1. Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.
2. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.
3. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
4. Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?
5. I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
6. In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
7. The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
8. What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”
9. So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
10. But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”