Study Desk

All they knew was that people were saying, "The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!"

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law."

But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not!

In the same way, "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith."

The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.

What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, "All nations will be blessed through you."

So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."

This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life."

Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.

Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.

And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.

For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.