Home
Galatians Chapter 3

Galatians Chapter 3

(Underlining marks a quotation/allusion. [Brackets] mark a textual variant.fnWhen two (or more) different copies of an original manuscript disagree on any given word or phrase — addition, omission, word order, etc. — the disagreement is called a "textual variant". ~99% of existing textual variants are either minor (like spelling), obviously not original (often appearing only in a few late manuscripts), or don't affect meaning (like "Jesus Christ" vs. "Christ Jesus"). The ~1% that remain do not affect any central doctrine of Christianity. The BOS Bible only marks significant textual variants that affect the meaning; smaller variants that do not affect meaning won't be marked for readability.  "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.fn"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love".  However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings — agapé centers on choice and behavior.  It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings.  (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".)  Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé".  Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing.  It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. An asterisk (*) indicates a verb in the Greek perfect tense.fnThe Greek perfect tense signifies a completed action in the past with a result and/or an ongoing state that extends into the present. For example, Hebrews 12:2 says in part: "He *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"; the verb for "sat" is in the perfect tense, indicating that He sat down once (completed action in the past), and also that He remains seated until the present moment (ongoing state).)

Glossary

Note: this glossary is currently a work in progress; entries that do not expand will be added as time permits

Ages/of ages
“ages” and “of ages” are the Greek words “αἰών” (aión, noun form) and “αἰώνιος” (aiónios, adjective form) respectively.  The adjective form is typically translated “eternal”, as in “eternal life”. The noun form refers to a whole time period, (Keizer, “Life Time Entirety”) such as a person’s lifetime (an older Greek sense), an age/epoch (e.g., 2 Cor 4:4), or even time in its entirety, making its meaning similar to “forever” (e.g., John 14:16). The adjective form is similarly context-dependent, and the New Testament context often dictates a meaning similar to “forever” (but not always: e.g. 2 Tim 1:9).  Alternately or additionally, it can indicate the quality of a time period — indicating greatness/severity — like the English idiom “of ages” (e.g. “battle of the ages”). Thus, “of ages” was chosen for the adjective form so that both the time and quality senses remain visible.

Clean/unclean

Covenant

Faith

Flesh

Forgive/forgiveness

Grace
The Greek word is “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace”, “gift”, or “thanks”. It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place. The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis). A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron. The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful” by giving thanks in this way. Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation. A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons. The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met. New Testament usage typically casts God the Father as a Heavenly Patron, to whom Christians should be grateful and faithful because of the gifts He has given us. (e.g. salvation, provision, protection, etc.)

Holy

Justification

Law (Torah)

Make purification

Pure/Impure

Purification offering
In the Old Testament, this is typically the Hebrew “חַטָּ֖את” (khat-tat); in the New Testament, it’s typically “περὶ ἁμαρτίας” (peri hamartias), which is what the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek) used to translate the Hebrew. It’s traditionally translated “sin offering”, but that translation has less support in high-level scholarship. The Hebrew word can mean “sin”, but it can also mean “purification” (e.g. Numbers 8:7). This offering was used to purify uncleanness, whether or not a sin was committed. Thus, it was required even when no sin was committed, such as after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8), for certain diseases (Leviticus 14), etc. High-level, peer-reviewed scholarship dedicated to the field (e.g. Milgrom, Levine, Gane, Sklar, Wright, Gorman, etc.) is largely united on the “purification offering” understanding. The BOS Bible has aligned itself with that high-level, peer-reviewed scholarship in its translation.

Ransom

Redemption

Repent/repentance

Righteous/righteousness

Salvation/save

Soul
“soul” is the Greek word “ψυχή/psuché” and Hebrew word “נֶפֶשׁ/nephesh”. The BOS Bible translates these words as “soul” for consistency, and so the full meaning of “soul” isn’t obscured by different translations in different places. They closely overlap in meaning and are typically translated “soul” or “life”. They refer to the animating force of a living thing, and thus can also refer to its life, or to the whole of any person or creature, including animals (e.g. fish in Revelation 8:9 and Genesis 1). They are frequently used as an emphatic reference to a person’s whole self, including longings, deep emotions, and inner life. (e.g. Ps 42:11) Note: while “soul” has significant overlap in meaning with “spirit”, the words have distinct meanings and usages throughout scripture. For example, lions tear apart a soul in Psalm 7:2, and a “dead soul” is mentioned in Leviticus 21:11; “spirit” has no analogous usages, and it returns to God at death (Ecc 12:7; Acts 7:59). The adjective forms of soul and spirit are contrasted in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15; see also: Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Sin

