3:6 Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, 1 3:7 so then, understand 2 that those who believe are the sons of Abraham. 3 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time, 4 saying, “All the nations 5 will be blessed in you.” 6 3:9 So then those who believe 7 are blessed along with Abraham the believer. 3:10 For all who 8 rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” 9 3:11 Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. 10 3:12 But the law is not based on faith, 11 but the one who does the works of the law 12 will live by them. 13 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming 14 a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) 15 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, 16 so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.
1 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
2 tn Grk “know.”
3 tn The phrase “sons of Abraham” is used here in a figurative sense to describe people who are connected to a personality, Abraham, by close nonmaterial ties. It is this personality that has defined the relationship and its characteristics (BDAG 1024-25 s.v. υἱός 2.c.α).
4 tn For the Greek verb προευαγγελίζομαι (proeuangelizomai) translated as “proclaim the gospel ahead of time,” compare L&N 33.216.
5 tn The same plural Greek word, τὰ ἔθνη (ta eqnh), can be translated as “nations” or “Gentiles.”
6 sn A quotation from Gen 12:3; 18:18.
7 tn Grk “those who are by faith,” with the Greek expression “by faith” (ἐκ πίστεως, ek pistew") the same as the expression in v. 8.
8 tn Grk “For as many as.”
9 tn Grk “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them.”
sn A quotation from Deut 27:26.
10 tn Or “The one who is righteous by faith will live” (a quotation from Hab 2:4).
11 tn Grk “is not from faith.”
12 tn Grk “who does these things”; the referent (the works of the law, see 3:5) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 sn A quotation from Lev 18:5. The phrase the works of the law is an editorial expansion on the Greek text (see previous note); it has been left as normal typeface to indicate it is not part of the OT text.
14 tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.
15 sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.
16 tn Or “so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.”