If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
Parallel Translations
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If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
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Yf ye be Christes then are ye Abrahams seed and heyres by promes.
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And if ye be Christes, then are ye Abrahams seede, and heires by promise.
Cross-references (22)
Passages linked to Galatians 3:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ephesians 3:6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News,
- Romans 9:7-8 Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs.
- Galatians 3:7 Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham.
- Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
- Romans 4:16-21 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were. Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.” Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
- Galatians 4:22-31 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman. However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate have more children than her who has a husband.” Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. However what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.
- Galatians 4:7 So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
- Titus 3:7 that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
- Romans 4:12-14 He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision. For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
- James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
- Revelation 21:7 He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
- 1 Corinthians 3:22-23 whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
- 1 Corinthians 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.
- 2 Corinthians 10:7 Do you look at things only as they appear in front of your face? If anyone trusts in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that even as he is Christ’s, so we also are Christ’s.
- Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ.
- Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
- Hebrews 6:17 In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath,
- Genesis 21:10-12 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.” The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac.
- Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- Hebrews 1:14 Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
- Hebrews 11:7 By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
- Hebrews 11:18 to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,”
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Martin Luther 1535 · Public Domain VERSE 29. And if ye be Christ’s, then are…
VERSE 29. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
"If ye be Christ’s" means, if you believe in Christ. If you believe in Christ, then are you the children of Abraham indeed. Through our faith in Christ Abraham gains paternity over us and over the nations of the earth according to the promise: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Through faith we belong to Christ and Christ to us.
Martin Luther — Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), English translation by Theodore Graebner (Zondervan, 1939) — public domain (U.S. copyright not renewed). Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 29. Then are ye Abraham’s seed. This is not…
29. Then are ye Abraham’s seed. This is not intended to convey the idea, that to be a child of Abraham is better than to be a member of Christ, — but to repress the pride of the Jews, who gloried in their privilege, as if they alone were the people of God. They reckoned no distinction higher than to belong to the race of Abraham; and this very distinction he makes to be common to all who believe in Christ. The conclusion rests on this argument, that Christ is the blessed seed, in whom, as we have said, all the children of Abraham are united. He proves this by the universal offer of the inheritance to them all, from which it follows, that the promise includes them among the children. It deserves notice, that, wherever faith is mentioned, it is always his relation to the promise.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye…
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Ver. 29. Heirs according] Heirs are kept short in their under age, and sometimes forced to borrow of servants; but when once at years, they have all. So shall the saints in heaven, though here hard put to it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Lest these Galatians should be discouraged, because the promise…
Lest these Galatians should be discouraged, because the promise was made to Abraham and his seed, and they were not the seed of Abraham; he tells them, if they were Christ’s, that is, if they truly believed in him, and were implanted into him, that then they were the seed of Abraham, that seed to which the promise was made; and though not heirs of Abraham according to the flesh, yet heirs according to the promise: see Rom 9:7,8.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain That is, "If ye be Christ’s servants and subjects,…
That is, "If ye be Christ’s servants and subjects, then are ye the true seed of faithful Abraham, and heirs of the blessing, according to the promise made to him and to his seed." This our apostle asserts, in opposition to the false apostles, who maintained, that there could be none tryly reputed Abraham’s seed, except they were circumcised, and subjected themselves to the law of Moses: "Yes, says the apostle, if ye be Christ’s, and by baptism ingrafted into him, you are the true children of Abraham, though ye be not circumcised; yea, you are heirs apparent of the heavenly inheritance given unto Abraham by promise."
