Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 3:29
And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And if ye be Christs – If you belong to the Messiah, and are interested in his work.
Then are ye Abrahams 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.
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 3:25; Gal 3:29
For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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!
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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.
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 Christs, 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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. and heirsThe oldestmanuscripts omit “and.” Christ is “Abraham’s seed”(Ga 3:16): ye are “one inChrist” (Ga 3:28), and onewith Christ, as having “put on Christ” (Ga3:27); therefore YEare “Abraham’s seed,” which is tantamount to saying (whencethe “and” is omitted), ye are “heirs according to thepromise” (not “by the law,” Ga3:18); for it was to Abraham’s seed that the inheritance waspromised (Ga 3:16). Thus hearrives at the same truth which he set out with (Ga3:7). But one new “seed” of a righteous successioncould be found. One single faultless grain of human nature was foundby God Himself, the source of a new and imperishable seed: “theseed” (Ps 22:30) whoreceive from Him a new nature and name (Gen 3:15;Isa 53:10; Isa 53:11;Joh 12:24). In Him the linealdescent from David becomes extinct. He died without posterity. But Helives and shall reign on David’s throne. No one has a legal claim tosit upon it but Himself, He being the only living directrepresentative (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;1Pe 1:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Ga 3:16 and so were upon an equal foot even with the Jews that believed:
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
If ye are Christ’s ( ). This is the test, not the accident of blood, pride of race or nation, habiliments or environment of dress or family, whether man or woman. Thus one comes to belong to the seed of Abraham and to be an heir according to promise.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1 ) “And if ye be Christ’s,” (ei de humeis Christou) “But if ye are (exist) of Christ, are Christ’s, ” not belonging to or having allegiance to the Law of Moses. If you all of the Galatian churches, or followers of them, are first, children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus and Second, baptized into Christ, with reference to service in His church, Mat 28:18-20; Eph 3:21.
2) “Then are ye Abraham’s seed,” (ara tou Abraam sperma este) “Then you all are (exist as) a seed of Abraham,” in the sense of believers in the Messiah, children of God, as he became while a heathen himself, when God preached the Gospel to him and he believed, Gal 3:8-9; Rom 4:3; Rom 4:5.
3) “And heirs according to the promise,” (kat’ epangellian kleronomoi) “and (you all are) heirs (have an heir-setting) according to promise;” Those who are Christ’s in the highest sense are not only those who are saved, at which point they become His children, born into the family of God, (Eph 2:10; 2Co 5:17; 1Jn 5:1), but let it be considered also that heirship (Gk. kleronomoi) an heir-setting to rule and reign with Christ in the Golden Millennial age of one thousand years seems to be extended not to all the redeemed in this age, any more than in the Abrahamic and law age, but more restrictedly to those who follow the Lord in baptism “put on Christ” in allegiance of service thru His church.
Reigning with Christ and over others seems to be dependent, conditioned, or contingent upon at least, church identity and service to Him thru the church in this age; He promised the twelve apostles of His church that they would occupy thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel in that day, and that others of His (His church) might rule, some over 5, 10, cities etc., based on fidelity to Him, Luk 22:30; Mat 19:28; Luk 19:12-19; Mar 13:34-35; To the Corinth brethren Paul wrote “the world shall be judged by you all,” 1Co 6:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Abraham’s seed the promise The promise in the Abrahamic covenant. See notes on Gal 3:16-18.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.’
The idea of being ‘clothed with Christ’ and indwelt by Christ is now connected back with the promise given to Abraham (Gal 3:7-8; Gal 3:16) and connected forward with the reception of the promised Holy Spirit (Gal 4:6-7). Once a person is ‘in Christ’, and Christ is in him, he is a child of Abraham and inherits the promise of blessing. He becomes the heir of Abraham’s blessing. Christians become ‘the seed of Abraham’ towards whom all the promises were made. They become the true Israel.
