Galatians 3:17

Plain English Version

It’s like this. At first God and Abraham agreed together, and God promised something to Abraham. Then the law came 430 years later. But that law can’t stop what God promised in his agreement with Abraham.

Cross References

Genesis 15:13

God said to Abram, “I want you to know for sure what will happen after you get really old. You don’t have to worry about anything. You see, you will live to be a very old man, and then, when you are dying, you will feel good inside, and your family will bury you right here, in this country. But I have to tell you something. After you die, your family will leave this country and move to another country that belongs to other people. Your family will live in that country, and later on, the other people in that country will make your family like prisoners, and your family will have to work very hard for them. Those people will do really bad things to your family for 400 years. After that, I will save your family from that hard time, and I will punish those people for doing bad things to your family. Then your family will leave that country, and they will take a lot of animals and things with them. They will be really rich.

Genesis 15:18

That’s how God showed Abram that he was really going to do everything that he promised. God said, “I am going to give all this country to the people that will be born into your family. From the river in Egypt in the south, right up to the big river called Euphrates in the north. These are the tribes in this country now, – the Ken tribe, – the Keniz tribe, – the Kadmon tribe, – the Heth tribe, – the Periz tribe, – the Refa tribe, – the Amor tribe, – the Canaan tribe, – the Girgash tribe, – the Jebus tribe. I will take this country away from all those tribes, and I will give it to your family.” God promised that to Abram.

Genesis 17:19

God said, “No, not Ishmael. Listen, your wife Sarah will have a baby boy. He will be your son, and you will call him Isaac.” (That name Isaac means laugh.) And God said, “He will be the son I’m talking about. I will keep this agreement going with him. It will be the same for him, and for all the people that will be born into his family later on. This agreement will go on for ever.

John 1:17

You know, God gave Moses the law a long time ago, so that our people could live God’s way, but Jesus Christ gave us God’s true message. He showed us that God loves us, even though we did nothing good for him.

Acts 7:6

But God told him, ‘You will have grand-kids, and more grand-kids after them. Your family will go to a country that belongs to other people, to live there. Those people will treat your family really bad and make them work hard for no pay. They will do that for 400 years.

Romans 3:25

God sent Jesus to die for us, so that, if we believe that Jesus died for us, God isn’t angry with us any more. Jesus let people kill him, and his blood came out, so now, if we trust him, God says we are all right. That shows that God was right and fair in the past, at those times when he didn’t punish people for the bad things they did.

1 Corinthians 1:12

They reckon some of you say, “Paul is our leader,” and others say, “That other man, Apollos, he is our leader,” and others say, “No, not them. Our leader is Peter,” and others say, “Jesus Christ is our leader.”

1 Corinthians 1:17

You see, Jesus Christ didn’t send me to baptise people. He sent me to tell the good news to people, that Jesus died for them. That message is powerful. God didn’t send me to say smart words to people. That sort of talk is useless. People might just think about my smart words, and not listen to God, and so they will not hear God’s powerful good news.

1 Corinthians 10:19

You see, this is what I’m saying. Those statues that people think are gods, they are really nothing. And if people give food to those statues, that food doesn’t get any power at all.

1 Corinthians 7:29

My Christian friends, listen to what I’m saying. There is not much time left before Jesus will come back, and he will change this world. So don’t just think about the things of this world. That is the reason why I’m telling you married men that after Jesus comes back, it will not matter if people are married or single. And I’m telling you people that are sad, don’t worry, the trouble that makes you sad will go away when Jesus comes back. And I’m telling you people that are happy, the things that make you happy will go away when Jesus comes back. And I’m telling you people that buy things for yourselves, you will not own those things after Jesus comes back. You see, we do those things in this world now, but soon, when Jesus comes back, all those things will finish up. So don’t just live for those things now.

Galatians 3:15

My Christian friends, you already know what 2 people do when they agree about something, so I will use that as a picture. They write it on paper, and both of them sign it, that makes those words very strong. Nobody can say, “Forget it.” Nobody can change it at all.

Galatians 3:21

But somebody might say, “God did something wrong. He gave a law that goes against what he promised.” That’s not right. No way. You see, if a law can give us real life, God would give us that law, and we would follow it and become good people. But no law can do that.

Galatians 5:16

So this is what I’m telling you, let God’s spirit control your lives, and you will not do any of those bad things that make you feel good.

Galatians 5:4

And if you are following the Jewish law to get God to say that you are all right, that shows that you turned away from Jesus Christ, and that you forgot that he is the one that gets God to be good to you.

Ephesians 4:17

I’m telling you this message that our leader, Jesus, wants me to tell you, so you have to take notice of it. Don’t live any more like the people that don’t know God. They can’t think straight.

Colossians 2:4

I’m telling you these things so that you will not listen to people that teach lies. They might talk in a way that sounds good, but they are liars.

1 Peter 1:20

A long time ago, before God made the world, he picked Jesus to set you free. Then, later, Jesus came into the world. And now you know about him. You know that he died for you, and so you believe in God too. After Jesus died, God made him alive again, and God made him very great and gave him a lot of power. Now you can trust God and wait for everything he promised you.