Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes ‘Isa al-Masih was openly set forth among you as crucified? 2I just want to learn this from you. Did you receive the Spirit by legalistic observance of the Taurat’s shariah , or by hearing and believing? 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 works miracles among you, does he do it because you observe shariah, or because you heard and believed? 6Even as Ibrahim “believed Allah, and it was credited to him as righteousness.“[1] 7Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Ibrahim. 8Al-Kitab, foreseeing that Allah would justify the nations by faith, preached the Injil beforehand to Ibrahim, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.“[2] 9So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Ibrahim. 10For as many as depend on legalistic observance of the Taurat’s shariah are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things that are written in the book of the Taurat, to do them.“[3] 11Now that no man is justified by shariah before Allah is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.“[4]12Shariah is not of faith, but, “The man who obeys these things will live through them.“[5]
13Al-Masih redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Taurat, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed,“[6] 14that the blessing of Ibrahim might come on the nations through al-Masih ‘Isa; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15Brothers, I speak like men. When a man makes a legal contract no one can annul it, or add to it. 16Now the promises were spoken to Ibrahim and to his seed. Allah did not say, “To seeds,“ as if there were many. Instead, he speaks of only one, “To your seed,“[7]which is al-Masih. 17Now I say this, the covenant confirmed previously by Allah in al-Masih, the Taurat which came four hundred thirty years after, cannot annul, so as to make the promise void. 18For if the promised inheritance is based on shariah, it is no more a promise; but Allah granted it to Ibrahim by promise.
19Why then was the Taurat‘s shariah enacted? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20Now a mediator does not mediate for only one party, but Allah is one. 21Is the shariah then against the promises of Allah? Certainly not! For if there had been a shariah given which could give life, certainly righteousness would have come from observing shariah. 22But Al-Kitab shut up all things under sin, that the promise might be given to those who believe, to those who have faith in ‘Isa al-Masih . 23But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the shariah of the Taurat, shut up to the faith which would afterwards be revealed. 24So the Taurat was a tutor to bring us to al-Masih, 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 Allah, through faith in al-Masih ‘Isa. 27For as many of you as were baptized into al-Masih have put on al-Masih. 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 al-Masih ‘Isa. 29If you are al-Masih’s, then you are Ibrahim’s seed and heirs according to promise.
[1] 3:6 Quotation from the Taurat, Genesis 15:6.
[2] 3:8 See the Taurat, Genesis 12:3 and 18:18.
[3] 3:10 Quoting the Taurat, Deuteronomy 27:26.
[4] 3:11 Quoting the Taurat, Habakkuk 2:4.
[5] 3:12 Quoting the Taurat, Leviticus 18:5.
[6] 3:13 Quoting the Taurat, Deuteronomy 21:23.
[7] 3:16 “To your seed” is a phrase used many times in the Taurat. See Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:7,8; Genesis 24:7; Genesis 48:4.