And it is Christians and they alone who do so. The corollary is that those who are not in Christ are not children of Abraham. Thus do we see the significance of the single seed (Gal 3:16). In the final analysis the seed of Abraham comprises Christ and all those redeemed in Christ, whether of the Old Testament faithful or of the New. The church is the new Israel, the ‘Israel of God’ (Gal 6:16; Rom 2:28-29; Rom 11:17; Eph 2:19-20), replacing the old who had disqualified themselves by refusing to enter into the blessing (although they are still welcome if they will return through Christ).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gal 3:29. And if ye be Christ’s, &c. That is, if ye are united by faith to Him, who is the promised Seed, then are ye the true seed of Abraham, and, in consequence of this, heirs according to the promise.
Inferences.With what gratitude should we reflect that, through the amazing goodness of God, we share in the same great privilege with the Galatians, and have Jesus Christ crucified evidently set forth amongst us. Let us make the object familiar to our view, and to our hearts; and may we all feel its powerful influence, to engage us to obey the truth, and to comply with the practical design of the gospel, spite of all the fascinating enchantments of this vain and delusive world! May those especially who have begun in the Spirit, and perhaps have suffered many difficulties already in the cause of religion, be concerned that they may not suffer so many things in vain; and, after all their pretensions and hopes, make an end in the flesh, by forsaking that excellent cause!
That we may be deemed the children of Abraham, let us be careful to obtain and cultivate the same faith with him; that so, believing in God, as he did, and trusting in the glorious Messiah, we may attain that righteousness, which it is impossible to attain by the deeds of the law; that law which insists upon immaculate obedience, and passes sentence upon every one that has transgressed it. Nothing can be more important than to endeavour to impress our souls with this fundamental truth; “That if we are of the works of the law, and trust in these for justification, we are under a curse.” O that God may graciously thunder that curse into the ears of sleeping sinners, and make them sensible of their guilt and danger; that, as prisoners of justice, yet in some measure prisoners of hope, they may flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in the Gospel! Zec 9:12. Heb 6:18.
Nor need we go far for help: no sooner are we wounded, as it were, in one verse, than we find provision for our healing in another: for Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the lawand this in a method never sufficiently to be admired; even by making himself a ransom, yea, and becoming a curse for us; submitting, not only to great infamy and wretchedness in his life, but to an ignominious and accursed death, being slain and hanged on a tree, Act 5:30; Act 10:39.
To him let us apply, that the curse may be removed; and, with humble confidence in him, lift up our eyes in cheerful expectation; and, though by birth we are Gentiles, the blessing of Abraham will come upon us, and through faith we shall receive the promise of the Spirit. And what promise can be more valuable than this? what blessing more desirable, than to be enlightened, quickened, sanctified, and comforted by the Spirit of the living God? As the just, may we live by faith; and make it our daily request at the throne of grace, that God will implant and increase that divine principle in our hearts; even such a faith as shall work by love, and prove the genuine basis of sincere and universal obedience.
Rejoicing in these spiritual promises to which all true Christians are now equally intitled, and charging our souls with these obligations which necessarily attend them, let us look upon ourselves as the children of Abraham, as entitled to the noblest of those promises which God made to that excellent saint, even to that great and comprehensive promise, (which is all the salvation and all the desire, of every true child of Abraham,) namely, that God will be a God unto us, Gen 17:7-8. Let us approve ourselves his genuine offspring, by imitating his faith; and always bear in mind, that, having been baptized into Christ, we have so put on Christ, as to be obliged to resemble him in his temper and character.
If we desire to share the blessings and glories of that one body, whereof Christ is the great and glorious head, let us not lay a disproportionate stress upon any thing, by which one Christian may be distinguished from another; but endeavour, as one in Christ Jesus, to be one in affection and friendship to each other: and let those who seem to have the greatest advantages, condescend to those who seem most their inferiors.
Giving up all expectations of life from the law, since that of Moses could not give it, let us look for glory, honour, and immortality by the gospel; truly thankful for the knowledge we have of the Mediator of a better covenant than that in which Moses was appointed to mediate. And, as the law was given, not to disannul the covenant of promise, but with a view to be subservient to it, and to point out Christ, let us apply to Him for righteousness and life; and in Himas that one Seed of Abraham, in whom all the families and nations of believers were to be blessed,let us centre our hopes, and be very solicitous that, by faith, we may be united to him, and so have a claim under him to all the privileges of the promise.
