Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? New Living Translation How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? English Standard Version Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Berean Standard Bible Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? Berean Literal Bible Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh? King James Bible Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? New King James Version Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? New American Standard Bible Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? NASB 1995 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? NASB 1977 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Legacy Standard Bible Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Amplified Bible Are you so foolish and senseless? Having begun [your new life by faith] with the Spirit, are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh [that is, by your own works and efforts to keep the Law]? Christian Standard Bible Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? Holman Christian Standard Bible Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh? American Standard Version Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh? Contemporary English Version How can you be so stupid? Do you think that by yourself you can complete what God's Spirit started in you? English Revised Version Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh? GOD'S WORD® Translation Are you that stupid? Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way? Good News Translation How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power? International Standard Version Are you so foolish? Having started out with the Spirit, are you now ending up with the flesh? Majority Standard Bible Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? NET Bible Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort? New Heart English Bible Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh? Webster's Bible Translation Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Weymouth New Testament Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to reach perfection through what is external? World English Bible Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh? Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionAre you so thoughtless? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now end in the flesh? Berean Literal Bible Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh? Young's Literal Translation so thoughtless are ye! having begun in the Spirit, now in the flesh do ye end? Smith's Literal Translation Are ye so unwise? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now completed in the flesh? Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleAre you so foolish, that, whereas you began in the Spirit, you would now be made perfect by the flesh? Catholic Public Domain Version Are you so foolish that, though you began with the Spirit, you would now end with the flesh? New American Bible Are you so stupid? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? New Revised Standard Version Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleAre you so foolish, after having begun with spiritual things to end now with things of the flesh? Aramaic Bible in Plain English Are you so foolish that you began in The Spirit and now you finish in the flesh? NT Translations Anderson New TestamentAre you so thoughtless? After having begun in Spirit, do you make an end in flesh? Godbey New Testament Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh? Haweis New Testament Are ye so senseless? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh? Mace New Testament have you so little understanding, as having begun in the spiritual doctrine of the gospel, to turn again to the law? Weymouth New Testament Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to reach perfection through what is external? Worrell New Testament Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now being made perfect in the flesh? Worsley New Testament Are ye so void of understanding? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Faith and Belief…2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? 3Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing?… Cross References Romans 8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Colossians 2:6 Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin. Romans 4:1-5 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered? / If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. / For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ... Romans 6:1-4 What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? / Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? / Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ... 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, / not by works, so that no one can boast. Hebrews 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. John 3:6 Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. / And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Romans 7:5-6 For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death. / But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Treasury of Scripture Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? having. Galatians 4:7-10 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ… Galatians 5:4-8 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace… Galatians 6:12-14 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ… Jump to Previous Attain Beginning Begun Complete Completed Effort End Ending External Flesh Foolish Goal Human Perfect Perfected Perfection Reach Senseless Spirit Start Thoughtless TryingJump to Next Attain Beginning Begun Complete Completed Effort End Ending External Flesh Foolish Goal Human Perfect Perfected Perfection Reach Senseless Spirit Start Thoughtless TryingGalatians 3 1. He asks what moved them to leave the faith, and hold onto the law.6. Those who believe are justified, 9. and blessed with Abraham. 