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Galatians 3

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Appeal to Experience: Faith vs. Works 1–5

1
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? ​
2
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ​
3
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? ​
4
Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Abraham Justified by Faith 6–14

6
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. ​
7
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. ​
9
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. ​
11
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. ​
12
And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: ​
14
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. ​

The Law Cannot Nullify the Promise 15–18

15
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
16
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. ​
17
And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. ​
18
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

The Purpose of the Law 19–25

19
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. ​
20
Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. ​
21
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. ​
22
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. ​
23
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ​
25
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

All One in Christ 26–29

26
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ​
27
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ​
28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ​
29
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Galatians 3

Verse 1

bewitched — Baskaino, to bewitch or fascinate by false representations; it occurs only here in the New Testament. ‘Evidently set forth’ is prographo, literally ‘to write before’ (Rom 15:4, ‘written aforetime’). The crucified Christ had been put before their eyes, and they were being turned from him (cf. 5:7).

Verse 2

by the hearing of faith — Paul rests the case on one fact, their reception of the Spirit, and offers two causes: ‘the works of the law’ or ‘the hearing of faith’. Akoe, ‘hearing’, is ‘report’ in Rom 10:16, and ‘faith cometh by hearing’ (Rom 10:17). The same two causes return in v.5.

Verse 3

having begun in the Spirit — Enarchomai, ‘to begin’, occurs only here and Phil 1:6, ‘he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it’. ‘Made perfect’ is epiteleo, to complete, the verb translated ‘perform’ there. Paul asks whether what the Spirit began can be finished by ‘the flesh’ (sarx).

Verse 6

accounted to him for righteousness — Quoted from Gen 15:6. Logizomai, ‘to reckon’, is the verb Paul presses in Rom 4:3–5 and 22–24, and James cites the same verse of Abraham (Jas 2:23). The belief was in the promise of a seed as many as the stars (Gen 15:5).

Verse 8

preached before the gospel unto Abraham — Proeuangelizomai, to announce the good news beforehand, occurs only here. The words ‘In thee shall all nations be blessed’ draw on the promise to Abraham (Gen 12:3; 18:18). ‘Heathen’ and ‘nations’ are one word, ethnos; the nations were to be justified ‘through faith’.

Verse 10

under the curse — Paul quotes Deut 27:26, the last of the curses spoken from mount Ebal (Deut 27:13–26), and presses ‘all things’ and ‘to do them’. Those who rest on ‘the works of the law’ are answerable for all of it. Katara, ‘curse’, returns in v.13, where Christ is ‘made a curse’.

Verse 11

The just shall live by faith — Quoted from Hab 2:4, ‘the just shall live by his faith’, and used again in Rom 1:17 and Heb 10:38. Dikaioo, ‘to declare righteous’, shares its root with ‘the just’ (dikaios): the one counted righteous (v.6) is the one who lives ‘by faith’, not ‘by the law’.

Verse 13

redeemed us from the curse — Exagorazo, ‘to buy out’, is used again in 4:5. Christ was ‘made a curse’ (katara, the word for ‘the curse’ in v.10) and hung ‘on a tree’, which Deut 21:23 calls ‘accursed of God’. Peter names the same place: ‘bare our sins in his own body on the tree’ (1 Pet 2:24).

Verse 14

the blessing of Abraham — The blessing of Gen 12:3 comes ‘on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ’. ‘Gentiles’ is ethnos, the word rendered ‘heathen’ and ‘nations’ in v.8. The second clause names the content, ‘the promise of the Spirit’ (cf. Acts 2:33), received ‘through faith’, the same means as in vv.2 and 8.

Verse 16

to thy seed, which is Christ — The promises were made ‘to Abraham and his seed’, as in Gen 22:18, ‘in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed’. Sperma, ‘seed’, is singular, and Paul rests the point on that: ‘He saith not… seeds, as of many; but as of one’. Verse 29 then counts those in Christ as the seed.

Verse 17

the covenant, that was confirmed before — Prokyroo, ‘confirmed before’, occurs only here; the covenant with Abraham (Gen 17:7) was made first and ratified by God, ‘confirmed it by an oath’ (Heb 6:17). ‘Disannul’ is akyroo, ‘make of none effect’ (Matt 15:6): the later law cannot cancel the earlier promise.

Verse 19

added because of transgressions — Prostithemi, ‘to add’, put the law alongside the promise: ‘the law entered, that the offence might abound’ (Rom 5:20), and ‘where no law is, there is no transgression’ (Rom 4:15). It lasted ‘till the seed should come’. Its giving ‘by angels’ is also in Acts 7:53 and Heb 2:2; the mediator is Moses (Lev 26:46).

Verse 20

a mediator is not a mediator of one — A mediator (mesites) stands between two parties, as Moses did at Sinai: ‘I stood between the LORD and you’ (Deut 5:5). The promise to Abraham rested on God alone, who ‘is one’ (Deut 6:4). The word is used six times in the New Testament, of Christ in 1 Tim 2:5 and Heb 8:6.

Verse 21

God forbid — Me genoito, ‘may it not be’, is Paul’s refusal of a false conclusion, fourteen times in his letters (Rom 3:31; 6:2; Gal 6:14). The law is not against the promises; it could not ‘give life’ (zoopoieo), which belongs to the Spirit: ‘the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life’ (2 Cor 3:6).

Verse 22

concluded all under sin — Synkleio, ‘to shut up together’, is the word for the net that ‘inclosed’ the fishes (Luke 5:6) and for being ‘shut up unto the faith’ in v.23. Rom 11:32 says the same: ‘God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all’. The promise is given ‘to them that believe’.

Verse 24

schoolmaster — Paidagogos, the guardian who had charge of a child, occurs in the New Testament only here, v.25 and 1 Cor 4:15, where it is ‘instructors’. The law was this to those ‘under’ it until faith came (vv.23, 25); it kept the heir like ‘a servant’ while a child (4:1–3), ‘unto Christ’.

Verse 26

children of God — ‘Children’ is huios, ‘son’, the word of 4:6–7: ‘because ye are sons… thou art no more a servant, but a son’. All ‘ye’ are sons ‘by faith in Christ Jesus’, as John 1:12 says: ‘to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name’.

Verse 27

baptized into Christ — ‘Into’ (eis) names union with him, as in Rom 6:3: ‘baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death’. ‘Put on’ is enduo, to clothe oneself, the verb of Rom 13:14, ‘put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ’, and Eph 4:24, ‘put on the new man’.

Verse 28

neither Jew nor Greek — Three pairs are named: Jew and Greek, bond and free, male and female. 1 Cor 12:13 joins the first two ‘by one Spirit… into one body’, and Col 3:11 repeats them. ‘All one’ is the one ‘new man’ of Eph 2:15, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one.

Verse 29

Abraham’s seed, and heirs — Verse 16 said the seed is Christ; to be ‘Christ’s’ (v.27) is to be counted in that seed. Kleronomos, ‘heir’, is the word of 4:1, 7 and Rom 8:17. The inheritance is ‘according to the promise’, since ‘the promise… was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law’ (Rom 4:13).