Thus let us continue to make use of the law, not as the foundation of our hope towards God, but as our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, by the discovery it has given of our need of him: and being sensible that it has shut up all under sin, from which we cannot be delivered but by the faith which the gospel has revealed, may we be led so to seek the benefit of the promise, that, being sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, we may be joyful inheritors of eternal life and blessedness.
REFLECTIONS.1st. With warm expostulation, and sharp rebuke, the Apostle upbraids the stupidity and folly of these Galatians, who had departed so grievously from the simplicity of the gospel. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, what emissary of Satan, by his craft, has perverted your souls, that ye should not obey the truth, but depart from the grand principles of the gospel, renouncing the doctrine of free justification through the Redeemer’s blood? Several things served to aggravate their folly:
1. The clear display of the truth which had been made to themBefore whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, and his death and sufferings, with all the effects and designs of them, represented in such a lively manner, as if he had been crucified among you.
2. What they had received, under the ministration of the gospel. This only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit, his gifts and graces, by the works of the law, by the ministration of it, or obedience to it, or by the hearing of faith, the preaching of justification through the free grace of a Redeemer? They must own that it was through the latter: and therefore most inexcusable was their folly to quit that gospel, the blessed and most happy effects of which they had experienced.
3. Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? and, forsaking your dependence on the grace of the gospel, do you expect to reach perfection by your obedience to the law of Moses? Are ye so foolish as to have recourse to the ministration of death, in order to obtain righteousness unto life?
4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain, for the cause of Christ and the profession of the gospel? How absurd were it to expose yourselves thus, if it be yet in vain, and after all you should apostatize, and lose the blessings of your profession and sufferings? You must then of all men be most foolish and most miserable.
5. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doth he it by the works of the law, as the way of justification, or by the hearing of faith, in the ministry of the gospel? If these miracles, as was evident, were wrought in confirmation of the doctrines of grace, how preposterously absurd were they to quit the truth confirmed by such divine and incontestable evidence!
2nd, The Apostle, having sharply rebuked the folly of the Galatians in departing from the truth, proceeds to confirm the great doctrine of justification by faith alone, from which they had been seduced. And he proves it,
1. By the example of Abraham. He believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness: the Lord Messiah, on whom his faith rested, became the meritorious cause of his acceptance before God. Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, and place their whole dependence for acceptance with God on the same object, they are the spiritual children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, when neither circumcision was yet instituted, nor the law given, saying, In thee, that is, in thy Seed, the Messiah, shall all nations be blessed, accepted of God in him, and admitted to the participation of all the privileges of God’s peculiar people. So then it is hence evident, that they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, without the least respect to the law of Moses.
2. It is impossible for any man to be justified before God any other way than by faith. For as many as are of the works of the law, and seek justification on the footing of personal righteousness, are, and must be under the curse denounced on every transgressor: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them; the least failure in thought, word, or deed, but once, even in the longest life, effectually cuts off the sinner from all hope by the law, and leaves him under the wrath of an offended God. Therefore Christ, viewing our desperate guilt and hopeless misery, hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, by the price of his own blood, being made a curse for us, by divine constitution appointed to be our surety, and bearing, in his own body on the cross, the punishment due to our iniquities: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. And to this most painful, shameful, and accursed death he submitted, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we, whether Jews or Gentiles, being taken into a state of acceptance with God, might receive the promise of the Spirit, in all his plenitude of gifts, graces, and consolations, through faith in the Redeemer; and not on account of any works of our own, or legal services. Note; (1.) Every man, being unable to yield immaculate obedience to the law, is consequently a transgressor, and sealed up, by nature, under wrath. (2.) Despair is written on every effort of the fallen sinner, made in his own natural strength, to escape from the condemnation under which he lies. (3.) The gospel brings relief to the desperate, by revealing to us a divine Substitute, all-sufficient to bear our sins, and to restore us to the enjoyment of God’s forfeited favour. (4.) By persevering faith alone we embrace, and actually possess, all the blessings obtained for us in and by the great Redeemer.
