In these two verses, Paul expands the contrast between faith and law. His argument is as follows: since he who is put right with God through faith shall live, and since the Law demands “doing” rather than “faith,” therefore it is very clear that no man is put right with God by means of the Law.
It is clear is literally “it is evident.” The Greek construction suggests the introduction of additional argument for Paul’s position as expressed in verse 10 (Phillips “it is made still plainer”; New American Bible “it should be obvious”; Twentieth Century “again, it is evident”). This may be rendered in some languages as “anyone can see,” or “surely one can realize.”
Put right with God is literally “justified.” Here, as in other letters of Paul, this expression has as its main component God’s activity in putting man into a right relationship with himself. The passive expression no one is put right with God may be changed into an active form by saying “God puts no one right with himself.” It must be made clear that the reflexive “himself” refers to God, not to the person.
By means of the Law is an expression of means, but in a number of languages the Law itself cannot be the means of performing this kind of activity. It may be necessary to expand this phrase into a clause of cause and to introduce the verb “obey,” since it is really not the Law itself but obedience to the Law which is the means Paul is speaking about. Accordingly, one may say, “No one is put right with God because he does what the Law requires.”
The scripture says is not in the Greek text, but since the quotation that follows is from scripture, Good News Translation marks it accordingly (compare New English Bible “we read,” Jerusalem Bible “we are told”). There are two ways of rendering the quotation: either “the just shall live by faith” (TEV margin, New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Phillips), or “the just through faith shall live” (Good News Translation text, New English Bible, Revised Standard Version). The quotation is from Habakkuk 2.4 (quoted by Paul also in Rom 1.17).
The person who is put right with God translates a noun (literally, “the righteous one”). Some translations take this in an ethical sense (New American Bible “the just man”; various versions “the righteous man”), while others, including Good News Translation, interpret it in the sense of the Greek verb “justify,” and therefore understand Paul to be referring to a man who has been put right with God, rather than to a morally upright person.
In the same way that by means of the Law must often be expanded to mean “because one obeys the laws,” it may also be necessary to amplify the phrase through faith as “because one trusts in God.”
The phrase shall live should not be rendered in such a way as to mean mere continued existence. It is important to employ a verb here which will suggest a higher quality of life. In some languages this may be equivalent to “shall really live.”
But expresses the contrast between the Law and faith. Has nothing to do with faith is literally “is not of faith.” Accordingly, there are various ways of rendering it. Some translations take it as saying that one does not need faith in order to follow the Law or that the law does not depend on faith (compare New American Bible; also Revised Standard Version “the law does not rest on faith”; Moffatt “the law is not based on faith”). Other translations interpret it as referring to the definite distinction between the Law and faith, their complete dissimilarity and lack of relation to each other, as does Good News Translation (also Phillips “the law is not a matter of faith,” New English Bible “now law is not at all a matter of having faith”).
The statement But the Law has nothing to do with faith is very succinct, for the Law in this context refers not primarily to regulations as such but to a person’s obedience to the Law. Similarly, faith is not to be understood as an abstract term, but must be related to one’s actual trust and confidence in God. This sentence, therefore, may be rendered as “But when a person obeys the Law, that is not at all the same as when one trusts God.” One may even say, in some instances, “But obeying the Law is not related to trusting God.”
As the scripture says is once again added to signal to the reader that what follows is a quotation from the Old Testament. It is from Leviticus 18.5 (quoted by Paul also in Rom 10.5) and is taken to be antithetical to the quotation from Habakkuk 2.4. The two quotations spell out the two ways of obtaining life, one by faith and the other by doing. The former is primarily an attitude of trust and confidence in God; the latter is not concerned with attitudes, but simply with performance or the lack of it.
Does everything the Law requires is literally “does them.” It is clear that “them” refers not to the Law in general (Law in the first part of the verse is singular), but to the requirements of the Law (Jerusalem Bible “the man who practises these precepts”; Knox “the man who carries out the commandments”). Everything the Law requires may be rendered as “everything the laws talk about,” or “everything the laws say that a person must do.”
The final phrase in the Greek text of this verse, namely, “by them,” is in a sense a duplication of the thought of the clause whoever does … requires.
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 .