Bible / Galatians
Galatians 3
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation
1 O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth: before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you? CCC
2 This only would I learn of you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish that, whereas you began in the Spirit, you would now be made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so great things in vain? If it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore who giveth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you: doth he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of the faith? Fathers
6 As it is written: Abraham believed God: and it was reputed to him unto justice. Fathers
7 Know ye, therefore, that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God justifieth the Gentiles by faith, told unto Abraham before: In thee shall all nations be blessed. CCC
9 Therefore, they that are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: Cursed is every one that abideth, not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. CCC
11 But that in the law no man is justified with God, it is manifest: because the just man liveth by faith.
12 But the law is not of faith: but he that doth those things shall live in them.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (for it is written: Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree). CCC · Fathers
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus: that we may receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. CCC
15 Brethren (I speak after the manner of man), yet a man’s testament, if it be confirmed, no man despiseth nor addeth to it.
16 To Abraham were the promises made and to his seed. He saith not: And to his seeds as of many. But as of one: And to thy seed, which is Christ. CCC · Fathers
17 Now this I say: that the testament which was confirmed by God, the law which was made after four hundred and thirty years doth not disannul, to make the promise of no effect.
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise.
19 Why then was the law? It was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom he made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Fathers
20 Now a mediator is not of one: but God is one.
21 Was the law then against the promises of God: God forbid! For if there had been a law given which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe.
23 But before the faith came, we were kept under the law shut up, unto that faith which was to be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our pedagogue in Christ: that we might be justified by faith. CCC · Fathers
25 But after the faith is come, we are no longer under a pedagogue.
26 For you are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. CCC
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. CCC
29 And if you be Christ’s, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.
Read the Catechism
- CCC 476 “Since the Word became flesh in assuming a true humanity, Christ's body was finite. Therefore the human face of Jesus can be…”
Read the Fathers
“So then they which be of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Fathers
“So then they which are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 59 “In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his father's house, and makes him…”
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 580 “The perfect fulfilment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in…”
“… by the brazen serpent, and yet He is blameless; even so, though a curse lies in the law against persons who are crucified, yet no curse lies on the Christ of God, by whom all that have committed things worthy of a curse are saved.”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter XCIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“… ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." And again: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 706 “Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit.…”
“Now He does not say, And of seeds, as if [He spake] of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Fathers
“It was added, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter VII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“This is the seed of which the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians, "that the law of works was established until the seed should come to whom the promise was made.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 582 “Going even further, Jesus perfects the dietary law, so important in Jewish daily life, by revealing its pedagogical meaning through a divine…”
- CCC 708 “This divine pedagogy appears especially in the gift of the Law. God gave the letter of the Law as a "pedagogue" to…”
- CCC 1963 “According to Christian tradition, the Law is holy, spiritual, and good, yet still imperfect. Like a tutor 15 it shows what must…”
“… we ourselves have heard [Him], and know that this man is truly the Saviour of the world." And Paul likewise declares, "And so all Israel shall be saved;" but he has also said, that the law was our pedagogue [to bring us] to Christ Jesus.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter II. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 791 “The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ's Body there is…”
- CCC 1227 “According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him, and rises with…”
- CCC 1243 “The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has "put on Christ," has risen with Christ. the candle, lit from the Easter…”
- CCC 1425 “YOU were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 791 “The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ's Body there is…”
A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.