Bible / Galatians

Galatians 3

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

1 Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified? CCC

2 I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh?

4 Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?

5 He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Fathers

6 Even so, Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Fathers

7 Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham.

8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” CCC

9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” CCC

11 Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.”

12 The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” CCC · Fathers

14 that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. CCC

15 Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.

16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ. CCC · Fathers

17 Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.

18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.

19 Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Fathers

20 Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.

22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. CCC · Fathers

25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

26 For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. CCC

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. CCC

29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 476 “Since the Word became flesh in assuming a true humanity, Christ's body was finite. Therefore the human face of Jesus can be…”
  2. Read the Fathers
    • “So then they which be of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  3. Read the Fathers
    • “So then they which are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  4. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 59 “In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his father's house, and makes him…”
  5. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 578 “Jesus, Israel's Messiah and therefore the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, was to fulfil the Law by keeping it in its…”
    • CCC 580 “The perfect fulfilment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in…”
  6. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 580 “The perfect fulfilment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in…”
    • “… by the brazen serpent, and yet He is blameless; even so, though a curse lies in the law against persons who are crucified, yet no curse lies on the Christ of God, by whom all that have committed things worthy of a curse are saved.”

      Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter XCIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “… ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." And again: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  7. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 693 “Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles,…”
    • CCC 706 “Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit.…”
  8. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 706 “Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit.…”
    • “Now He does not say, And of seeds, as if [He spake] of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  9. Read the Fathers
    • “It was added, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter VII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “This is the seed of which the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians, "that the law of works was established until the seed should come to whom the promise was made.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  10. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 582 “Going even further, Jesus perfects the dietary law, so important in Jewish daily life, by revealing its pedagogical meaning through a divine…”
    • CCC 708 “This divine pedagogy appears especially in the gift of the Law. God gave the letter of the Law as a "pedagogue" to…”
    • CCC 1963 “According to Christian tradition, the Law is holy, spiritual, and good, yet still imperfect. Like a tutor 15 it shows what must…”
    • “… we ourselves have heard [Him], and know that this man is truly the Saviour of the world." And Paul likewise declares, "And so all Israel shall be saved;" but he has also said, that the law was our pedagogue [to bring us] to Christ Jesus.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter II. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  11. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 791 “The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ's Body there is…”
    • CCC 1227 “According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him, and rises with…”
    • CCC 1243 “The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has "put on Christ," has risen with Christ. the candle, lit from the Easter…”
    • CCC 1425 “YOU were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of…”
  12. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 791 “The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ's Body there is…”