Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand the law? ¹ 

But I say, live ¹  by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. ² 

As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell! ¹ 

Brothers and sisters, ¹  I offer an example from everyday life: ²  When a covenant ³  has been ratified, ⁴  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.

Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ¹  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ²  of everything.

Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all!

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. ¹  Scripture ²  does not say, “and to the descendants,” ³  referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” ⁴  referring to one, who is Christ.

What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, ¹  so as to invalidate the promise.

But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son” ¹  of the free woman.