The whole point of this verse is that being put right with God, even for Jews, is not by doing what the Law requires, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul starts his argument by a general statement (a person), continues with a reference to Jewish Christians alone (we, too), and ends with another general statement encompassing both Jews and Gentiles (no one).
Put right with God is literally “justified.” For Paul, “to justify” (and the nominal form “righteousness”) when applied to God, refers to an activity of God in which he rights a wrong or vindicates, the goal of such “righting” being man. “Righteousness” is therefore better translated “God’s act of putting man right with himself” (that is, with God) or “God’s activity in restoring man to a right relationship with him.” Rather than the passive expression a person is put right with God, it may be necessary in some languages to use an active form, for example, “God puts a man right.” However, the man is put right with God, not merely put right with himself as a person. Therefore it is essential that the person with whom a man is put right is clearly identified as being God. In some languages this concept of being put right with God is expressed idiomatically as “God leads a man back to himself,” or even “God ties a man to himself,” as an expression of the renewal of a proper relationship.
Faith in Jesus Christ includes not only believing the message about Jesus Christ, but also trust in and commitment of oneself to him. Only through faith in Jesus Christ expresses the means by which a man is put right with God. But since faith must often be expressed as a verb meaning “to trust,” it may be necessary to express this means in some languages as cause, for example, “only because a man trusts in Jesus Christ,” or “… puts his confidence in Jesus Christ.”
Doing what the Law requires is literally “works of law,” and Paul means by it the obeying of certain rules and regulations in the Law in order to win God’s approval. The Law here probably refers to the Jewish Law, the Torah, although it can also be understood as referring to any law (New American Bible “legal observance”), especially if a person is interpreted as referring to any person, rather than to Jewish Christians alone.
It is possible to interpret the Greek to mean that obeying the Law is not enough to put man in a right relationship with God, and that therefore it needs to be accompanied or supplemented by faith, but that is not what Paul means. What he does mean is that “faith in Jesus Christ” and “works of law” are two different ways: the first one is valid, and the second one is not. It is only by faith that one is put right with God, not by anything else. Good News Translation makes this clear: never by doing what the Law requires (compare New English Bible “no man is ever justified by doing what the law demands, but only through faith in Christ Jesus”). In some languages one may render this clause as “he never gets in a right relation with God by doing what the Law says he must do.” There is, however, a very serious complication involved at this point in the translation of Law. In some languages it is simply impossible to use a singular form even with some graphic symbolization such as the use of capital letters to indicate the Law of Moses. Since the Law of the Old Testament actually consisted of many different regulations, one can only refer to the Law as “laws.” However, Paul is obviously not referring here to the laws of any society but only to the laws handed down through Moses. Since the Law is often referred to in the New Testament as “the Law of Moses” or “the Law given through Moses,” it may be appropriate in this instance also to speak of “the laws which came by means of Moses,” or “… through Moses.” Some translators prefer to use an expression such as “the laws of the old covenant,” “… the old agreement,” or “… the former agreement.”
We, too, is emphatic in the Greek, the idea behind it being that “although we are Jews, yet we also have believed.” For translating we, refer to previous discussion at the beginning of this section. In at least one translation, the exclusive form is used (Jerusalem Bible “We had to become believers in Christ Jesus no less than you had”). In some languages it may be useful to introduce this sentence as “Even we have believed in Christ Jesus.”
For no one is put right with God by doing what the Law requires seems to be a quotation from Psalm 143.2, following the Septuagint. That is, the Septuagint reads “each one who lives” whereas Paul has “all flesh.” Also, the Old Testament verse does not have the phrase “works of Law” but instead has “before you.” No one is literally “no flesh,” with “flesh” equivalent to “human being.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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