Abraham was made right with God by faith, not by keeping the law. In Galatians 3:1-18, Paul points out that Abraham believed God’s promise and was declared righteous long before he was circumcised and 430 years before God gave the law to Moses. The gospel of grace isn’t a divine afterthought. God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him, and through Jesus that blessing, including the gift of the Holy Spirit, comes to everyone who believes.
Setting the Scene in Galatians 3:1-18
In the first two chapters, Paul argued for the gospel from a personal point of view. He told how Jesus revealed the gospel to him, how the Jerusalem leaders affirmed it, and how he confronted Peter in Antioch for wavering on it (Galatians 2:1-21). He ended chapter 2 with a bold claim: if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.
Now Paul makes his case two new ways. First, he appeals to the Galatians’ own experience of the Holy Spirit. Then he turns to the Old Testament and an ancient promise given to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. This was a strategic move. The Judaizers almost certainly appealed to Abraham, since circumcision began with him in Genesis 17. Paul shows that Abraham’s story actually supports the gospel of grace.
Who Has Bewitched You?
Paul begins with a series of sharp questions.
Galatians 3:1-3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
“Foolish” doesn’t mean unintelligent. It means thoughtless, failing to think through what they already knew. The word translated “bewitched” was associated with casting a spell or giving someone the evil eye. Paul isn’t saying they were literally under a spell, but their turn away from grace was so irrational it seemed that way.
Paul says Jesus Christ was “clearly portrayed as crucified” before their eyes. The Greek word was used for posting a public notice, like a placard in the town square. Paul’s preaching had made the cross so vivid that it was as if they had seen it themselves. How could they now look anywhere else?
Then Paul asks the key question: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? The answer was obvious. When they believed, God gave them his Spirit and worked miracles among them (Galatians 3:5). They hadn’t been circumcised or kept kosher first. If the Spirit came by faith, why would they think they could finish the Christian life by human effort?
Abraham Believed God
Paul now turns to Scripture, starting with Abraham. Decades after God first called him (Genesis 12), Abraham was still childless. One night God took him outside.
Genesis 15:5-6 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Notice what Abraham did. He didn’t perform a ritual or make a vow. He simply believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness. The word “credited” is an accounting term, like a deposit placed in someone’s account. Abraham’s righteousness was a gift received by faith.
The timing matters. Abraham was declared righteous in Genesis 15, but he wasn’t circumcised until Genesis 17, years later. Paul makes the same argument in Romans 4:9-11. Circumcision was a sign of the righteousness Abraham already had, not the means of getting it. Abraham couldn’t have worked for his salvation, because God hadn’t even given the law yet!
Galatians 3:6-9 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Paul says Scripture “announced the gospel in advance” to Abraham. God’s first promise to him already included the nations (Genesis 12:2-3). The real children of Abraham aren’t identified by bloodline or circumcision but by sharing Abraham’s faith. Gentile believers in Galatia didn’t need to become Jews to join Abraham’s family. They were already in it.
Redeemed From the Curse
Next, Paul explains why the law can’t save. Quoting Deuteronomy 27:26, he says everyone who relies on the law is under a curse, because the law demands that we keep everything written in it. No one does. Paul then quotes the prophet Habakkuk: “the righteous will live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). The law operates on a different principle. As Leviticus 18:5 puts it, the person who does these things will live by them. The law says do; the gospel says believe.
So how do we escape the curse? Jesus took it for us.
Galatians 3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23, which pronounced a curse on anyone hung on a pole. For many first-century Jews, this made the idea of a crucified Messiah offensive. How could God’s chosen one die under God’s curse? Paul turns that objection into the heart of the gospel. Jesus became a curse for us. He absorbed the penalty we deserved so that we could receive the blessing Abraham was promised.
And what is that blessing? Paul says it is the promise of the Spirit, received by faith. God’s ancient promise to Abraham belongs to the nations, not just to Israel, and Jesus unlocked it through the cross. This is inside-out religion. Instead of rules pressing on us from the outside, God’s Spirit lives within every believer, giving us a freedom the law could never offer.
A Promise the Law Can’t Cancel
Paul ends this section with an everyday illustration. Once a human covenant or will has been ratified, no one can add conditions or set it aside. God’s promise works the same way.
Galatians 3:16-18 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Paul notes that the promise was made to Abraham’s “seed,” a singular word, and he sees its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. The Hebrew and Greek words for “seed” can be collective, and Paul knew it. A few verses later he says all who belong to Christ are Abraham’s seed (Galatians 3:29). His point is that God’s promises to Abraham’s family find their focus in one descendant, Jesus, and everyone united to him shares the inheritance.
The law came 430 years after the promise, a figure that matches Exodus 12:40. A later contract can’t cancel an earlier one. In fact, when God made his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, he alone passed between the animal pieces as a smoking firepot and blazing torch while Abraham watched (Genesis 15:17). God took the whole obligation on himself. The inheritance comes by promise, as a gift, not by law-keeping.
What This Means for Us
The way of salvation has never changed. Abraham was made right with God by trusting God’s promise, and so are we. The difference is that we look back to the cross, where Jesus fulfilled the promise Abraham looked forward to. You don’t have to earn a place in God’s family. You receive it by faith.
And God doesn’t leave you on your own once you believe. The blessing promised to Abraham is the Holy Spirit living in you.
Ephesians 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Trying to grow spiritually by willpower alone is like trying to finish a marathon by pushing a car instead of driving it. The Spirit who began the work will carry it on. Paul develops this theme further in chapter 5 (Galatians 5:1-26); see also All About Walking by the Spirit. For a topical look at this chapter, read The Promise You Might Have Missed. Next, Paul explains why God gave the law at all (Galatians 3:19-4:31).
The Takeaway
How was Abraham made right with God? He believed God’s promise, and God credited it to him as righteousness, before circumcision and 430 years before the law. The gospel of grace isn’t new. Through Jesus, who became a curse for us, Abraham’s blessing reaches all nations, and everyone who believes receives the promised Holy Spirit.
