Galatians 33GalatiansFaith, the Law and Abraham's childrenTranslation for Translators

Translation for TranslatorsBerean Standard Bible

1. Faith and Belief

   (James 2:14–26)

2. 1ENGT4TYou fellow believers who live in Galatia are very foolish! ◄Someone must have put an evil spell on you!/Did someone put an evil spell on you?► RHQ I clearly explained to you SYN what Jesus Christ accomplished when he was crucified {he died on the cross}.BSBBSB: O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
3. 2ENGT4TSo, I want you to tell me one thing: Do you think that it was because you obeyed the laws God gave Moses that you received the Holy Spirit? Do you not know that RHQ it was because when you heard the good message concerning Christ, you trusted in him?BSBBSB: I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?
4. 3ENGT4T◄You are acting so foolishly/Why are you being so foolish?► RHQ! You first became Christians as a result of God’s Spirit enabling you. So, ◄you should not now think that it is by what you yourselves do that you will continue to grow spiritually/do you now think it is by your own human efforts that you will continue to grow spiritually?!► RHQBSBBSB: Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?
5. 4ENGT4TKeep in mind that if what God has done for you was because of your obeying the laws that God gave to Moses and not because of trusting in Christ, when others caused you to suffer, you suffered many things needlessly! RHQ I certainly hope that you did not suffer like that needlessly.BSBBSB: Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing?
6. 5ENGT4TWhen God now generously gives to you his Spirit and performs miracles among you, do you think that it is RHQ because you obey the laws that God gave to Moses? Surely you know that it is because when you heard the good message about Christ, you trusted in him RHQ!BSBBSB: Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?
7. 6ENGT4TWhat you have experienced is as Moses wrote in the Scriptures about Abraham. He wrote that Abraham trusted God, and as a result, he was considered as being righteous {God erased the record of his sins}.BSBBSB: So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
8. 7ENGT4TYou must realize, therefore, that it is those who trust in what Christ has done who are like Abraham’s descendants MET because they trust in God as Abraham did.BSBBSB: Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham.
9. 8ENGT4TFurthermore, God planned beforehand that it was when non-Jews trusted him that he would erase the record of their sins. Moses wrote in the Scriptures PRS this good message that God told Abraham: “Because of what you did, I will bless people in MTY all nations.”BSBBSB: The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
10. 9ENGT4TSo, we can conclude that it is those who trust in what Christ has done whom God blesses. That includes all non-Jews and Jews who trust him, along with Abraham, the one who trusted him long ago.BSBBSB: So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

11. Christ Has Redeemed Us

12. 10ENGT4TThat is, God will eternally punish all those who mistakenly think that God will erase the record of their sins as a result of their obeying the laws that God gave to Moses. What is written in the Scriptures is that God will eternally punish everyone who does not continuously and completely obey all the laws that Moses wrote.BSBBSB: All 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.”
13. 11ENGT4TBut God has declared that if he erases the record of anyone’s sins, it will not be as a result of their obeying the laws God gave Moses. This is evident because the Scriptures say, “Every person whose record of sins God erases because that person trusts God will live spiritually.”BSBBSB: Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”
14. 12ENGT4TBut when God gave his laws to the Jews, he did not say that a person must trust him. Instead, God said that it is those who obey all God’s laws, continuously and completely, who will live.BSBBSB: The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
15. 13ENGT4TEven though we humans have not continuously and completely obeyed God’s laws, Christ rescued us from God punishing us eternally. Christ rescued us by his being the one God condemned instead of God condemning us. What is written {someone/Moses wrote} in the Scriptures shows that this is true. It is written {He wrote}, “God has cursed anyone whom people have executed for his crimes and whose body they have hung on a tree.”BSBBSB: Christ 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.”
16. 14ENGT4TJesus Christ rescued us in order that as a result of what he has done, God might bless the non-Jews, in a way similar to the way God blessed Abraham. He also desired that as a result of our trusting Christ, we all might receive the Spirit whom God promised to give to us.BSBBSB: He 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.

