Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
Parallel translations
- WEB Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?
- BSB Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing?
- NKJV Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
- NASB Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
- NLT Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?
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
Paul asks whether their sufferings and experiences were for nothing. To abandon the gospel would render their past faith meaningless.
Overview
The Galatians had likely endured hardship for the faith, and Paul warns that turning to a false gospel would empty those experiences of value. His words carry a note of hope that their faith is not, in fact, in vain. The appeal urges them to hold fast to the grace by which they first believed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 2 Jn 1:8Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
- 1 Cor 15:2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
- Heb 10:32–39But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
- Ezek 18:24But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
- 2 Pet 2:20–22For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
- Heb 6:4–6For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
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 3:4 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.