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?
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?
- BSB Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?
- 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 3:2This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
- Acts 14:9–10The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
- Acts 19:11–12And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
- Acts 14:3Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
- 2 Cor 13:3Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.
- 1 Cor 1:4–5I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
- 2 Cor 12:12Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
- Rom 15:19Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
- 2 Cor 10:4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
- 2 Cor 3:8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
- 1 Cor 12:10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to 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.