What does Galatians 3:8 mean?

Paul is writing to non-Jewish Christians in Galatia. He is warning them not to believe the false teaching of a group known as the Judaizers. These men are telling people that Christianity only starts by believing in Jesus, and that belief must be followed by being circumcised in order to truly be included in God's family, the Jews, the sons of Abraham (Galatians 2:4).

Paul has answered by declaring that the opposite is true. Abraham was "counted as righteous" by believing the Lord (Galatians 3:6). Therefore, Paul said, everyone who believes the Lord is a child of Abraham and included in God's family. Put in theological terms, justification—being declared right before God—comes by faith in Christ, period. It is not, in any sense or form, something earned or produced by following the law of Moses.

How can Paul say such a thing? What about all the requirements of the law in the Old Testament? Paul reminds his readers of one of the first things God said to Abraham, that through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Paul is clear: This was God's plan all along. The Scriptures were always pointing to the day when all people, not just the Israelites who followed the law, would be included in the family of God by faith, as Abraham was. The law was never meant to be the solution to our sin—Christ was.