Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes ‘ISA1 AL-MASIH2 was openly set forth among you as crucified? 2I just want to learn this from you. Did you receive the Spirit by observance of the Taurat3, 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 the Taurat, or because you heard and believed? 6Even as Ibrahim…
“believed GOD4, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 5
7Know therefore that those who have faith, the same are children of Ibrahim. 8Al-Kitab6, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the Injil7 beforehand to Ibrahim, saying,
“In you all the nations will be blessed.” 8
9So then, those who have faith are blessed with Ibrahim, the man of faith.
10For as many as depend on observance of the Taurat 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.” 9
11Now that no man is justified by the Taurat before God is evident, for,
“The righteous will live by faith.“ 10
12The Taurat is not about faith, but,
“The man who obeys these things will live through them.“ 11
13AL-MASIH redeemed us from the curse of the Taurat, having become a curse for us. For it is written,
“Everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed,“ 12
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.” God did not say, “To seeds,” as if there were many. Instead, he speaks of only one,
“To your seed,” 13
which is AL-MASIH. 17Now I say this, the covenant confirmed previously by God 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 the Taurat, it is no more a promise; but God granted it to Ibrahim by promise.
19What then is the purpose of the Taurat? 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 God is one.
21Is the Taurat then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could give life, certainly righteousness would have come from observing the Taurat. 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 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 God, 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, 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.
- 3:1 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
- 3:1 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
- 3:2 Taurat, this Arabic word derived from Torah (Hebrew) literally means “instruction” or “teaching.” In the Injil, the Greek text says nomos (meaning, “law”). Depending on context, Taurat can refer to,
1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎ - 3:6 GOD, the use of all capital letters here means that the original Hebrew text quoted here uses God’s Name, YAHWEH, which God-fearing Jews to this day do not say out of respect. YAHWEH is the Name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 3:6 Quotation from the Taurat, Genesis 15:6 which says: “He believed YAHWEH, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ↩︎
- 3:8 Al-Kitab, is an Arabic-derived term for “the Scriptures.” It is related to the Aramaic ketab and Hebrew terms ketab, miktab, and ktb. The same meaning of “the Scriptures” is expressed in Greek by graphe. In this verse, Al-Kitab refers to the Hebrew scriptures, including the Taurat, the Zabur, and the writings of the Prophets. ↩︎
- 3:8 Injil, this Arabic word is derived from Euangel (Greek) and means “good news” or “Gospel” (old English for ‘good news’). Depending on context, Injil can refer to,
1. the whole Christian New Testament containing 27 books,
2. the first 4 books of the New Testament, that is, the Injil according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, or,
3. the message or “good news” of forgiveness of sins through ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed in the holy Injil (or New Testament). ↩︎ - 3:8 See the Taurat, Genesis 12:3 which says: “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed.”
Also, Genesis 18:17-18 which says: YAHWEH said, “Will I hide from Ibrahim what I do, seeing that Ibrahim has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? ↩︎ - 3:10 Quoting the Taurat, Deuteronomy 27:26 which says: ‘Cursed is anyone who does not establish the words of this Taurat, to do them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ↩︎
- 3:11 Quoting the Taurat, Habakkuk 2:4 which says: “Behold, the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” ↩︎
- 3:12 Quoting the Taurat, Leviticus 18:5 which says: “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances. The man who obeys these things will live through them. I am YAHWEH.” ↩︎
- 3:13 Quoting the Taurat, Deuteronomy 21:22-23 which says: “If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree; his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for anyone who hangs on a tree is cursed by God; that you do not defile your land which YAHWEH your God gives you for an inheritance.” ↩︎
- 3:16 To your seed, is a phrase used many times in the Taurat, such as the following:
Genesis 13:14-15 – YAHWEH said to Ibram, after Lut was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your seed forever.”
Genesis 17:7-8 – “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you. I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”
Genesis 48:3-4 – Yaqub said to Yusuf, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.'” ↩︎