. In some languages, it will not be necessary to translate this conjunction either. Connect 3:26 to 3:25b in a way that is natural in your language.
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus: There are two ways to interpret how the phrase in Christ Jesus fits in this clause:
It modifies the whole clause. This means that the believer is united with Christ and this makes him a son/child. For example:
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. (NIV11) (NIV11, NET, RSV, REB, ESV, NJB)
It modifies through faith. It states that the object of faith is Jesus Christ. For example:
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (NIV) (BSB, NIV, KJV, NASB, CEV, GNT, GW, NCV, NLT, JBP)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Here Paul used the phrase in Christ as in other passages to mean “in union with Christ.”
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
In/Through Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith in him.
All of you who are united with Christ Jesus are sons of God because you believe in Christ.
sons of God: This phrase refers to all people who believe in Christ. They are both male and female. After a person has believed in Christ, God considers him as his child.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
children of God (NRSV)
sons and daughters of God
through faith: Some other ways to translate through faith are:
because of your faith (CEV)
because you believe in Jesus
by believing (GW)
A similar phrase also occurs in 3:14d. See also faith, Meaning 1 in the Glossary.
Christ Jesus: In the phrase Christ Jesus, Christ is his title and Jesus is his personal name. One way to show this is:
the Christ/Messiah Jesus
In 1:1c, Paul used the phrase “Jesus Christ.” Both Christ Jesus and “Jesus Christ” refer to the same person. Either order may be used in your translation.
This phrase also occurs in 3:14a. You should translate it here as you did there.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
υἱοὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: πάντες Γάρ υἱοί Θεοῦ ἐστέ διά τῆς πίστεως ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ)
Although the term sons is masculine, Paul is using the word here in a generic sense that includes both men and women who have faith in Christ Jesus. Alternate translation: [sons and daughters] or [children]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
υἱοὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: πάντες Γάρ υἱοί Θεοῦ ἐστέ διά τῆς πίστεως ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ)
Paul speaks of the Galatian believers as if God were their biological or physical father. He means that these people have a father-son relationship with God because they trust in Jesus. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [the spiritual children]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
τῆς πίστεως
¬the faith
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of faith, you could express the same idea with a verb such as “trust,” or you could express the meaning in some other way that is natural in your language.
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ
in Christ Jesus
The phrase in Christ Jesus could mean: (1) that the spiritual position of the Galatian believers was in Christ Jesus. Alternate translation: [you are in union with Christ Jesus] (2) that Christ Jesus was the object of Galatian believers faith. Alternate translation: [which is in Christ Jesus] or [towards Christ Jesus]
3:26 Those who are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (see also 4:4-7; John 1:12; Rom 9:8) have come of age as heirs of his promises (see Gal 3:24-25, 29) and have received the down payment of that inheritance (3:14; Eph 1:14). The Galatians were foolish (Gal 3:1) in trying to gain access to God through circumcision. As God’s children by faith, they already had the best possible access to God.
OET (OET-LV) For/Because you_all_are all sons of_god through the faith in chosen_one/messiah Yaʸsous.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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