| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. | 1O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. |
| 2Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. | 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? |
| 3How 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? | 3Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? |
| 4Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? | 4Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing? |
| 5I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. | 5Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe? |
| 6In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” | 6So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” |
| 7The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. | 7Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. |
| 8What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” | 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” |
| 9So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. | 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. |
| 10But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” | 10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” |
| 11So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” | 11Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” |
| 12This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” | 12The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” |
| 13But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” | 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” |
| 14Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. The Law and God’s Promise | 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. |
| 15Dear brothers and sisters, here’s an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case. | 15Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended. |
| 16God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children, ” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child”—and that, of course, means Christ. | 16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ. |
| 17This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. | 17What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. |
| 18For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise. | 18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise. |
| 19Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. | 19Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator. |
| 20Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham. | 20A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one. |
| 21Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. | 21Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. |
| 22But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. God’s Children through Faith | 22But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe. |
| 23Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. | 23Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. |
| 24Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. | 24So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. |
| 25And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. | 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. |
| 26For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. | 26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. |
| 27And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. | 27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. |
| 28There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. | 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. |
| 29And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. | 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. |
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