Galatians 3:29

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.

Legacy Standard Bible
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

Simplified Cowboy Version
And now that you ride for the brand, you are the real children of Abraham. You are his heirs and Abraham's inheritance belongs to you too.

Bible in Basic English
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.

Darby Translation
but if *ye* [are] of Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

Christian Standard Bible®
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.

World English Bible
If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And if ye are Christ's, then are ye the seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise.

Weymouth's New Testament
And if you belong to Christ, then you are indeed true descendants of Abraham, and are heirs in fulfilment of the promise.

King James Version (1611)
And if yee be Christs, then are ye Abrahams seed, and heires according to the promise.

Literal Translation
And if you are of Christ, then you are a seed of Abraham, even heirs according to promise.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf ye be Christes, the are ye Abrahas sede and heyres acordynge to the promes.

Mace New Testament (1729)
and if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's offspring, and his heirs by virtue of the promise.

Amplified Bible
And if you belong to Christ [if you are in Him], then you are Abraham's descendants, and [spiritual] heirs according to [God's] promise.

American Standard Version
And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

Revised Standard Version
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Yf ye be Christes then are ye Abrahams seed and heyres by promes.

Update Bible Version
And if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

Webster's Bible Translation
And if ye [are] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Young's Literal Translation
and if ye [are] of Christ then of Abraham ye are seed, and according to promise -- heirs.

New Century Version
You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham's descendants. You will inherit all of God's blessings because of the promise God made to Abraham.

New English Translation
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Berean Standard Bible
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

Contemporary English Version
And so, you should understand that everyone who has faith is a child of Abraham. Long ago the Scriptures said that God would accept the Gentiles because of their faith. That's why God told Abraham the good news that all nations would be blessed because of him. This means that everyone who has faith will share in the blessings that were given to Abraham because of his faith. Anyone who tries to please God by obeying the Law is under a curse. The Scriptures say, "Everyone who doesn't obey everything in the Law is under a curse." No one can please God by obeying the Law. The Scriptures also say, "The people God accepts because of their faith will live." The Law isn't based on faith. It promises life only to people who obey its commands. But Christ rescued us from the Law's curse, when he became a curse in our place. This is because the Scriptures say that anyone who is nailed to a tree is under a curse. And because of what Jesus Christ has done, the blessing that was promised to Abraham was taken to the Gentiles. This happened so that by faith we would be given the promised Holy Spirit. My friends, I will use an everyday example to explain what I mean. Once someone agrees to something, no one else can change or cancel the agreement. That is how it is with the promises God made to Abraham and his descendant. The promises were not made to many descendants, but only to one, and that one is Christ. What I am saying is that the Law cannot change or cancel God's promise that was made 430 years before the Law was given. If we have to obey the Law in order to receive God's blessings, those blessings don't really come to us because of God's promise. But God was kind to Abraham and made him a promise. What is the use of the Law? It was given later to show that we sin. But it was only supposed to last until the coming of that descendant who was given the promise. In fact, angels gave the Law to Moses, and he gave it to the people. There is only one God, and the Law did not come directly from him. Does the Law disagree with God's promises? No, it doesn't! If any law could give life to us, we could become acceptable to God by obeying that law. But the Scriptures say that sin controls everyone, so that God's promises will be for anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ. The Law controlled us and kept us under its power until the time came when we would have faith. In fact, the Law was our teacher. It was supposed to teach us until we had faith and were acceptable to God. But once a person has learned to have faith, there is no more need to have the Law as a teacher. All of you are God's children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes. Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman. So if you belong to Christ, you are now part of Abraham's family, and you will be given what God has promised.

Complete Jewish Bible
Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are seed of Avraham and heirs according to the promise.

English Standard Version
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And if ye be Christes, then are ye Abrahams seede, and heires by promes.

George Lamsa Translation
So if you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham, and his heirs according to the promise.

Hebrew Names Version
If you are Messiah's, then you are Avraham's seed and heirs according to promise.

International Standard Version
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants and heirs according to the promise.Genesis 21:10,12; Romans 8:17; 9:7; Galatians 4:7,28, 12; Ephesians 3:6; Hebrews 11:18;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And if you are of the Meshiha, therefore are you the seed of Abraham, and heirs by the promise.

Murdock Translation
And if ye are the Messiah's, then are ye the seed of Abraham, and heirs by the promise.

New King James Version
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

New Living Translation
And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you.

New Life Bible
If you belong to Christ, then you have become the true children of Abraham. What God promised to him is now yours.

English Revised Version
And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.

New Revised Standard
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, if, ye, are of Christ, by consequence ye are, Abraham's seed, according to promise, heirs.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if you be Christ’s, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.

King James Version
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Lexham English Bible
And if you are Christ's, then you are descendants of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If [ye be] Christes, then are ye Abrahams seede, and heyres accordyng to the promise.

Easy-to-Read Version
You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham's descendants. You get all of God's blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.

New American Standard Bible
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.

Good News Translation
If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if ye ben oon in `Jhesu Crist, thanne ye ben the seed of Abraham, and eiris bi biheest.

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

Christ's: Galatians 5:24, 1 Corinthians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 15:23, 2 Corinthians 10:7

Abraham's: Galatians 3:7, Galatians 3:16, Galatians 3:28, Galatians 4:22-31, Genesis 21:10-12, Romans 4:12, Romans 4:16-21, Romans 9:7, Romans 9:8, Hebrews 11:18

heirs: Galatians 4:7, Galatians 4:28, Romans 4:13, Romans 4:14, Romans 8:17, 1 Corinthians 3:22, Ephesians 3:6, Titus 3:7, Hebrews 1:14, Hebrews 6:17, Hebrews 11:7, James 2:5, Revelation 21:7

Reciprocal: Genesis 17:4 - a father Genesis 17:21 - my Genesis 22:18 - And in Genesis 25:5 - General Deuteronomy 5:31 - General Psalms 47:9 - the God Psalms 115:12 - the house of Israel Isaiah 6:13 - so the holy Isaiah 27:6 - General Isaiah 37:31 - take Isaiah 49:18 - all these Isaiah 49:21 - seeing Isaiah 60:4 - they come Isaiah 64:8 - thou art Isaiah 65:23 - for Ezekiel 47:22 - they shall have Zechariah 8:13 - ye shall Matthew 8:11 - That Mark 9:41 - because Luke 1:33 - the Luke 3:8 - of these Luke 19:9 - forsomuch John 8:39 - If Acts 3:25 - the covenant Romans 4:11 - father Romans 11:18 - thou bearest 1 Corinthians 10:1 - our Galatians 3:9 - General Galatians 3:14 - the blessing Galatians 3:18 - if Galatians 3:22 - that Galatians 6:16 - the Israel Colossians 3:11 - but Hebrews 2:16 - the seed Hebrews 7:4 - Abraham 1 John 3:1 - that

Gill's Notes on the 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, Galatians 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And if ye be Christ’s - If you belong to the Messiah, and are interested in his work.

Then are ye Abraham’s seed - The promise made to Abraham related to the Messiah. It was a promise that in him all should be blessed. Abraham believed in that Messiah, and was distinguished for his faith in him who was to come. If they believed in Christ, therefore, they showed that they were the spiritual descendants of Abraham. No matter whether they were Jews or Gentiles; whether they had been circumcised or not, they had the same spirit which he evinced, and were interested in the promises made to him.

And heirs according to the promise - See Romans 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Galatians 3:29. 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.