17. The Purpose of the Law

    (Romans 7:1–6)

18. 15ENGT4TMy fellow believers, I will now illustrate by referring to human relationships. After an agreement is confirmed by two people {two people have signed an agreement}, no one can reject it or add to it.BSBBSB: Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.
19. 16ENGT4TGod declared to Abraham and his descendant that he was promising to give blessings to Abraham. The words that God spoke were not “and your descendants.” He was not referring to many persons. Instead, he was referring to one person, who is Christ, because the words that God spoke were, “and your descendant.”BSBBSB: The 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.
20. 17ENGT4TThis is what I am saying: Since God gave the laws to the Jews 430 years after he declared to Abraham what he was promising to do for Abraham, those laws do not cancel that agreement with Abraham that God himself had previously agreed about PRS.BSBBSB: What 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.
21. 18ENGT4TRemember that if it is because we obey God’s laws that he gives to us what he has promised to give to us, then it is not just because he has promised that he would give those things to us. God freely gave to Abraham what he had promised to give to him, just because God had promised that he would give it to him. Similarly, it is not because we obey God’s laws that God gives to us what he has promised to give to us.BSBBSB: For 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.
22. 19ENGT4TSo, if someone should ask, “Why did God later give his laws to Moses?” I would reply that it was in order that people might realize how sinful they were. Those laws were valid until Jesus came. He was the descendant that God was referring to when he made the promises to Abraham. The laws were given {God gave his laws} to Moses by God’s causing angels to speak to him. Moses was the mediator, the one who told the laws to the people.BSBBSB: Why 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.
23. 20ENGT4TNow, when a mediator functions, one person is not speaking with another directly; but God himself made his promises directly to Abraham.BSBBSB: A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.
24. 21ENGT4TIf someone should ask, “When God gave his laws to Moses long after he told Abraham what he was promising to give to him, was he changing his mind?” I would reply that God certainly did not change his mind when he did that! If God had given a law that could enable people to live eternally, then it actually would be because of people obeying that law that God would erase the record of their sins.BSBBSB: Is 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.
25. 22ENGT4TBut instead, what we read in the Scriptures PRS is that God caused all people to be unable to escape being punished for their sins MET, just like people in prison are unable to escape PRS, MET. God did that in order that he might give what he promised to those who trust Jesus Christ, just because they trust him.BSBBSB: But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.
26. 23ENGT4TBefore God revealed the good message about trusting in Christ, the laws PRS that God gave to Moses were confining/imprisoning us Jews MET, as a prisoner in jail is confined. We were unable to escape obeying those MET laws. This happened in order that we might believe the good message concerning Christ, the message that God would reveal later.BSBBSB: Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.
27. 24ENGT4TLike a father supervises his immature son by appointing a servant to take care of him MET, God was supervising us by his laws MET, PRS until Christ came. He did this in order that he might erase the record of our sins only because we trust Christ.BSBBSB: So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
28. 25ENGT4TBut now that God has revealed the message about trusting in Christ, the laws that God gave to Moses are no longer supervising us Jews PRS, MET.BSBBSB: Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

29. Sons through Faith in Christ

30. 26ENGT4TNow all of you Jews and non-Jews are as though you are God’s children because you trusted Christ Jesus.BSBBSB: You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
31. 27ENGT4TThat is, you who began a relationship with Christ when you were baptized identified yourselves MET with Christ.BSBBSB: For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
32. 28ENGT4TIf you are believers, it does not matter to God if you are Jews or non-Jews; slaves or ones who are not slaves; males or females, because all of you are as one sort of person because of your relationship with Christ Jesus.BSBBSB: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
33. 29ENGT4TFurthermore, since you belong to Christ, you are like Abraham’s descendants because you trust God as Abraham did, and you will possess/receive all that God has promised MET.BSBBSB: And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

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