Learn hence, that all sincere and serious Christians are Abraham’s spiritual seed, children of his faith, though not of his flesh; and being the children of his faith, are heirs together with him of the same promises. If ye be Christ’s, that is, sincere and serious Christians, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For if ye be Christ's,.... Or seeing ye are…
For if ye be Christ's,.... Or seeing ye are his, not by creation only, but by the Father's gift to him, by the purchase of his own blood, by the power of his grace, making them willing to give up themselves to him; not only his by profession, saying they are the Lord's, calling themselves by his name; but by possession, Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith, and they having his Spirit as a spirit of regeneration and adoption:
then are ye Abraham's seed; not his natural but his spiritual seed, the seed that should come, and to whom the promises were made, Gal 3:16 and so were upon an equal foot even with the Jews that believed:
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and heirs according to the promise; being the children of God, they are heirs of God; and being the spiritual children of Abraham, the children of the promise, which are counted for the seed, they are, according to the promise made to Abraham and his spiritual seed, heirs of the blessings of the grace of life, and of the eternal inheritance; of the blessing of justification of life, and of everlasting salvation; of this world and of the world to come; of all the spiritual blessings of the covenant of grace, and of the incorruptible and undefiled inheritance of the saints in light; to which they are begotten through the abundant mercy of God, for which they are made meet by the grace of Christ; and to which they have a right by his justifying righteousness.
Next: Galatians Chapter 4
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain If ye are Christ's - That is, believers in…
If ye are Christ's - That is, believers in him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 29. And if ye be Christ's] Or, as…
Verse 29. And if ye be Christ's] Or, as several good MSS. read, If ye be one in Christ. If ye have all received justification through his blood, and the mind that was in him, then are ye Abraham's seed; ye are that real, spiritual posterity of Abraham, that other seed, to whom the promises were made; and then heirs, according to that promise, being fitted for the rest that remains for the people of God, that heavenly inheritance which was typified by the earthly Canaan, even to the Jews.
1. THE Galatians, it appears, had begun well, and for a time run well, but they permitted Satan to hinder, and they stopped short of the prize. Let us beware of those teachers who would draw us away from trusting in Christ crucified. By listening to such the Galatians lost their religion.
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2. The temptation that leads us astray may be as sudden as it is successful. We may lose in one moment the fruit of a whole life! How frequently is this the case, and how few lay it to heart! A man may fall by the means of his understanding, as well as by means of his passions.
3. How strange is it that there should be found any backslider! that one who once felt the power of Christ should ever turn aside! But it is still stranger that any one who has felt it, and given in his life and conversation full proof that he has felt it, should not only let it slip, but at last deny that he ever had it, and even ridicule a work of grace in the heart! Such instances have appeared among men.
4. The Jewish covenant, the sign of which was circumcision, is annulled, though the people with whom it was made are still preserved, and they preserve the rite or sign. Why then should the covenant be annulled? This question admits a twofold answer.
1. This covenant was designed to last only for a time, and when that time came, having waxed old, it vanished away.
2. It was long before that void, through want of the performance of the conditions.
The covenant did not state merely, ye shall be circumcised, and observe all the rites and ceremonies of the law; but, ye shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbour as yourself. This condition, which was the very soul of the covenant, was universally broken by that people. Need they wonder, therefore, that God has cast then off? Jesus alone can restore them, and him they continue to reject. To us the new covenant says the same things: Ye shall love the Lord, c. if we do not so, we also shall be cut off. Take heed, lest he who did not spare the natural branches, spare not thee; therefore, make a profitable use of the goodness and severity of God.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And if ye be Christ’s - If you belong…
And if ye be Christ’s - If you belong to the Messiah, and are interested in his work.
Then are ye Abraham’s seed - The promise made to Abraham related to the Messiah. It was a promise that in him all should be blessed. Abraham believed in that Messiah, and was distinguished for his faith in him who was to come. If they believed in Christ, therefore, they showed that they were the spiritual descendants of Abraham. No matter whether they were Jews or Gentiles; whether they had been circumcised or not, they had the same spirit which he evinced, and were interested in the promises made to him.
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And heirs according to the promise - See Rom 8:17. Are heirs of God. You inherit the blessings promised to Abraham, and partake of the felicity to which he looked forward. You have become truly heirs of God, and this is in accordance with the promise made to Abraham. It is not by the obedience of the Law; it is by faith - in the same way that Abraham possessed the blessing; an arrangement before the giving of the Law, and therefore one that may include all, whether Jews or Gentiles. All are on a level; and all are alike the children of God, and in the same manner, and on the same terms that Abraham was.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain and heirs--The oldest manuscripts omit "and." Christ is "Abraham's…
and heirs--The oldest manuscripts omit "and." Christ is "Abraham's seed" (Gal 3:16): ye are "one in Christ" (Gal 3:28), and one with Christ, as having "put on Christ" (Gal 3:27); therefore YE are "Abraham's seed," which is tantamount to saying (whence the "and" is omitted), ye are "heirs according to the promise" (not "by the law," Gal 3:18); for it was to Abraham's seed that the inheritance was promised (Gal 3:16). Thus he arrives at the same truth which he set out with (Gal 3:7). But one new "seed" of a righteous succession could be found. One single faultless grain of human nature was found by God Himself, the source of a new and imperishable seed: "the seed" (Psa 22:30) who receive from Him a new nature and name (Gen 3:15; Isa 53:10-11; Joh 12:24). In Him the lineal descent from David becomes extinct. He died without posterity. But He lives and shall reign on David's throne. No one has a legal claim to sit upon it but Himself, He being the only living direct representative (Eze 21:27). His spiritual seed derive their birth from the travail of His soul, being born again of His word, which is the incorruptible seed (Joh 1:12; Rom 9:8; Pe1 1:23).
Next: Galatians Chapter 4
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 29. Abraham’s seed… the promise—The promise in the Abrahamic…
29. Abraham’s seed… the promise—The promise in the Abrahamic covenant. See notes on Gal_3:16-18.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 29. If ye be Christ’s] If ye are by…
29. If ye be Christ’s] If ye are by faith incorporated into Christ, the promised Seed, then by virtue of that living union ye are yourselves Abraham’s seed. The paraphrase of Theod. Mops. is remarkable: ‘If ye are Christ’s by reason of regeneration in Baptism, typifying your future likeness to Him, and if Christ is Abraham’s seed, it follows of necessity that you also, being His body, are the seed of the same ancestor as He is, and consequently heirs too of the promise’.
Christ’s] Our Lord Himself used this expression (Mar_9:41) to describe His disciples. The blessed privilege may be abused, and vaunted in a spirit of sectarian rivalry (1Co_1:12); but to ‘belong to Christ’ is the high dignity and the eternal security of every believer (1Co_3:23). The Apostle has established the assertion of Gal_3:7 that believers are the true children of Abraham and heirs of the promise. ‘Union with Christ constitutes the true spiritual descent from Abraham, and secures the inheritance of all the Messianic blessings by promise, as against inheritance by law’. Dr Schaff.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (29) Conclusion of the whole argument. The followers of…
(29) Conclusion of the whole argument. The followers of the Messiah are the true seed of Abraham. The kingdom of the Messiah, which they possess, is the promised inheritance.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And if ye be Christ"s (eij de uJmeiv Cristou);…
And if ye be Christ"s (eij de uJmeiv Cristou); and if ye are Christ"s. The de simply marks a fresh stage in the argument, as e.g. Rom_8:17, eij dekna kaimoi. For the preceding verse is no digression, requiring us to render this de "but," but simply an amplification of the notion of putting on Christ in ver. 27; and the present clause recites that previous conclusion, to serve for a premiss to a further conclusion. "Are Christ"s;" comp. 1Co_3:23, "And ye are Christ"s, and Christ is God"s." This genitive here, as also there, denotes the closest and most intimate approximation conceivable, "Christ"s own;" covering, in fact, the notion of being clothed with Christ; and expresses what that "one and the same man" is, which according to ver. 28 in Christ Jesus all had become. Comp. ra Tit_2:14, laosion, "a people of his very own." Then are ye Abraham"s seed (a tou jAbraarma ejste); then seed of Abraham are ye. "Ye," Gentiles though ye be. In ver. 7 the apostle has affirmed that they who are of faith are sons of Abraham; in ver. 16, that the promises were made to Abraham and "his seed, which is Christ." We have seen that in that ver. 16 "Christ" appears to mean that branch of Abraham"s offspring which was, so to speak, to proceed from Christ and was to be called by his name. If, however, "Christ" be there taken to mean the individual Son of Abraham, Jesus, then those who believe in him and have been baptized into him are to be understood as here affirmed to be "Abraham"s seed," because, being clothed with Christ. they share his position. The same result is arrived at either way. And heirs according to the promise kai which word is rejected by recent editors kat ejpaggelian klhronomoi; heirs in pursuance of a promise. "Heirs," not of Abraham, but of God; for the notion connects itself with that of the sonship to God, which has been predicated in ver. 26 of believers in Christ; and these two united conceptions form the topic of the first seven verses of the next chapter. This is in accordance with Rom_8:16, Rom_8:17, "We are children of God; and if children, also heirs; heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ." It goes upon the same lines of thought as the statement made above in ver. 16, that the promises were spoken, not to Abraham only, but also to his seed as well; the seed being conceived of by the apostle, not as inheriting from Abraham, but as holding an independent position of their own at his side. The benefits accruing to them have been styled "the inheritance" in ver. 18, which verse also serves to illustrate the spirit of the clause now before us, by affirming that the inheritance was a free gift of God conveyed by a promise, and not one to be either gained or made sure by obedience to a ceremonial law as the Galatians were in danger of supposing. The article is wanting before "promise" here, as it was also in ver. 18; because the apostle is not thinking immediately of the terms of the promise, but rather of its distinctive character as a promise, betokening a free gift of God. The inheritance is no doubt the adoption of sons, both in its firstfruits in this life and in its complete manifestation hereafter in the bliss and glory of heaven (Rom_8:23, Rom_8:30; 1Pe_1:4)
The heirs.
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if ye be Christ"s, then are ye Abraham"s seed, and heirs according to the promise." Mark how the apostle moves from point to point.
I BELIEVERS ARE CHRIST"S POSSESSION. They are so:
1. By gift. "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me". (Joh_17:6)
2. By purchase. "Ye are bought with a price". (1Co_6:20)
3. By conquest. "The people shall be willing in the day of thy power". (Psa_110:3)
4. By their own self-surrender. They are "a living sacrifice." They have"committed themselves to him". (2Ti_1:12)
II CHRIST"S PEOPLE ARE ABRAHAM"S SEED. Christ himself is Abraham"s Seed (ver. 16), and therefore they, as one with him in the mystical union, are Abraham"s seed.
III THE HEIRSHIP OF PROMISE. They became heirs, not by any legal observances, but according to the promise made to Abraham.
1. The inheritance is the only one worth having.
2. It is the only one that can be kept for ever.
3. It is, unlike earthly riches or honours, within everybody"s reach.
4. It is the duty of heirs to live according to their prospects, to walk worthyof a Father"s house, and to behave like a brother to brethren.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Gal_3:25; Gal_3:29
Gal_3:25; Gal_3:29
For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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Liberty, equality, and fraternity
Liberty, equality, and fraternity, is the three-fold watchword of the masses in modern society. These words are written up in large characters on public buildings, and even on some of the churches, in France; and the ideas represented by them are held and aimed after by vast numbers in nearly every European country. What is meant by them?
(a) By Liberty is meant perfect freedom for the people to govern themselves, This is attainable, and, so far as political government is concerned, it has been attained by France, Great Britain, and other countries.
(b) By Equality is meant the abolition o! rank and title, whether hereditary or otherwise; to many it means socialism or communism--the abolition of personal property--the State becoming the sole proprietor and apportioner of the means of subsistence.
(c) By Fraternity is meant the realization of the feeling of true brotherhood as between man and man. Such are the ideas represented by the liberty, equality, and fraternity sought after by the world--a mixture of truth and error. True liberty, equality, and fraternity are only to be attained through the gospel being accepted and acted on throughout the world. This alone will stop the seethings of dissatisfaction, the upheavals of discontent, and the outbreaks of revolutionary passion.
I. True liberty is that which is enjoyed by the children of God.
1. Freedom from the condemnation of the law.
2. Freedom from the power of evil.
II. Equality in Jesus Christ. Not an equality subverting natural relations; these remain, but with a new spirit of light and love, constituting essential equality under circumstantial inequalities, so far as these are not inlaid in the very constitution of man as a social being.
1. In Christ there is no national inequality.
2. In Christ there is complete equality between master and servant.
3. Equality as between man and woman.
III. True fraternity. This is unattainable by political methods. It never yet has been, and never will be, reached by these means. Neither ancient nor modern republics have been able to secure true brotherhood among the members of the State, e.g., Athenian democracy, French and American Republics. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can make us true brothers, as descended from the same parent, heirs of the same inheritance, and hence possessed of a spirit of true fraternal affection towards each other. Not necessarily do Christians always agree in their opinion on indifferent points; nor do they see fundamental questions always from the same standpoint--one seeing the matter according to his own God-given mental peculiarities, another according to his, and so on; but, amid all differences of opinion, they are one in true brotherly affection, sympathy, and aim. This is the real tendency and intention and aim of Christianity, however far we may at present fall short of it. What we can now see only in part, will one day be perfected, for our citizenship, our commonwealth, is in heaven. (W. Spensley.)
True believers the children of God
I. Consider the sonship of believers under the gospel.
1. In common with the other intelligent creatures of God (Act_17:29).
2. By external profession (Hos_11:1; Mat_2:15).
3. Their sonship consists chiefly in their regeneration and adoption.
4. This sonship is not a mere title or mark of distinction, but has privileges the most excellent annexed to it. There is no condemnation to them. They are His temples. Led by His spirit. Abiding in their Fathers house, heart, love. They have a title to incorruption and immortality (Rom_8:23). They are born to a great inheritance (Rom_8:17; Psa_16:5).
5. This sonship is equally the privilege of every believer in Christ. They may be distinguished from each other, as to external circumstances in life, spiritual gifts and graces, etc., but their filial relation is the same.
6. It is a privilege of which they are conscious, and hence they enjoy the comfort of it (Gal_4:6).
II. How it is that they attain to this privilege and dignity. The text says, by faith in Christ Jesus. To illustrate this, it may be proper to recollect--
1. That in the state of primitive innocence, Adam was truly the son of God: he resembled God (Gen_1:27). This resemblance was effaced by sin; his former relation of sonship to God then ceased, and he was turned out of Gods family and garden as a rebel, while he and his numerous progeny became children of disobedience and wrath.
2. It is by faith, or a supernatural revelation only, that we are informed how this high prerogative may be regained. This surpasses the capacity of the wisest philosopher, and even of angels. It is brought to light by the gospel (Gal_4:4-5).
3. We become the children of God, when we cordially believe in Christ: we are thereby brought into union with Christ and into a relation of sonship with the Father (Joh_1:12). Concluding exhortation:
1. Be astonished, ye heavenly principalities and powers, to see such base-born slaves and rebellious creatures taken into the family of God. Unmeasurable love! Infinite honour!
2. Forget not the love, duty, submission, and service, resulting from this relation.
3. How insipid, alas I are such themes as this to the generality even of gospel hearers. Show them how to acquire a fortune, etc., and they will be all attention; but publish the riches of Gods gracious adoption, they relish it not. Blinded sinner, what a fatal choice! Naught can avail thee in the long run, but this. Claim thy adoption, and live as a child of God. (Theological Sketch Book.)
