Atlas Biblica

    Galatians · 29 verses

    Galatians 3

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    The promise hinges on a grammatical singular: not “seeds,” but “seed”—and the lone seed is Christ.

    Faith, blessing, and the cursevv. 1–14

    The letter opens with a magnificent squint of suspicion: the Galatians have seen Jesus Christ portrayed as crucified, yet the question is whether the Spirit arrived through law-keeping or through hearing with faith. Abraham is brought in as the precedent, believing God and receiving righteousness; faith makes his company blessed, while reliance on the law leaves a curse hanging over the whole arrangement. Christ enters precisely there, redeeming from that curse so that Abraham’s blessing and the promised Spirit may reach the Gentiles.

    The seed, the covenant, and the unexplained mediatorvv. 15–22

    The argument now puts on its legal spectacles. A ratified human covenant cannot simply be canceled or amended, and the promise spoken to Abraham is said to concern one seed rather than many: Christ. The law arrives 430 years later and therefore cannot revoke what came before it. Why was it given? Because of transgressions, says the letter, and then comes the splendidly abrupt detail that it was administered through angels by a mediator—followed by the even more abrupt remark that a mediator is unnecessary for only one party, while God is one. The parties are left standing just offstage.

    From custody to clothingvv. 23–29

    Before faith came, the law held people in custody, and then served as a guardian leading them to Christ. Once faith has come, the guardian is no longer in charge. The closing movement is wonderfully sartorial: those baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ. Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female are named without distinction in the sentence, and belonging to Christ makes people Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Gal 3:1O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

    2. Gal 3:2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

    3. Gal 3:3Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?

    4. Gal 3:4Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing?

    5. Gal 3:5Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

    6. Gal 3:6So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

    7. Gal 3:7Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham.

    8. Gal 3:8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”

    9. Gal 3:9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

    10. Gal 3:10All 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.”

    11. Gal 3:11Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

    12. Gal 3:12The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”

    13. Gal 3:13Christ 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.”

    14. Gal 3:14He 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.

    15. Gal 3:15Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.

    16. Gal 3:16The 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.

    17. Gal 3:17What 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.

    18. Gal 3:18For 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.

    19. Gal 3:19Why 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.

    20. Gal 3:20A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.

    21. Gal 3:21Is 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.

    22. Gal 3:22But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.

    23. Gal 3:23Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.

    24. Gal 3:24So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

    25. Gal 3:25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

    26. Gal 3:26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

    27. Gal 3:27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

    28. Gal 3:28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

    29. Gal 3:29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 523 passages were voted onto 29 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 10Deuteronomy 27:26‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’’’
    • 281 Corinthians 12:12–13The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.
    • 131 Peter 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
    • 28Colossians 3:11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
    • 13Deuteronomy 21:23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
    • 28Romans 3:29–30Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
    • 13Hebrews 9:12He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
    • 13Hebrews 9:15Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
    • 28Galatians 5:6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.
    • 131 Peter 1:18–21For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
    • 11Habakkuk 2:4Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith—
    • 26Ephesians 1:5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
    • 27Romans 13:14Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
    • 28Romans 10:12–15For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him,
    • 29Ephesians 3:6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
    • 262 Corinthians 6:18And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

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