A Bible Study in EasyEnglish (1200 word vocabulary) on Paul’s letter to the Galatians
Keith Simons
This commentary has received Advanced Theological Checking, by an independent Theological Checker. Our EasyEnglish lexicon, grammar, and checking facilities are kindly provided by Wycliffe Associates (UK).
A word list at the end explains words with a *star by them.
Last part: Paul explains about Abraham
Galatians 3:10-14
Blessing for people who believe
God does good things for the people who believe him. We call those good things ‘blessings’. Because Abraham believed, people from every country can receive God’s blessing (Galatians 3:8).
A curse for people who do not obey God’s rules
The opposite of a blessing is a curse. ‘Curses’ mean bad things. Bad things happen if anyone does not obey God’s rules completely. Deuteronomy 27:26 says that.
People cannot make themselves *righteous
The Christians in Galatia thought that they could make themselves *righteous. They were trying to obey the rules that God had made. But they could not do it. Nobody could obey all God’s rules (Romans 3:23). So there was a curse against them. They wanted a blessing, but they got a curse. They needed God’s promises, but they chose his rules.
They should have learned the lesson in Habakkuk 2:4. God makes *righteous the people who believe. God’s rules were not for people who believe. Instead, they were rules that people had to obey.
Christ accepted the curse
So the rules brought a curse when people did not obey them. But Christ accepted that curse. That happened when he died on their behalf. He had the curse so that they have the blessing. So God does the things that he promised to Abraham. God gives his blessing to people who belong to all the countries. And he gives his *Holy Spirit to them because they believe.
Next part: God’s promises to Abraham
© 2010, Keith Simons.