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Galatians 3

Paul grounds belonging to God’s family in faith in Christ, who bears the law’s curse and fulfills Abraham’s promise.

Paul confronts the Galatians over their turn toward works of the law after receiving the Spirit through faith. He points to Abraham’s trust in God and the promise that all nations would be blessed through him. Christ has borne the law’s curse, and the law’s later arrival cannot cancel God’s promise. Paul then explains the law’s role as a tutor before declaring that those who belong to Christ are Abraham’s offspring and heirs.

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1Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?
2I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
3Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh?
4Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?
5He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
6Even so, Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”
7Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham.
8The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”
9So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.
10For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
11Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.”
12The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”
13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”
14that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
15Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.
16Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ.
17Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.
18For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.
19Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
20Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.
21Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
22But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
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Key verses
Galatians 3:13Christ’s bearing of the curse explains how Abraham’s blessing and the promised Spirit can reach the Gentiles.
Galatians 3:26Paul identifies faith in Christ as the basis of belonging to God’s family after the law’s custodial role.
Galatians 3:28Shared union with Christ gives believers equal standing across divisions of ethnicity, social status, and sex.
Where this chapter reaches

Paul draws on Genesis for Abraham’s faith and the promise of blessing to the nations, and on Deuteronomy for the law’s curse and the person hung on a tree. Romans shares the argument about Abraham and righteousness through faith; Ephesians shares the theme of unity in Christ.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does Paul’s question about beginning in the Spirit expose about how you understand growth in faith?

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How does being an heir according to promise shape your understanding of belonging to God?

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Questions people ask about Galatians 3

What does Galatians 3:13 mean by Christ becoming a curse?

Paul says the law places a curse on everyone who fails to keep all its commands. Christ redeemed people from that curse by bearing it in his death, which Paul connects with hanging on a tree. Verse 14 names the result: Abraham’s blessing reaches Gentiles, and the Spirit is received through faith.

Why was the law given according to Galatians 3?

Paul says the law was added because of transgressions until the promised offspring, Christ, came. It held people in custody and served as a tutor leading to Christ. The law could neither give life nor cancel God’s earlier promise. Its role prepared for the faith that would be revealed.

What does Galatians 3:28 mean by neither male nor female?

Paul places male and female alongside Jew and Greek, slave and free, to explain believers’ unity in Christ. Each shares the standing of God’s children and Abraham’s heirs through faith. The verse addresses belonging and inheritance; it does not claim that every human distinction has ceased to exist.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).