Study Desk

They had only heard it said, "This man who was attacking us is now preaching the same faith that he once tried to destroy."

Yet we know that a person is made right with God not by following the law, but by trusting in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be made right with God because we trusted in Christ. It is not because we followed the law, because no one can be made right with God by following the law.

I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.

The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham: "Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham's faith, and that faith made him right with God."

So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith.

The Scriptures, telling what would happen in the future, said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. This Good News was told to Abraham beforehand, as the Scripture says: "All nations will be blessed through you."

Now it is clear that no one can be made right with God by the law, because the Scriptures say, "Those who are right with God will live by faith."

The law is not based on faith. It says, "A person who obeys these things will live because of them."

Instead, the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ.

Before this faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming.

In other words, the law was our guardian leading us to Christ so that we could be made right with God through faith.

Now the way of faith has come, and we no longer live under a guardian.

You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This means that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

When we are in Christ Jesus, it is not important if we are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.