Discovery BoxGalatians 3:2-5 
Context3:2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law 1 or by believing what you heard? 2 3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began 3 with 4 the Spirit, are you now trying to finish 5 by human effort? 6 3:4 Have you suffered so many things for nothing? – if indeed it was for nothing. 3:5 Does God then give 7 you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law 8 or by your believing what you heard? 9
1 tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.
2 tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”
3 tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.
4 tn Or “by the Spirit.”
5 tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.
6 tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”
7 tn Or “provide.”
8 tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law” (the same phrase as in v. 2).
9 tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith” (the same phrase as in v. 2).