3. The scriptures of the Old Testament are express to the point. But that no man is justified by the works of the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for the just shall live by faith; he only who by faith has laid hold of the great Atonement, can live in a state of favour with God. And the law is not of faith: but the way it prescribes for justification is directly opposite, even by immaculate personal obedience; the man that doeth them, and keeps, in spirit and practice, universally and abidingly, all the commands enjoined, shall live in them; but every defect, flaw, or failure, brings down death as the wages of sin. So that the saints of old were justified in the same way as we are, and the gospel was preached to them even as unto us.
4. The stability of the covenant made with Abraham could not be vacated by the law. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, and use a familiar instance to elucidate the point in hand: though it be but a man’s covenant, yet, if it be confirmed, and duly signed and sealed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto, except the parties interested, by mutual consent. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, of justification, adoption, grace, and glory. He saith not to seeds, as of many, as if the promises referred to all his natural, as well as spiritual children, but as of one, in the singular number; and to thy Seed, which is Christ, through whose merit alone we can be justified, and by whose Spirit alone we can be sanctified. And this I say, as evident, that the covenant which was confirmed before, to Abraham, of God in Christ, or with respect to Christ, who was the Mediator and Surety of the covenant, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect, and introduce another way of justification before God, different from, yea, contrary to, that which God had before established with Abraham. For if the inheritance be of the law, and the title to acceptance with God be obtained by immaculate obedience, it is no more of promise: but God gave it graciously to Abraham by promise, which no subsequent dispensation could set aside; for God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent; and therefore the promise of justification and adoption is in Christ, promised only to those who truly believe in him.
3rdly, As to the objections which he knew the Jewish zealots would raise, as if he derogated from the honour of the law, and rendered it useless, he states and answers them.
1. They might say, Wherefore then serveth the law, if no creature can be justified or saved by it. I reply, It was added because of transgressions, in subservience to the design of the covenant of grace; in order to restrain, by its penalty, and to convince, discover, and condemn the transgressors, shewing them the necessity of a Divine Atonement, till the Seed should come, to whom the promise was made, and who should be the end of the law for righteousness, to every believer; and it was ordained by angels, delivered by their ministry, in the hand of a mediator, even Moses, who was typical of the great Mediator, Jesus Christ. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but stands between the two parties; but God is one; and as the Gentiles were not represented at all at mount Sinai, nor regarded as one of the parties in that covenant, which was a transaction merely between God and Abraham’s natural seed, this cannot exclude them from the benefit of the antecedent promise which God made to Abraham and his spiritual seed.
2. Some may hence argue, Is the law then against the promises of God, made to Abraham and his seed? are they at variance with each other? God forbid: there is the most perfect harmony between them. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law; and could man have yielded, in his own person, an immaculate obedience to the law, his title to life would have been clear, and the promised Substitute had been unnecessary: but the scripture hath concluded all under sin, hath shut up every man, as in a dungeon, under the guilt and condemnation of sin, all having come short of the glory of God; that the promise, by faith, of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe, and that pardon and salvation might come to such, as the free gift of God in him. But before faith came, (before Christ, the great object of faith, appeared incarnate, and his gospel was more clearly manifested) we, who were under the Mosaic dispensation, were kept under the law, as in a castle, separate from other nations, and as captives under a yoke of bondage, shut up in close custody unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed, and till Christ, opening to us a door of hope, should bring us from this state of servitude into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, and served most directly to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith: the moral precepts and sanction convinced us of our desperate case, as unable to answer the demands of the law, and obnoxious to the curse; the ceremonial institutions led us to look for the divine Substitute, in all the sacrifices which were enjoined for the expiation of sin; and both taught the necessity of justification by faith, through a divine and infinitely meritorious Atonement. But after that faith is come, and Christ, the sinner’s Substitute, hath appeared, and is held forth to us in the gospel, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, being delivered from our former state of minority and legal bondage. For now ye who believe, are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, arrived to maturity of age, and entitled to all the blessings of adoption which Jesus hath obtained for all that perseveringly believe in him. For as many of you, whether Jews or Gentiles, as have been baptized into Christ, by faith really united to him, and by baptism making open profession of him, have put on Christ: through him alone they are accepted, and by his Spirit are cloathed with the whole panoply of God. There is now neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, all distinctions of nation, sex, condition, are ceased: for ye, who believe, are all one in Christ Jesus, united to him in one body, and alike freely partakers of all the privileges contained in the gospel. And if ye be Christ’s, living members of his body mystical, then are ye Abraham’s Seed, in a spiritual sense, and heirs according to the promise, entitled to claim, under Christ, your great covenant head, all the blessings which he has purchased by his blood, which will, in due time, be bestowed on all his faithful saints.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gal 3:29 . But by your thus belonging to Christ ye are also Abraham’s posterity : for Christ is indeed the . (Gal 3:16 ), and, since ye have entered into the relation of Christ , ye must consequently have a share in the same state, and must likewise be Abraham’s ; with which in conformity to the promise is combined the result, that ye are heirs , that is, that ye, just like heirs who have come into the possession of the property belonging to them, have as your own the salvation of the Messianic kingdom promised to Abraham and his seed (the realization of which is impending).
