English Standard Version
Galatians 3:20
20Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
Galatians 3:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
- New International Version (NIV)A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.
Context of Galatians 3:20
18For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. 19Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21Is 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. 22But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Read all of Galatians 3Galatians 3:20 word by word
ὁ δὲ μεσίτης ἑνὸς οὐκ ἔστιν, ὁ δὲ θεὸς εἷς ἐστιν.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Galatians 3:20
- Job 9:33There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.
- Acts 12:20Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.
- 1 Timothy 2:5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
- Galatians 3:17This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
- Genesis 15:18On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
- Genesis 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
- Deuteronomy 6:4"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
- Romans 3:29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
Commentaries on Galatians 3:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20A mediator is not a mediator of one - As a mediator, , signifies a middle person, there must necessarily be two parties, between whom he stands, and acts in reference to both, as he is supposed to have the interests of both equally at heart. This verse is allowed to be both obscure and difficult; and it is certain that there is little consent among learned men and critics in their opinions concerning it. Rosenmuller thinks that the opinion of Nosselt is…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20Now a mediator is not a mediator of one - This verse has given great perplexity to commentators. “There is, unquestionably,” says Bloomfield, “no passage in the New Testament that has so much, and to so little purpose, exercised the learning and ingenuity of commentators as the present, which seems to defy all attempts to elicit any satisfactory sense, except by methods so violent as to be almost the same thing as writing the passage afresh.” In regard…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. 20The law of Moses was given through angels and a mediator (Moses). The law required agreement between God and the people. The law was conditional, with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. In contrast, God gave his promise directly to Abraham without a mediator. It was God's promise alone, and God did not require anything in return. but God is one: Paul used the basic Jewish creed (see Deuteronomy 6:4) to persuade non-Jewish Christians not…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. "Now a mediator cannot be of one (but must be of two parties whom he mediates between); but God is one" (not two: owing to His essential unity not admitting of an intervening party between Him and those to be blessed; but as the One Sovereign, His own representative, giving the blessing directly by promise to Abraham, and, in its fulfilment, to Christ, "the Seed," without new condition, and without a mediator such as the law had). The conclusion…Read the comment
Topics related to Galatians 3:20
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
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Commentaries