10. And this he shows by many reasons. 15. The purpose of the Law 26. You are sons of God Are you so foolish? This phrase is a rhetorical question posed by the Apostle Paul, expressing astonishment at the Galatians' lack of discernment. The Greek word for "foolish" here is "anoētos," which implies a lack of understanding or perception. Paul is not merely insulting them but is highlighting their spiritual blindness. Historically, this reflects the early church's struggle to maintain the purity of the Gospel amidst competing teachings. The Galatians had been swayed by Judaizers who insisted on adherence to the Mosaic Law for salvation, which Paul vehemently opposed. This question serves as a wake-up call, urging the Galatians to return to the foundational truths of the Gospel. After starting in the Spirit are you now finishing in the flesh? Having begun in the Spirit.--Begun your career as Christians in a manner so entirely spiritual--with the spiritual act of faith on your part, and with an answering gift of spiritual graces and powers. Made perfect by the flesh.--Do you wish to finish and complete the career thus auspiciously begun under a system of things entirely different--a system carnal and material, narrow, slavish, and literal--the Law in place of the Gospel? By "the flesh" is here meant the Law, which, though described as spiritual in Horn. vii. 14, and though it really was spiritual in view of its origin, in another aspect--as imposing a system of literal obedience upon its adherents--was carnal, "earthly," rigid, petty, and low. It had none of that sublime expansiveness and aspiration which belongs to faith. It was a grievous reversing of the whole order of progress--to begin with faith, and, instead of completing with faith that which faith had begun, to fall back upon a condition of things which was shared with the Christian by the unemancipated Jew. Verse 3. - Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (οὕτως ἀνόητοί ἐστε ἐναρξάμενοι, πνεύματι νῦν σαρκὶ ἐπιτελεῖσθε); are ye so foolish? having begun with the Spirit, are ye now finishing with the flesh? Πνεύματι, as contrasted with σαρκί, means the element of spiritual existence (comp. the use of πνεῦμα in Romans 1:4; 1 Peter 3:18) into which they had been brought at their conversion by the Holy Spirit's influence; including the spiritual sensibility and spiritual activity which had at first marked their Christian life, as e.g. joy in God in the sense of pardon, adoption (Galatians 4:6), love to God, affectionate attachment to their spiritual teacher (Galatians 4:14, 15), brotherly love among themselves: at that hour all their soul was praise, joy, love. Σαρκὶ denotes a lower, merely sensuous kind of religiousness, one busying itself with ceremonial performances, observance of days and festivals (Galatians 4:10), distinctions of meats, and other matters of ceremonial prescription; with petty strivings and disputings, of course, about such points, as if they really mattered at all; in which kind of religiousness the former tone of love, joy, sense of adoption, praise, had evaporated, leaving their souls dry, earthly (comp. "weak and beggarly rudiments," Galatians 4:9; and for the use of σάρξ, Hebrews 9:10). Perhaps the apostle includes also in his use of the term the loss of spiritual victory over sin. if in place of surrendering themselves to the leading of the Spirit (comp. Galatians 5:18) they put themselves under the Law, then they fell back again under the power of the "flesh," which the Law could only command them to control, but could of itself give them no power to control (Romans 8:3). The Authorized Version, "begun in," is doubtless faulty, in taking πνεύματι as governed by the ἐν of the compound verb. The two verbs ἐνάρχομαι and ἐπιτελεῖν are balanced against each other in 2 Corinthians 8:6; Philippians 1:6. Ἐπιτελεῖσθε may be either a passive, as it is rendered in the Authorized Version, "Are ye made perfect," i.e. "Are ye seeking to be made perfect;" so the Revised Version, "Are ye now perfected;" or a middle verb, as ἐπιτελοῦμαι is often used in other writers, though nowhere in the New Testament or Septuagint. The latter seems the more suitable, with the understood suppletion of "your course" or "your estate," as in our English word "finishing." The apostle is partial to the deponent form of verbs.Parallel Commentaries ... Greek Are youἐστε (este) Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist. so Οὕτως (Houtōs) Adverb Strong's 3779: Thus, so, in this manner. Or (referring to what precedes or follows). foolish? ἀνόητοί (anoētoi) Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural Strong's 453: Foolish, thoughtless. By implication, sensual. After starting ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Nominative Masculine Plural Strong's 1728: To begin (in), make a beginning, commence. From en and archomai; to commence on. in [the] Spirit, Πνεύματι (Pneumati) Noun - Dative Neuter Singular Strong's 4151: Wind, breath, spirit. are you now finishing ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisthe) Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural Strong's 2005: To complete, accomplish, perfect. From epi and teleo; to fulfill further, i.e. Execute; by implication, to terminate, undergo. in [the] flesh? σαρκὶ (sarki) Noun - Dative Feminine Singular Strong's 4561: Flesh, body, human nature, materiality; kindred. Links Galatians 3:3 NIVGalatians 3:3 NLT Galatians 3:3 ESV Galatians 3:3 NASB Galatians 3:3 KJV Galatians 3:3 BibleApps.com Galatians 3:3 Biblia Paralela Galatians 3:3 Chinese Bible Galatians 3:3 French Bible Galatians 3:3 Catholic Bible NT Letters: Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun (Gal. Ga) |
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