American Standard Version
Galatians 3:21
21Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law.
Galatians 3:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
- New International Version (NIV)Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
Context of Galatians 3:21
19What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law. 22But the scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Read all of Galatians 3Galatians 3:21 word by word
Ὁ οὖν νόμος κατὰ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τοῦ θεοῦ; μὴ γένοιτο. εἰ γὰρ ἐδόθη νόμος ὁ δυνάμενος ζῳοποιῆσαι, ὄντως ἐκ νόμου ἂν ἦν ἡ δικαιοσύνη·Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Galatians 3:21
- Matthew 5:17Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.
- Romans 3:31Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law.
- Romans 7:7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet:
- Galatians 2:17But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a minister of sin? God forbid.
- Romans 3:4God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.
- Galatians 2:19For I through the law died unto the law, that I might live unto God.
- Romans 3:20because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.
- Romans 3:21But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
- Romans 9:31but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
- Romans 10:3For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
- Philippians 3:6as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
- Hebrews 11:7By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Commentaries on Galatians 3:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21Is the law then against the promises of God? - Is it possible that the intervention of the law, in reference to one part of the Abrahamic seed, should annul the promise made to the other? It is impossible. For if there had been a law, etc. - If any law or rule of life could have been found out that would have given life - saved sinners from death, and made them truly happy, then righteousness- justification, should have been by that law.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Is the law then against the promises of God? - Is the Law of Moses to be regarded as opposed to the promises made to Abraham? Does this follow from any view which can be taken of the subject? The object of the apostle in asking this question is, evidently, to take an opportunity to deny in the most positive manner that there can be any such clashing or contradiction. He shows, therefore, what was the design of the Law, and declares that the object was to…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 19-22Verses 19-22 If that promise was enough for salvation, wherefore then serveth the law? The Israelites, though chosen to be God's peculiar people, were sinners as well as others. The law was not intended to discover a way of justification, different from that made known by the promise, but to lead men to see their need of the promise, by showing the sinfulness of sin, and to point to Christ, through whom alone they could be pardoned and justified. The…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21There is no conflict of purpose between law and promise or between law and faith. The law works with the promise to help people believe in Jesus. The purpose of the law is to show that people are trapped by their sins (3:19, 22). It is also meant to help people not sin (3:23–25). In Galatia, the Judaizers tried to convince non-Jewish Christians that the law could do something it was never meant to do. The law was never meant to give new life and make…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. "Is the law (which involves a mediator) against the promises of God (which are without a mediator, and rest on God alone and immediately)? God forbid." life--The law, as an externally prescribed rule, can never internally impart spiritual life to men naturally dead in sin, and change the disposition. If the law had been a law capable of giving life, "verily (in very reality, and not in the mere fancy of legalists) righteousness would have been by the…Read the comment
Topics related to Galatians 3:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Galatians 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries