Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Galatians · About this commentary
The Righteous Will Live by Faith
Galatians 3:10-12
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” · WEB
Three Scriptures are set side by side, and the middle one is the sentence the whole argument rests on.
The argument turns to the other side of the ledger, and it is built from three quotations rather than from reasoning.
The first states the terms of law-keeping in the law's own words: cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the book of the law, to do them Deuteronomy 27:26. The operative word is all. A system of justification by law-keeping is only as secure as its weakest observance, and the curse attaches not to failure at some threshold but to any discontinuance.
So verse 10's conclusion follows without malice: those of the works of the law are under a curse — not because the law curses good people, but because that route offers no margin.
The second quotation is the one the whole letter stands on: the righteous will live by faith Habakkuk 2:4. The Hebrew word behind it carries steadiness and reliance together, which is why the passage reads naturally in both directions — the righteous man's life is sustained by trust rather than by tally.
The third completes the contrast by quoting the law's own operating principle: the man who does them will live by them Leviticus 18:5. Paul is not accusing the law of misrepresenting itself. He is observing that it says do, and the promise says believe, and the two are different instruments.
The law is not of faith is therefore a statement about categories, not a criticism. What the law offers, it offers on the terms it names.
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