Galatians 3:8-9

The ‘*Scripture’ refers to the part of the Bible that we call the *Old Testament. In Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18, you can read what God promised to Abraham. Abraham lived about 2000 years before Jesus was born. So, a long time ago, God decided what he would do in the future. And he kept his promise when Jesus came to this world. To ‘bless’ means to be kind to people. And it means to do good things for them. God did not bless just Abraham’s family. God did not bless just the *Jews. God promised to bless people in every nation. This means that *Gentiles did not need to become *Jews. God blesses the *Gentiles when they behave like Abraham. They simply need to trust God.

People must trust God in order to have a right relationship with him

v10 People try to please God. They obey what the *Jewish laws say. They think that God will accept them because of this. But they will receive God’s judgement. ‘God is angry with everyone who does not obey all the laws.’ You can read this in the *Scriptures. v11 The *Scripture says that people must trust God in order to have a right relationship with him. Clearly, God does not put people in a right relationship with himself as they obey the *Jewish laws. v12 The laws do not depend on how much a person trusts God. A person who completely obeys all the laws will live by the laws. v13 Christ freed us from God’s judgement on the laws. Christ received God’s judgement instead. The *Scriptures say that God’s judgement will be on anyone who dies on a tree. v14 Christ did this because of the good things that God promised to Abraham. Those good things came to the *Gentiles by means of Jesus Christ. God promised to send the Holy Spirit. And as we trust Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit.