Galatians 3:26

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Legacy Standard Bible
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Every single one of us is one of God's kids if we believe in Jesus and ride for his brand.

Bible in Basic English
Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Darby Translation
for ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus.

Christian Standard Bible®
for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

World English Bible
For you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For ye are all sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Weymouth's New Testament
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus;

King James Version (1611)
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Iesus.

Literal Translation
for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For ye all are the children of God by the faith in Christ Iesu.

Mace New Testament (1729)
for you are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Amplified Bible
For you [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified and] are all children of God [set apart for His purpose with full rights and privileges] through faith in Christ Jesus.

American Standard Version
For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus.

Revised Standard Version
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For ye are all the sonnes of God by ye fayth which is in Christ Iesus.

Update Bible Version
For you are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus.

Webster's Bible Translation
For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Young's Literal Translation
for ye are all sons of God through the faith in Christ Jesus,

New Century Version
You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This means that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

New English Translation
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.

Berean Standard Bible
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Contemporary English Version
All of you are God's children because of your faith in Christ Jesus.

Complete Jewish Bible
For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness;

English Standard Version
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For ye are al the sonnes of God by faith, in Christ Iesus.

George Lamsa Translation
For you are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Hebrew Names Version
For you are all sons of God, through faith in Messiah Yeshua.

International Standard Version
For all of you are God's children through faith in Christ Jesus.John 1:12; Romans 8:14-16; Galatians 4:5; 1 John 3:1-2;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For you are all the children of Aloha through the faith of Jeshu the Meshiha.

Murdock Translation
For ye are all the children of God, by faith in Jesus the Messiah.

New King James Version
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

New Living Translation
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

New Life Bible
You are now children of God because you have put your trust in Christ Jesus.

English Revised Version
For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus.

New Revised Standard
for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For ye, all, are, sons of God, through the faith in Christ Jesus;

Douay-Rheims Bible
For you are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus.

King James Version
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Lexham English Bible
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For ye are all the chyldren of God by fayth in Christe Iesu.

Easy-to-Read Version
You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

New American Standard Bible
For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Good News Translation
It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For alle ye ben the children of God thoruy the bileue of Jhesu Crist.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹Trust in Christ, Not the Law You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up! Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed in you." So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law." The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them." Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it. Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say "to descendants," referring to everybody in general, but "to your descendant" (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will. What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith. If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time. Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for. But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise. In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises. ²⁰Trust in Christ, Not the Law You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up! Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed in you." So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law." The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life." Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them." Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it. Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say "to descendants," referring to everybody in general, but "to your descendant" (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will. What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith. ²¹If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time. ²³Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for. ²⁵But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise. ²⁸In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Galatians 4:5, Galatians 4:6, John 1:12, John 1:13, John 20:17, Romans 8:14-17, 2 Corinthians 6:18, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 5:1, Philippians 2:15, Hebrews 2:10-15, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:2, Revelation 21:7

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 14:1 - the children Deuteronomy 32:6 - thy father Psalms 22:30 - it shall Psalms 87:5 - of Zion Isaiah 11:6 - General Isaiah 43:6 - bring Isaiah 45:11 - concerning my sons Isaiah 60:9 - thy sons Isaiah 64:8 - thou art Jeremiah 3:19 - put thee Acts 11:18 - hath Acts 16:31 - Believe Romans 4:9 - Cometh Romans 9:8 - are counted Romans 9:26 - there shall 1 Corinthians 10:17 - we being Galatians 3:7 - they Galatians 3:18 - if Galatians 4:7 - but Ephesians 2:19 - but Ephesians 3:6 - the Gentiles Ephesians 4:5 - one baptism Ephesians 4:6 - God Colossians 2:10 - complete 1 Timothy 6:2 - because they are brethren

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For ye are all the children of God,.... Not by nature, as Christ is the Son of God, for he is the only begotten of the Father, and in such sense as neither angels nor men are the sons of God; nor by creation, as Adam and all mankind, and the angels are; but by divine adoption by an act of God's rich and sovereign grace, putting them among the children in saying this the apostle directs himself to the Gentiles for their comfort, and says this of them all in a judgment of charity, they being under a profession of faith; lest they should think, because they were not Abraham's seed according to the flesh, nor were ever trained up under the law as a schoolmaster, that they were not the children of God: whereas they were such not by the law, as none indeed are,

but by faith in Christ Jesus; not that faith makes any the children of God, or puts them into such a relation; no, that is God's own act and deed; of his free rich grace and goodness, God the Father has predestinated his chosen ones to the adoption of children, and has secured and laid up this blessing for them in the covenant of grace; Christ by redemption has made way for their reception and enjoyment of it; the Spirit of God, in consequence of their sonship, as a spirit of adoption bears strong reason and argument, proving that they are not under the law as a schoolmaster, in which light it is here set by the apostle; since they are sons and not servants, and so free from the bondage of the law; they are sons grown up into the faith of Christ, and are led and taught by the Spirit of God, as they are that are the children of God by faith; and as is promised to the saints under the Gospel, that they shall be "all taught of God"; and therefore stood in no need of the law as a schoolmaster, which only was concerned with the Jews, whilst they were children under age; and has nothing to do with such, whether Jews or Gentiles, who believe in Christ, and are growing up into him their head, till they come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For ye are all the children of God ... - All who bear the Christian name - the converts from among the Jews and Gentiles alike; see the note at John 1:12. The idea here is, that they are no longer under tutors and governors; they are no longer subject to the direction and will of the “paedagogus”; they are arrived at age, and are admitted to the privileges of sons; see the note at Galatians 4:1. The language here is derived from the fact, that until the son arrived at age, he was in many respects not different from a servant. He was under laws and restraints; and subject to the will of another. When of age, he entered on the privileges of heirship, and was free to act for himself. Thus, under the Law, people were under restraints, and subject to heavy exactions. Under the gospel, they are free, and admitted to the privileges of the sons of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 26. For ye, who have believed the Gospel, are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. — But no man is a child of God by circumcision, nor by any observance of the Mosaic law.