Galatians 3:1-13 ▼

1 You stupid people of Galatia! Who put you under an evil spell? Wasn't Christ Jesus' crucifixion clearly described to you?

2 I want to learn only one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by your own efforts to live according to a set of standards or by believing what you heard?

3 Are you that stupid? Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way?

4 Did you suffer so much for nothing? [I doubt] that it was for nothing!

5 Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you through your own efforts or through believing what you heard?

6 Abraham serves as an example. He believed God, and that faith was regarded by God to be his approval of Abraham.

7 You must understand that people who have faith are Abraham's descendants.

8 Scripture saw ahead of time that God would give his approval to non-Jewish people who have faith. So Scripture announced the Good News to Abraham ahead of time when it said, |Through you all the people of the world will be blessed.|

9 So people who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the man of faith.

10 Certainly, there is a curse on all who rely on their own efforts to live according to a set of standards because Scripture says, |Whoever doesn't obey everything that is written in Moses' Teachings is cursed.|

11 No one receives God's approval by obeying the law's standards since, |The person who has God's approval will live by faith.|

12 Laws have nothing to do with faith, but, |Whoever obeys laws will live because of the laws he obeys.|

13 Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that God's laws bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, |Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.|