All children of God by faith in Christ Jesus
I. A wonderful and an inexplicable privilege. What an honour (Pro_17:6)! What an advantage (Rom_8:17)! In this name we have--
1. A spiritual right to all the creatures of God (1Co_3:21-23).
2. An interest in God Himself (Isa_49:15-16; 1Jn_4:16).
3. The service and guardianship of angels (Psa_91:11; Mat_18:10; Heb_1:14).
4. A certain and infallible claim to eternal glory (Col_1:12; Mat_25:34).
II. The means of the enjoyment of this privilege.
1. This privilege is not natural to man. By nature we are
(1) children of this world (Luk_16:8); or worse,
(2) a seed of falsehood (Isa_57:4); or yet worse,
(3) children of unrighteousness and darkness (1Th_5:5); or yet worse,
(4) sons of wilful disobedience (Eph_2:3); or worst of all,
(5) children of wrath (Eph_2:2).
2. This enjoyment may be obtained by
(1) Adoption (Eph_1:5);
(2) Regeneration; not of water only, so we are all sacramentally regenerated; but of the Holy Ghost (Joh_1:12-13; Joh_3:5).
3. Union with Christ (2Co_5:17; 1Co_4:15; Jam_1:18).
4. By means of faith as saith the text.
III. How shall we know that we enjoy this privilege. Every child of God is--
1. Like his Father (1Pe_1:15-16);
(1) He is merciful; are we cruel?
(2) He is righteous; are we unjust?
(3) He is slow to anger; are we furious?
(4) He is abhorrent of evil; do we take pleasure in wickedness?
2. Bears a filial answering to a paternal love.
3. Reverences his Father (Mal_1:6).
4. Is obedient to his Father.
5. But beyond this there is the witness and guidance of the Holy Spirit of our Father. (Bishop Hall.)
The means of Christian sonship
A man has faith in God as the Creator of the universe, as the Father of man, as the moral Ruler of the world; but that is not what is meant by the faith that admits into the saved family. A man may assure himself that he has scientific ground for his faith in theism, but that is a long way from the faith that saves the soul. To put faith in manhood, or kinghood, or pope, or progress, or church, or creed, as the object of faith is simply to divert the mind from that which saves. Faith in the beautiful, the good, the nobler aspects of the race, in the poetry and yearnings of the higher humanitarianism, are interesting things to talk about; but to put them forth as the dark passages through which men are to find their way into the family, is to shut the door of hope in the face of the great sinning, sorrowing, race. Not without meaning is Fichtes despair of raising men into the blessed life since they are so far beneath the reach of his philosophy. But Paul here opens the door of hope, and shows how any man may become a new child of God. (Mitchell.)
The vastness of the Christian family
No man ever wrought to make the world better that was not my brother. No man ever laboured to exemplify the coming manhood, that was not kindred to me. Whatever nation he belonged to he belonged to my nation. Whatever language he spoke, he spoke my language. Whatever sphere he wrought in was my sphere. Whether he was crowned or uncrowned, he was of my lineage. I own him; and if he is saved he owns me. And all over the world, there are no spirits bearing and enduring with fortitude and cheerfulness in obscurity that are not my unknown relations. My Father has an enormous family, for my Father is God. My eldest brother is named Jesus Christ, and the relationships which spring out of this Fatherhood and this Brotherhood--how many they are! Wherever men are denying themselves for rectitude, and enduring for that which is just and true, and living courageously for the right, and exemplifying purity and sweetness, and diffusing happiness-these are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and our brethren. (H. W. Beecher.)
Safety by trusting Christ
A man was fleeing from some men who desired to rob and kill him. He came to a wide gulf, over which there was only a slender plank for a bridge. It looked too weak to bear him, so that there seemed only a choice of the kind of death open to him. What was he to do? Death behind! Death in front by a fearful fall! While his mind was wavering as to his right course, he saw a strong, heavy man on the opposite side, who shouted. Come over, man! I crossed the plank safely; I am heavier than you are. When it has borne me it will bear you: Similarly, Christ is our plank of safety across the gulf of damnation. He has borne my sins, therefore He can and will bear yours.
