Galatia 3:9-18

3:9 So then those who believe ¹  are blessed along with Abraham the believer. 3:10 For all who ²  rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” ³  3:11 Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. ⁴  3:12 But the law is not based on faith, ⁵  but the one who does the works of the law ⁶  will live by them. ⁷  3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming ⁸  a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) ⁹  3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, ¹⁰  so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

Inheritance Comes from Promises and not Law

3:15 Brothers and sisters, ¹¹  I offer an example from everyday life: ¹²  When a covenant ¹³  has been ratified, ¹⁴  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. ¹⁵  Scripture ¹⁶  does not say, “and to the descendants,” ¹⁷  referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” ¹⁸  referring to one, who is Christ. 3:17 What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, ¹⁹  so as to invalidate the promise. 3:18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave ²⁰  it to Abraham through the promise.

Galatia 3:22-23

3:22 But the scripture imprisoned ²¹  everything and everyone ²²  under sin so that the promise could be given – because of the faithfulness ²³  of Jesus Christ – to those who believe.

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

3:23 Now before faith ²⁴  came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners ²⁵  until the coming faith would be revealed.

[3:9]  ¹ tn Grk “those who are by faith,” with the Greek expression “by faith” (ἐκ πίστεως, ek pistew") the same as the expression in v. 8.

[3:10]  ² tn Grk “For as many as.”

[3:10]  ³ tn Grk “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them.”

[3:10]  sn A quotation from Deut 27:26.

[3:11]  ⁴ tn Or “The one who is righteous by faith will live” (a quotation from Hab 2:4).

[3:12]  ⁵ tn Grk “is not from faith.”

[3:12]  ⁶ tn Grk “who does these things”; the referent (the works of the law, see 3:5) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:12]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Lev 18:5. The phrase the works of the law is an editorial expansion on the Greek text (see previous note); it has been left as normal typeface to indicate it is not part of the OT text.

[3:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.

[3:13]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.

[3:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.”

[3:15]  ¹¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[3:15]  ¹² tn Grk “I speak according to man,” referring to the illustration that follows.

[3:15]  ¹³ tn The same Greek word, διαθήκη (diaqhkh), can mean either “covenant” or “will,” but in this context the former is preferred here because Paul is discussing in vv. 16-18 the Abrahamic covenant.

[3:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “has been put into effect.”

[3:16]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).

[3:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.

[3:16]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.

[3:16]  ¹⁸ tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.

[3:16]  sn A quotation from Gen 12:7; 13:15; 17:7; 24:7.

[3:17]  ¹⁹ tc Most mss (D F G I 0176 0278 Ï it sy) read “ratified by God in Christ” whereas the omission of “in Christ” is the reading in Ì⁴⁶ א A B C P Ψ 6 33 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 pc co. The shorter reading is strongly supported by the ms evidence, and it is probable that a copyist inserted the words as an interpretive gloss. However, this form of the “in Christ” expression is somewhat atypical in the corpus Paulinum (εἰς Χριστόν [ei" Criston] rather than ἐν Χριστῷ [en Cristw]), a fact which tempers one’s certainty about the shorter reading. Nevertheless, the expression is used more in Galatians than in any other of Paul’s letters (Gal 2:16; 3:24, 27), and may have been suggested by such texts to early copyists.

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn On the translation “graciously gave” for χαρίζομαι (carizomai) see L&N 57.102.

[3:22]  ²¹ tn Or “locked up.”

[3:22]  ²² tn Grk “imprisoned all things” but τὰ πάντα (ta panta) includes people as part of the created order. Because people are the emphasis of Paul’s argument ( “given to those who believe” at the end of this verse.), “everything and everyone” was used here.

[3:22]  ²³ tn Or “so that the promise could be given by faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; Eph 3:12; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.

[3:22]  sn On the phrase because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, ExSyn 116, which notes that the grammar is not decisive, nevertheless suggests that “the faith/faithfulness of Christ is not a denial of faith in Christ as a Pauline concept (for the idea is expressed in many of the same contexts, only with the verb πιστεύω rather than the noun), but implies that the object of faith is a worthy object, for he himself is faithful.” Though Paul elsewhere teaches justification by faith, this presupposes that the object of our faith is reliable and worthy of such faith.

[3:23]  ²⁴ tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”

[3:23]  ²⁵ tc Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in Ì⁴⁶ א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 al), C D¹ 0176 0278 Ï have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses.

[3:23]  tn Grk “being confined.”