Click to Collapse the Glossary
Righteousness through Grace, not Law
  1. You foolish Galatians!  Who bewitched you [not to be persuaded of the truth], before whose eyes Jesus the Anointed was publicly portrayed as having been crucified.
  2. I only want to learn this from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
  3. Are you foolish this way?  Having begun by the Spirit are you now perfecting yourselvesfn“perfecting yourselves” could also be translated “being perfected” because the ending for the middle and passive voices are the same for same this Greek word. by the flesh?
  4. Did you suffer so many things pointlessly?  (and if indeed it was pointlessly.)
  5. Therefore, the One abundantly supplying the Spirit to you and working miracles among you, does He do it by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
  6. Just as “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”fnquotation/allusion to Genesis 15:6
  7. Therefore, know that the men of faith, these are sons of Abraham.
  8. And having foreseen that God makes the gentiles righteous by faith, the scripture preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying that: “In you, all the nations will be blessed.”fnquotation/allusion to Genesis 22:18
  9. So then, the men of faith are blessed with Abraham, the man of faith.
  10. For as many as are of the works of the law, they are under a curse.  For it is *written: “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue keeping all things which have been written in the book of the law, to do them.”fnquotation/allusion to Deuteronomy 27:26
  11. And that no one is made righteous before God by the law is obvious because “The righteous will live by faith.”fnquotation/allusion to Habakkuk 2:4
  12. And the law isn’t from faith, but: “The man who does them will live by them.”fnquotation/allusion Leviticus 18:5
  13. The Anointed purchased us from the curse of the law by having become the object of a cursefn“object of a curse” is one word in Greek, and could also simply be translated “curse”, as it can mean either depending on context.  Both BDAG and Thayer’s support the “object of a curse” understanding in this verse. for us, because it is *written: “Cursed is every man hanging on a tree“,fnquotation/allusion to Deuteronomy 21:23
  14. so that in Jesus the Anointed, the blessing of Abraham might be in the gentiles so we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Two covenants contrasted
  1. Brothers, let me now speak in the way of man: even when a mere man has ratified a covenant, no one annuls it or makes an addition.
  2. And the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.  It doesn’t say “and to the seeds”, like they were many; but “and to your seed”, like there is one, who is the Anointed.
  3. And I say this: the covenant has been ratified beforehand by God.  The law which has come into being 430 years later doesn’t annul it, for it to abolish the promise.
  4. For if the inheritance is from the law, it’s no longer from a promise.  But God has gracedfn“grace” The Greek word here is a verb form of “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace” or “gift”.  It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place.  The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis) for someone.  A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron.  The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful”.  Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation.  A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons.  The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met.  Christian Grace and Faith is well pictured by this system.  The Heavenly Patron (God the Father) freely gave a gift (Jesus’ blood), and the clients who accept it (Christians) are expected to “be faithful” out of gratitude. it to Abraham through a promise.
  5. Then why the law?  Because of deliberate sins it was put into place, having been carefully arranged through angels in the hand of a mediator, until the seed might come to whom the promise has been made.
  6. (Now, a mediator isn’t for one man only, but God is one.)
  7. Then is the law opposed to the promises of God?  May it never be!  For if a law able to give life was given, then righteousness would truly be from the law.
  8. But the scripture imprisoned all things under sin, so the promise from faith in Jesus the Anointed might be given to the men believing.
  9. And before the faith came, we were being guarded under the law, being imprisoned until the faith about to be revealed came.
  10. So the law has become a strict tutorfn“strict tutor” The Greek word here refers to a man (typically a slave) who was in charge of a boy’s education and discipline. The boy wasn’t even allow to leave the house with this man’s permission, and they were regarded as being very strict in discipline. for us, leading into the Anointed so we might be made righteous by faith.
  11. But faith having come, we’re no longer under a strict tutor.
  12. For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus the Anointed.
  13. For as many of you as were baptized into the Anointed, you clothed yourselves with the Anointed.
  14. There isn’t Jew nor Greek, there isn’t slave nor free, there isn’t male and female, for all of you are one in Jesus the Anointed.
  15. And if you are the Anointed’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

 

Next: Galatians chapter 4

Previous: Galatians chapter 2

Up: The Book of Galatians

Up: BOS Bible Index

 

Note: If you think a word, phrase, or passage could be better translated - or is wrong - then Please Say Something. This is an open source Bible that's accountable to all Christians. See this link for details.

Legal Use: Please feel free to quote the BOS Bible, but follow the guidelines on the Legal Use page when doing so. They are easy and mostly common sense.