] drawing a further inference, so that, after the explanation contained in Gal 3:28 , in point of fact resumes the of Gal 3:27 . The emphatic has as its background of contrast the natural descendants of Abraham , who as such do not belong to Christ and therefore are not Abraham’s .
.] correlative to , and emphatically prefixed. Ye are Abraham’s seed , because Christ is so (Gal 3:16 ), whose position has become yours (Gal 3:27 ). Comp. Theodoret and Theophylact.
.] for . , Gal 3:16 . It is true that this in Gal 3:16 is Christ : but Christians have put on Christ (Gal 3:27 ), and are altogether one in Christ (Gal 3:28 ); thus the . ( in conformity with promise ) finds its justification. But the emphasis is laid, not on . as contrasted with (Baumgarten-Crusius, Ewald, Wieseler), or with another order of heirs (Hofmann), or with natural inheritance (Reithmayr), but on , which forms the link of connection with the matter that follows in ch. 4, and both here and at Gal 4:7 constitutes the important key-stone of the argument. This is the triumph of the whole, accompanied with the seal of divine certainty by means of .; the two together forming the final death-blow to the Judaistic opponents, which comes in all the more forcibly without (see critical notes). The alleged contrast was obvious of itself long before in the words . (comp. Gal 3:18 ). The article was no more requisite than in Gal 3:18 .
] The connection with the sequel shows, that the sense of heir is intended here. . is not, however, to be again supplied to , as might be inferred from ; but, without supplying a genitive of the person inherited from, we have to think of the of the Messianic salvation . Comp. Rom 8:17 . Against the supplying of . we may decisively urge not only the sequel, in which nothing whatever is said of any inheriting from Abraham , but also . For if Paul had wished to express the idea that Christians as the children of Abraham were also the heirs of Abraham , the . would have been inappropriate; because the promise (Gal 3:16 ) had announced the heirship of the Messianic kingdom to Abraham and his seed, but had not announced this heirship in the first instance to Abraham, and then announced to his seed in their turn that they should be Abraham’s heirs.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
REFLECTIONS
Oh! the weakness of the Galatians, to be looking unto Christ only in part; and for a moment to fancy, that having began in the Spirit, they could be made perfect in the flesh. And is there no Church of Christ in the present hour, tainted with the same leaven? Nay, my soul! may’st thou not but too often detect thyself, in turning to somewhat of thine own, instead of living wholly upon Jesus. Oh! my foolish heart! what can prompt to the idea, or give the least encouragement, to look off from Christ, to look unto self, in any attainments. Lord Jesus! do thou help me to feel, my utter need of thee every moment, that to the last hour, I may come to Jesus, as I came the first hour; wholly wretched in myself, and altogether insolvent.
