GAL 3:6 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 3:1–14: We are justified by believing, not by obeying the law

In this section, Paul contrasted “doing” and “believing.” He began by rebuking the Galatians because they had forgotten something. They had forgotten that they had been made right with God (justified) and had received the Holy Spirit by believing. They should not then begin to do/obey the law to be made right with God.

Being made right with God (justification) has always been an issue of believing. Abraham himself was justified because he believed. People who are Abraham’s children are those who believe. They are the ones who are blessed. People who try to be made right with God by obeying the law are cursed, because no one can obey the entire law.

Paul wanted the Galatians to change their ways. He was convinced that if they thought about their actions and understood the truth, they would change.

Some other examples for a heading for this section are:

Justification by Law or by Faith? (NET)

Law or Faith

Paragraph 3:6–9

The implied response to Paul’s rhetorical questions in 3:1–5 is that the Galatians received the Spirit by faith in Christ. Paul then talked about Abraham to support his case that salvation is by faith. Abraham was a familiar example of a person with great faith.

Paul explained that God accepted Abraham as righteous because of his faith. Salvation never depended on keeping the law.

3:6a–b

So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”: This verse is a quotation from Genesis 15:6. It proves that God considered Abraham as righteous by means of faith. Abraham’s righteousness did not depend on anything that he did.

You may want to make it clear that this is a quotation from Genesis. One way to do this is to put the reference in a footnote at the end of the verse (as in the BSB). A sample footnote is:

This is a quotation from Genesis 15:6.

3:6a

So also, “Abraham believed God,

¶ Think about Abraham. “He trusted God,
¶ Remember Abraham our^(excl) father/ancestor. “He put his faith/trust in God

So also: There are at least three ways to interpret the function of the Greek word that the BSB translates as So also:

It introduces an example. The example is Abraham and his faith. For example:
Abraham serves as an example. (GW) (BSB, NIV, GNT, GW, REB, JBP)
It introduces a quotation from the Old Testament. Here, it is a shortened introduction. The longer introduction would be “just as it is written” (as in Romans 1:17). For example:
The Scriptures say that God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith. (CEV) (ESV, CEV, NCV, GNTGNT says, “Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says…” So the GNT follows both interpretation 1 and interpretation 2.)
It introduces a comparison. The comparison is between Abraham in 3:6 and “those who believe” in 3:7. They were both God’s people because they believed. For example:
⁶Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, ⁷so then, understand that those who believe are the sons of Abraham. (NET) (NET, NRSV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

Some other ways to translate this word are:

Consider Abraham (NIV)

Think of Abraham

Remember Abraham

Abraham: Abraham is an important Jewish ancestor written about in the Old Testament. Paul often referred to him as an example of a believing person.

In some languages, it is natural to use a title or description along with the name of important people like Abraham. For example:

Abraham of old

our ^(excl) father Abraham

the prophet Abraham

believed God: Paul used the word believed to refer to faith in God. It does not refer to just accepting a statement as true.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

trusted God

had faith in God

put his faith in God (NJB)

See faith, Meaning 1 in the Glossary for more information.

3:6b

and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

and God regarded him as righteous.”
and because of that, God considered him to be a blameless/straight person.”

and it was credited to him as righteousness: The clause it was credited means “was calculated,” “was reckoned,” or “was regarded/considered.” God considered Abraham to be righteous because of his faith.

This clause is passive. Some ways to translate it are:

Use a passive clause. For example:
he was counted/considered to be righteous
As an active verb: For example:
and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God (NCV)
and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous (GNT)

as righteousness: The word righteousness refers to the character trait of being “upright,” “blameless,” or “just.”

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

upright/blameless

a just/straight man

See also righteous in the Glossary for more information.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases

καθὼς

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καθώς Ἀβραάμ Ἐπίστευσεν τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)

Here, the phrase Just as indicates that what follows is connected to what preceded it, specifically [3:1-5](../03/01.md). The phrase Just as is also introducing new information. The new information that this phrase is introducing is the biblical example of Abraham. Use a form that would be appropriate in this context. Alternate translation: [Even as]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks

ἐπίστευσεν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καθώς Ἀβραάμ Ἐπίστευσεν τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)

Here, Paul quotes Genesis 15:16. It may be helpful to your readers to indicate this with opening and closing quotation marks or with whatever other punctuation or convention your language uses to indicate the beginning and end of a quotation.

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

ἐλογίσθη

˱it˲_˓was˒_reckoned

If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you could state this in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [God credited it]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἐλογίσθη

˱it˲_˓was˒_reckoned

Here, the word it refers to Abraham’s belief in God. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate that explicitly. Alternate translation: [God credited his belief]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

δικαιοσύνην

righteousness

See how you translated the word righteousness in [2:21](../02/21.md).

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

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.