Galatians 3:29
in Galatians 3And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.
KJV
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
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This verse in Galatians 3
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
This site's exposition
heirs according to the promise
The chapter's argument closes in one line: if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed. Union with the one Seed of verse 16 makes believers seed in Him, and heirs according to the promise. That settles the inheritance question of verse 18 by belonging.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
"if you belong to Christ, then." If then you are the form and body of Christ, he says, it is fittingly that you are the seed of Abraham. For since previously he said that Christ is the seed of Abraham according to the flesh (and …
(Verse 29.) But if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. For the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. However, as often as we, who have believed in him after receiving the message of the Savior, receive the nobility of the lineage of Abraham, to whom the promise was made, then we must spiritually receive the seed of faith and preaching. Furthermore, it should also be considered that when it speaks of the Lord, it pluralizes the promises made to Abraham and his offspring, that is, Christ Jesus. But when it speaks of those who are the offspring of Abraham through Christ, it designates the promise in the singular, as in the present passage: Therefore, you are the offspring of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. For it was fitting that what was said in the plural in Christ should be attributed to many individuals in the singular. It follows:
Whenever our Lord Jesus Christ is called Abraham's offspring, this must be understood in the bodily sense of his generation from the stock of Abraham.
Here, you observe, he proves what he had before stated concerning the seed of Abraham,-that to him and to his seed the promises were given.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Since earlier he said that the seed of Abraham, through which the nations shall be blessed, is Christ, to Whom precisely the promises were given, and also pointed out that you too bear the image of Christ, he now concludes: therefore, you too are the …
4 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, "if you be Christ's, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise," he argues to his main proposition in the following manner: I have said that the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed; but …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For if ye be Christ's,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Thus he arrives at the same truth which he set out with (Ga 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" (Ps 22:30) who receive from Him a new nature and name (Ge 3:15;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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. […]
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | 508 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ὑμεῖς | humeis | you yourselves [are] | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| Χριστοῦ, | christou | Christ’s, | G5547 → | 523 times |
| ἄρα | ara | then | G686 → | 49 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Ἀβραὰμ | abraam | Abraham’s | G11 → | 73 times |
| σπέρμα | sperma | seed | G4690 → | 43 times |
| ἐστέ, | este | you are, | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| κατ᾽ | kat᾽ | according to | G2596 → | 468 times |
| ἐπαγγελίαν | epangelian | [the] promise | G1860 → | 52 times |
| κληρονόμοι.¶ | kleronomoi | heirs. | G2818 → | 15 times |
εἰIf
eiG1487 →508 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
ὑμεῖςyou yourselves [are]
humeisG4771 →2973 times
Χριστοῦ,Christ’s,
christouG5547 →523 times
ἄραthen
araG686 →49 times
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
ἈβραὰμAbraham’s
abraamG11 →73 times
σπέρμαseed
spermaG4690 →43 times
ἐστέ,you are,
esteG1510 →2333 times
κατ᾽according to
kat᾽G2596 →468 times
ἐπαγγελίαν[the] promise
epangelianG1860 →52 times
κληρονόμοι.¶heirs.
kleronomoiG2818 →15 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 8:17And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.
it leads to
- Galatians 4:7
So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.
- Ephesians 3:6
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Peter 4:13
But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.
- Revelation 21:7
The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
- 1 Peter 1:4
and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,
- Galatians 4:7
Through
Ephesians 3:6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
it leads to
- Galatians 3:26–29
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 John 2:25
And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.
- 1 John 1:3
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
- Galatians 3:26–29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies39
On this verse
On this chapter
- Abraham
- The Bronze Serpent
- The Covenant Lawsuit: When God Sues His People
- Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism
- The Fruit of the Spirit
- Generational Curses
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About Galatians

This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Galatians; Jerome, EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.29; John Calvin, Commentary on Galatians; John Chrysostom, Homily on Galatians 3; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Oecumenius, Commentary on Galatians; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Galatians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Galatians.