And, oh! the sweet thought to my soul: Under all the condemnation of the law, and the curses due to the breaches of it; Jesus is the Mediator, and the Fulfiller of the law, and the complete righteousness of his people. Be thou, my honored Lord, the glorious Head, and Husband, of thy whole family. Thou art indeed the all in all, to the whole seed of Abraham; for in thee shall all thy people, in all nations, be blessed.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
29 .] Christ is ‘ Abraham’s seed ’ ( Gal 3:16 ): ye are one in and with Christ, have put on Christ; therefore ye are Abraham’s seed; consequently heirs by promise; for to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. The stress is on , , and , especially on the latter, carrying the conclusion of the argument, as against inheritance by the law . See on this verse, the note on Gal 3:16 above. “The declaration of Gal 3:7 is now substantiated by 22 verses of the deepest, the most varied, and most comprehensive reasoning that exists in the whole compass of the great Apostle’s writings.” Ellicott.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 3:29 . . The emphatic insertion of before in preference to lays stress apparently on the wonderful transformation of men who had been aliens from the people of God into members of Christ.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
heirs. See Rom 4:13.
according to. Greek. kata, as verses: Gal 3:1, Gal 3:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
29.] Christ is Abrahams seed (Gal 3:16): ye are one in and with Christ, have put on Christ; therefore ye are Abrahams seed; consequently heirs by promise; for to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. The stress is on , , and , especially on the latter,-carrying the conclusion of the argument, as against inheritance by the law. See on this verse, the note on Gal 3:16 above. The declaration of Gal 3:7 is now substantiated by 22 verses of the deepest, the most varied, and most comprehensive reasoning that exists in the whole compass of the great Apostles writings. Ellicott.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 3:29. , therefore) Christ sanctifies the whole posterity of Abraham.-, the promise) given to Abraham.
—–
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 3:29
Gal 3:29
And if ye are Christs, then are ye Abrahams seed, heirs according to promise.-If they were in Christ, they were made so by faith, and by faith they were Abrahams children. [The final conclusion of this profound, comprehensive varied, and terse reasoning, in proof of the assertion in verse 7, that the believers are the true children of Abraham, and consequently heirs by promise. (We must keep in mind that Christ is expressly declared to be the seed of Abraham, verse 16). 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.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Christ’s: Gal 5:24, 1Co 3:23, 1Co 15:23, 2Co 10:7
Abraham’s: Gal 3:7, Gal 3:16, Gal 3:28, Gal 4:22-31, Gen 21:10-12, Rom 4:12, Rom 4:16-21, Rom 9:7, Rom 9:8, Heb 11:18
heirs: Gal 4:7, Gal 4:28, Rom 4:13, Rom 4:14, Rom 8:17, 1Co 3:22, Eph 3:6, Tit 3:7, Heb 1:14, Heb 6:17, Heb 11:7, Jam 2:5, Rev 21:7
Reciprocal: Gen 17:4 – a father Gen 17:21 – my Gen 22:18 – And in Gen 25:5 – General Deu 5:31 – General Psa 47:9 – the God Psa 115:12 – the house of Israel Isa 6:13 – so the holy Isa 27:6 – General Isa 37:31 – take Isa 49:18 – all these Isa 49:21 – seeing Isa 60:4 – they come Isa 64:8 – thou art Isa 65:23 – for Eze 47:22 – they shall have Zec 8:13 – ye shall Mat 8:11 – That Mar 9:41 – because Luk 1:33 – the Luk 3:8 – of these Luk 19:9 – forsomuch Joh 8:39 – If Act 3:25 – the covenant Rom 4:11 – father Rom 11:18 – thou bearest 1Co 10:1 – our Gal 3:9 – General Gal 3:14 – the blessing Gal 3:18 – if Gal 3:22 – that Gal 6:16 – the Israel Col 3:11 – but Heb 2:16 – the seed Heb 7:4 – Abraham 1Jo 3:1 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 3:29. , , -But if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise. is the preferable reading in the first clause; the other words, . . in D1, T, are a comment; and the of the last clause of the Text. Recept. is omitted on the authority of A, B, C, D, , 17, Vulgate, etc. The moment rests on -you the objects of my present appeal. If ye be Christ’s, then (the after being without good authority) Abraham’s seed are ye-the stress being on -the indubitable conclusion, for Christ is Abraham’s Seed, and you belonging to Him-one in Him-must be Abraham’s seed also. And if children, then heirs,-the emphasis is more on (Ewald, Wieseler, Hofmann) than on the concluding word (Meyer) absolute, or without any annexed genitive as , for they are heirs not of Abraham, but coheirs of the same inheritance with him. is agreeably to promise, the very point which the apostle has been labouring to substantiate, as against the claims made for the law by the