Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?
Parallel translations
- WEB He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you, and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
- KJV He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
- NKJV Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
- NASB So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
- NLT I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
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
God supplies the Spirit and works miracles among them by hearing with faith, not by works of the law. Ongoing grace, like initial grace, comes through faith.
Overview
Paul repeats his argument from experience, now in the present tense: God continues to give the Spirit and do mighty works among them through faith. This shows that the Christian's whole relationship with God, beginning to end, rests on faith. The law has no part in supplying the Spirit's power.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Gal 3:2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?
- Acts 14:9–10This man was listening to the words of Paul, who looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed.
- Acts 19:11–12God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul,
- Acts 14:3So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who affirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.
- 2 Cor 13:3since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.
- 1 Cor 1:4–5I always thank my God for you because of the grace He has given you in Christ Jesus.
- 2 Cor 12:12The true marks of an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles—were performed among you with great perseverance.
- Rom 15:19by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
- 2 Cor 10:4The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
- 2 Cor 3:8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
- 1 Cor 12:10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
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 3:5 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.