Galatians 3

₁You, in Galatia, must not be so foolish. I have preached to you and explained that Jesus Christ was crucified. But it seems to me as if someone has deceived you and confused you. ₂There is one very important thing that you must remember: God has given you the Holy_Spirit. This is not because you do what the laws say, but because someone has told you the Good_News and you believed it. ₃Do not be so foolish. When you started believing, it was the Holy_Spirit who was working in you, but now you want to work by yourselves and try to finish with your own power. ₄You have suffered so much and now it seems like it did not help you at all. I hope it has helped you. ₅God has given you the Holy_Spirit and He is doing miracles in your congregation. Why does He do it? He does it because someone has told you the Good_News and you believe it, not because you do what the laws say.

₆It also happened like this with Abraham.

₇You must understand that the children_of_Abraham are those who believe in Christ. ₈A long time ago the Old_Testament said that God would make the Gentiles righteous and forgive their sin because they believed in Him. That is why God gave this Good_News to Abraham when He said:

₉That is why you must know that God has blessed Abraham and God blesses everyone who believes as Abraham believed. ₁₀Some people think that God will make them righteous if they do what the laws say, but God curses them because in the Old_Testament it is written:

₁₁Yes, that is true: God makes people righteous, but not because they do what the laws say. No, in the Old_Testament it is written:

₁₂The laws do not tell people to believe. No, the laws tell them to do what the laws say because it is written in the Old_Testament:

₁₃Yes, God curses everyone who does not do what the laws say. But God did not curse us. He cursed Christ in our place because it is written in the Old_Testament:

This is how Christ made us free. ₁₄This is how the Gentiles can get God's blessings, the blessings that He promised Abraham and that He now gives to them because they belong to Christ Jesus. This is why we, who believe, get the Holy_Spirit that God has promised to give to us.

₁₅Friends, I want to use an example to explain what I am saying: When a person makes a testament before he dies, someone else can not change it or say it is worthless. ₁₆This is the same with the covenant that God made with us. In the Old_Testament it is written that God made a promise to Abraham and his descendant. It does not say ‘many descendants.’ It speaks of only one. It says ‘your descendant’ and that descendant is Christ. ₁₇God made his covenant with his people and only 430 years later did He give them his laws. What I want to say is this: The laws came later, after a long time, and so the laws can not change God's covenant and can not break God's promises.

₁₈If we first have to do what the laws say so that we can get the things that God promised to give to us, then we get them because we did what the laws say, not because God promised to give them to us. But we know that God gave these things to Abraham because God was good to Abraham and because God had promised them to Abraham.

₁₉Why has God given us the laws? He gave them because people are full of sin. But the laws were important only until the time when Christ came. Christ is the descendant of Abraham and the things that God promised to Abraham are the same as those He promised to Christ. Angels gave the laws to Moses and Moses gave the laws to the people. ₂₀If God gave the laws to Moses and Moses gave them to the people, then it means that the laws do not come directly from God. But with Abraham it was different: God, Himself, gave his promise directly to Abraham.

₂₁Does this mean that the laws and the promises of God are against each other? No, never. But the laws can not give real_life to people. That is why God will not make people righteous if they only do what the laws say. ₂₂In the Old_Testament it is written that we are all sinners, but now God gives the things that He promised to those who believe in Jesus Christ.

₂₃The laws were like someone who had to take care of us and guard us. The laws kept us safe like in a prison until God said it was the right time for us to believe in Christ. ₂₄The laws were like someone who had to take care of us and teach us while we were small children. The laws had to keep us safe until Christ came. And when He came, we started to believe in Him and God made us righteous and He forgave our sins. ₂₅Now we believe in Christ and that is why it is not necessary that the laws still have to take care of us.

₂₆You all are children of God because you believe in Jesus Christ. ₂₇You were baptised and you are now in Christ. You live with Him. Now Christ is as near to you as the clothes that you put on. ₂₈Some of you are Jews and some are Greeks. Some of you are slaves and some are free. Some of you are men and some are women, but all of this does not_matter anymore, because now you all belong to Christ Jesus. You are one. ₂₉If you belong to Christ, then you are children_of_Abraham and then you get what God has promised. Yes, you receive it because God has promised it.