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.
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?
- 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?
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 just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
- Acts 14:9–10He was listening to Paul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole,
- Acts 19:11–12God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul,
- Acts 14:3Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
- 2 Cor 13:3seeing that you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me; who toward you is not weak, but is powerful in you.
- 1 Cor 1:4–5I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
- 2 Cor 12:12Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you in all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty works.
- Rom 15:19in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of Christ;
- 2 Cor 10:4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,
- 2 Cor 3:8won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
- 1 Cor 12:10and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.
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.