3. You began your life in Christ with the Spirit. Now do you try to complete it by your own power? That is foolish.
4. You have experienced many things. Were all those experiences wasted? I hope they were not wasted!
5. Does God give you the Spirit because you follow the law? Does God work miracles among you because you follow the law? No, God gives you his Spirit and works miracles among you because you heard the message about Jesus and believed it.
6. The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham. “Abraham believed God, and because of this faith he was accepted as one who is right with God.”
7. So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith.
8. The Scriptures told what would happen in the future. These writings said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. God told this Good News to Abraham before it happened. God said to Abraham, “I will use you to bless all the people on earth.”
9. Abraham believed this, and because he believed, he was blessed. All people who believe are blessed the same as Abraham was.
26-27. You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
28. Now, in Christ, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or free, male or female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.
29. You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham’s descendants. You get all of God’s blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.