The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”
- KJV And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
- NKJV Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
- NASB However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “The person who performs them will live by them.”
- NLT This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The law operates on doing, not believing, requiring that the one who keeps it live by it. Law and faith are two different principles.
Overview
Paul contrasts the law's principle, 'do this and live,' with the gospel's principle of faith. The law offers life only to those who perfectly perform it, a standard no sinner can reach. Thus law and faith cannot be combined as joint grounds of justification; one must choose grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Lev 18:5Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
- Rom 10:5–6For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.”
- Neh 9:29You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly shrugged their shoulders; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.
- Rom 4:14For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,
- Luke 10:25–28One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
- Rom 4:16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
- Ezek 20:11And I gave them My statutes and made known to them My ordinances—for the man who does these things will live by them.
- Rom 4:4–5Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation.
- Ezek 20:13Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
- Rom 11:6And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
- Rom 9:30–32What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
- Matt 19:17“Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 3:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.