disturbers of the churches,-the reference being to Gal 3:16. Heirs according to promise; for to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, and that promise, containing the inheritance, the law did not and could not set aside-all in illustration and proof of the starting premiss in Gal 3:7, They which be of faith, the same are the children of Abraham; and of the earlier declaration, that justification comes not from works of law, but through faith in the divine promise, as Abraham was justified by faith. But the Galatian legalists ignored these reasonings, and fell into the error of expecting justification from works; an error which, as the apostle has argued, involved the awful consequence of making Christ’s death superfluous, counterworked the example of Abraham the father of the faithful, and ignored the promise of inheritance made by God immediately to him-a promise still given to all those who believe, as the seed of Abraham. In a word, he has fully vindicated the sharp words with which the chapter opens, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? What folly was involved in their sudden and unaccountable apostasy! See a paper by Riggenbach on Righteousness by faith-Rechtfertigung durch den Glauben-in the Stud. u. Kritik. 1868.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 3:29. However, the aforesaid statement does not nullify the importance of Abraham, for he was promised a descendant who would be a blessing to all nations (whether Jew or Gentile), and such a blessing was to be acquired through faith in that descendant, who was Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 3:29. And if ye are Christs, then are ye Abrahams seed, heirs according to premise. The final conclusion of this profound, comprehensive, varied, and terse reasoning, in proof of the assertion Gal 3:7, that the believers are the true children of Abraham, and consequently heirs by promise. Gal 3:16 must here be kept in view, where Christ is declared to be the seed of Abraham. 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.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
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.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
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.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
A third change is that those joined to Christ by faith become spiritual descendants of Abraham and beneficiaries of some of God’s promises to him. This does not mean Christians become Jews. Christians are Christians; we are in Christ, the Seed of Abraham (cf. Gal 3:16). God promised some things to all the physical descendants of Abraham (e.g., Gen 12:1-3; Gen 12:7). He promised other things to the believers within that group (e.g., Rom 9:6; Rom 9:8). He promised still other things to the spiritual seed of Abraham who are not Jews (e.g., Gal 3:6-9). Failure to distinguish these groups and the promises given to each has resulted in much confusion. For example, amillennialists conclude that Gentile believers inherit the promises of the believing remnant within Israel, thus eliminating any future for Israel as a nation. Here is another example of this error.
"Throughout the whole vast earth the Lord recognizes one, and only one, nation as His own, namely, the nation of believers (1Pe 2:9)." [Note: William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of Galatians, p. 151. Cf. Ridderbos, The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia, p. 150.]
Why can the amillennialist position represented above not be correct? The reason is that Scripture speaks of the church as a nation distinct from Israel (Eph 2:11-22). [Note: See Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, "Israel and the Church," in Issues in Dispensationalism, pp. 113-30, especially pp. 126-27.] Jews, and Gentiles who had to become Jews to enter Israel, made up Israel. The church consists of Jews and Gentiles who enter it as Jews or Gentiles (Eph 2:16; cf. 1Co 10:32). Furthermore Paul called Jewish Gentile equality in the church a "mystery," something unique, not previously revealed in Scripture (Eph 3:5). The church began on the day of Pentecost, not in the Old Testament (Act 1:5; Act 11:15-16; 1Co 12:13; Col 1:18). Believers of all ages are all the people of God. Nevertheless God has dealt with different groups of them and has had different purposes for them as groups in various periods of human history.
Does the church inherit the promises to Abraham? It only inherits some of them. The Jews will inherit those promises given to the physical descendants of Abraham. All believers will inherit those given to the spiritual descendants of Abraham. Saved Jews will inherit those given to the physical descendants who are also spiritual descendants. In Bible study it is very important to note the person or persons to whom any given promise was given.