Jesus the only Saviour
A person asked me the other day whether I had seen a book entitled, Sixteen Saviours. I answered, No, I have not, and I do not want to know of sixteen saviours, I am satisfied with one. If all who dwell in heaven and earth could be made into saviours, and the whole were put together, you might blow them away as a child blows away thistle-down, but there is this one Saviour, the Son of Man, and yet the mighty God, and He cannot be moved. Joy then, my brethren, and rejoice in your blessed Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gal_3:29
And if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed, and heirs according to the premise.
Abrahams spiritual seed
If the life we have in the flesh were all we had to provide for, they might be accounted the happiest of mankind who possess in the greatest abundance the means of sustaining it in health and comfort who can--as one of whom Jesus speaks in parable, proposed to do--take their ease, eat, drink, and be merry, because they have much goods laid up for many years. Who then is to be regarded as truly favoured and blest among the children of men? There is a class, few of whom may have been born to opulence in this world, or have any prospect of ever becoming rich in the goods of time; a class whose peculiar possessions may be little coveted or admired by those around them; for the world knoweth them not. Yet with them, if we were true for ourselves, we would desire to have our lot assigned; for they alone have an inheritance that can supply the wants of the immortal spirit, and endure while its being lasts. They are the persons spoken of in our text. Those who are Christs, and therefore Abrahams seed, and heirs according to the promise. To be Christs is to belong to Him, as those who have given themselves to Him, come under His government and guidance, placed themselves at His disposal, and whom He hath taken for His own, redeeming them from all iniquity, purifying them to Himself. But there is more than this. They are in Him, and He is in them, by a spiritual and vital union formed between them; so they may be regarded as members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. He that is thus joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Now, if ye be Christs in this sense, then are ye Abrahams seed. They have an inheritance. All the promises of God, the promises of the covenant made with Abraham, are in Christ yea, and in Him amen; and they who are Christs must therefore have an interest in them all.
1. Their inheritance is one which is freely given them of God, or gratuitously bestowed. This may be said of all the gifts of God to His creatures. For who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? Angels do not possess their thrones of light as the merited reward of service rendered to the Great Supreme. Man in innocence, though he held that fair paradise in which he dwelt, and all its happy fruits, by the tenure of his obedience, could not have been said to have won for himself, as due for that obedience, even had he continued in it, that which was justly forfeited by transgression. It is still more manifest in regard to those of his fallen race, who are constituted heirs according to the promise of an eternal inheritance, that the change effected in their state and prospects must be wholly of grace.
2. It is an inheritance which is spiritual in its character. It includes in it, indeed, the means of temporal subsistence; the things needful for the body. But these, only in as far as they may be subservient to spiritual and eternal interests. The good promised, however, does not lie altogether without themselves, in the abundance of the things they shall possess in the land of their habitation. It is rather an exaltation and enlargement of their own being. The Spirit of promise is the earnest of the inheritance now; and there is nothing of an earthly or carnal nature in what He imparts as a pledge and foretaste of its delights. Wisdom, and purity, and love, are His fruits.
3. That it is yet future and unseen. They who are heirs according to the promise have the inheritance in prospect, not in full possession. They hope for what they see not. They are under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the Father for their entering on the enjoyment of that for which His discipline is preparing them.
4. It will be satisfying and eternal. How striking in these respects is the difference between it and every earthly inheritance! The inheritance of those who are heirs according to the promise is incorruptible, and undefiled, and fadeth not away. The gold and the silver which are so much coveted here are reckoned by the apostle among corruptible things, but this inheritance cannot be marred or vitiated; neither moth nor rust will ever tarnish its beauty or embitter its sweetness; nothing shall enter into that world, that better and heavenly country where it lies, that defileth, or that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. Holiness and happiness shall there be felt to be but different names for the same thing, or shall be found in indissoluble and blissful union.
