003:001 You foolish Galatians! Whose sophistry has bewitched you--
you to whom Jesus Christ has been vividly portrayed as
on the Cross?
003:002 Answer me this one question, "Is it on the ground of your obedience
to the Law that you received the Spirit, or is it because,
when you heard, you believed?"
003:003 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now
going to reach perfection through what is external?
003:004 Have you endured such sufferings to no purpose--if indeed it
has been to no purpose?
003:005 He who gives you His Spirit and works miracles among you--
does He do so on the ground of your obedience to the Law,
or is it the result of your having heard and believed:
003:006 even as Abraham believed God, and his faith was placed to his
account as righteousness?
003:007 Notice therefore that those who possess faith are true
sons of Abraham.
003:008 And the Scripture, foreseeing that in consequence of faith
God would declare the nations to be free from guilt,
sent beforehand the Good News to Abraham, saying, "In you
all the nations shall be blessed."
003:009 So we see that it is those who possess faith that are blessed
with believing Abraham.
003:010 All who are depending upon their own obedience to the Law
are under a curse, for it is written, "Cursed is every one
who does not remain faithful to all the precepts of the Law,
and practise them."
003:011 It is evident, too, that no one can find acceptance with God
simply by obeying the Law, because "the righteous shall
live by faith,"