5. It is infallibly secured to those who are heirs according to the promise. He is faithful who hath promised it. He who cannot lie, the apostle tells us, promised it before the world began. We trust you have been already examining yourselves.
Yet we may offer a few suggestions further on a subject which at no season can be without its interest to those who would know whether they be in the faith.
1. We may say that they who are heirs according to the promise may be distinguished by the foundation on which they rest their hope of the inheritance. This is not any worth or goodness of their own, not any compensation they have to make for past offences, by contrition for sin and amendment of life, not any gifts or offerings they have to present to God in order to conciliate His favour. It is the promise itself which secures the inheritance to all who are persuaded of it and embrace it. But the promise is in Christ Jesus.
2. They may be distinguished by their regards to the inheritance itself. The character of that inheritance is spiritual, but we are by nature carnal, sold under sin. We have no delight in holy exercises; no desire to know, and see, and dwell with God. A great change must take place in our dispositions before we can derive any satisfaction from the society of saints in light, from fellowship with Jesus, the Holy One of God, from the felt presence of the Father of our spirits. He can no otherwise bless us but by turning us away from our iniquities.
3. They who are heirs according to the promise may be distinguished by the influence which the hope of the inheritance has on their tempers and conduct. (J. Henderson, D. D.)
Christian privileges
I. To be Christs, i.e., to belong to Him as members of His body.
1. The means. Faith makes us one with Christ.
2. The immediate benefits--
(1) love;
(2) care;
(3) protection (Eph_5:29-30).
II. In Christ to be Abrahams seed.
1. The Jews and all legalists have despised their birthright and broken away from Abraham.
2. Christ is the true seed of Abraham (Gal_3:16), and those who are one with Christ by faith become the same through Him. Note
(1) the antiquity;
(2) the nobility of the Christians ancestry.
III. As Abrahams seed, to be heirs of Abrahams promise.
1. Of the Spirit (Gal_3:14), which is the earnest of the inheritance.
2. The full enjoyment of the inheritance in heaven. The Use: Believers should
(1) Be content with any earthly estate. In this regard Abraham was content to forsake his country (Heb_11:8-9).
(2) Be moderate in their earthly cares, and not live as drudges in the world.
(3) Have a care for heaven in comparison with which the things of this world are trifles. This did Abraham (Heb_11:15-16). (W. Perkins.)
Believers heirs of God
When the Danish missionaries stationed at Malabar set some of their converts to translate a Catechism, in which it was asserted that believers became the sons of God, one of the translators was so startled that he suddenly laid down his pen, and exclaimed, It is too much: let me rather render it, They shall be permitted to kiss His feet!
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 29. If ye be Christ's. As Christ is the…
29. If ye be Christ's. As Christ is the seed of Abraham, all in Christ become the spiritual seed of Abraham, and hence heirs of the promise to Abraham's seed.
Note. —In the study of this Letter, it is well to keep in mind that the term faith is used by Paul often in a sense that means more than the act of belief. When it is put in contrast with the law, it is used in the sense of The Faith, that is, The Gospel. It comprehends what is believed, believing, and the results of believing. The fact that the apostles so often places the definite article before the word faith, so that in the Greek he speaks of The Faith, leaves no doubt of his meaning. It is unfortunate that the translators have obscured the meaning by omitting the article. Thus in this chapter the Greek gives the definite article before the word (the faith) five times where it is omitted in the Common Version. The examples are verse 14, verse 23 (twice), verses 25 and 26.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's…
And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise . [The promise was given to Christ, the seed of Abraham, and if ye are Christ's, then are ye in him heirs of that promise. Thus Paul demonstrates that the gospel privileges are not obtained by the law, but by the gospel system of justification through faith, which gospel system was promised equally to all nations, and may be enjoyed by them all without any racial or less distinctions.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:29 Because Christ is the ideal descendant of Abraham…
3:29 Because Christ is the ideal descendant of Abraham (3:16), it follows that those who are one with Christ (3:27-28) are children of Abraham and heirs of all that was promised to him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.