Galatians 3:9

THE MESSAGE

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."

Parallel Translations

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Legacy Standard Bible
So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Simplified Cowboy Version
So every cowboy who has faith in God shares the same blessing as Abraham did.

Bible in Basic English
So then those who are of faith have a part in the blessing of Abraham who was full of faith.

Darby Translation
So that they who are on the principle of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Christian Standard Bible®
So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

World English Bible
So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
So then they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse;

Weymouth's New Testament
So we see that it is those who possess faith that are blessed with believing Abraham.

King James Version (1611)
So then, they which bee of faith, are blessed with faithfull Abraham.

Literal Translation
So that those of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
So then they which be of faith, are blessed with faithfull Abraham.

Mace New Testament (1729)
so that it is they who believe, who are blessed with Abraham, who did believe.

Amplified Bible
So then those who are people of faith [whether Jew or Gentile] are blessed and favored by God [and declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing with Him] along with Abraham, the believer.

American Standard Version
So then they that are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

Revised Standard Version
So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
So then they which be of fayth are blessed with faythfull Abraham.

Update Bible Version
So then those that are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

Webster's Bible Translation
So then they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Young's Literal Translation
`Blessed in thee shall be all the nations;' so that those of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham,

New Century Version
So all who believe as Abraham believed are blessed just as Abraham was.

New English Translation
So then those who believe are blessed along with Abraham the believer.

Berean Standard Bible
So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Contemporary English Version
This means that everyone who has faith will share in the blessings that were given to Abraham because of his faith.

Complete Jewish Bible
So then, those who rely on trusting and being faithful are blessed along with Avraham, who trusted and was faithful.

English Standard Version
So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Geneva Bible (1587)
So then they which be of faith, are blessed with faithfull Abraham.

George Lamsa Translation
So then, it is the believers who are blessed through Abraham the faithful.

Hebrew Names Version
So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Avraham.

International Standard Version
Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the one who believed.

Etheridge Translation
therefore believers are blessed with Abraham the believer.

Murdock Translation
therefore, it is, who are blessed with believing Abraham.

New King James Version
So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

New Living Translation
So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.

New Life Bible
So then, all those who have faith will be happy, along with Abraham who had faith.

English Revised Version
So then they which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

New Revised Standard
For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then, they who are of faith, are blessed with believing Abraham;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore, they that are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.

King James Version
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Lexham English Bible
So then, the ones who have faith are blessed together with Abraham who believed.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
So then, they which be of fayth, are blessed with the faythfull Abraham.

Easy-to-Read Version
Abraham believed this, and because he believed, he was blessed. All people who believe are blessed the same as Abraham was.

New American Standard Bible
So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Good News Translation
Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And therfor these that ben of bileue, schulen be blessid with feithful Abraham.

Contextual Overview

⁷Is 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." ⁹So 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." ¹¹The 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." ¹³Christ 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. ¹⁵Friends, 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Galatians 3:7, Galatians 3:8, Galatians 3:14, Galatians 3:29, Galatians 4:28, Romans 4:11, Romans 4:16, Romans 4:24

Reciprocal: Genesis 22:18 - And in Genesis 24:1 - blessed Leviticus 19:19 - mingled Psalms 21:6 - made Psalms 24:5 - receive Psalms 67:7 - God Isaiah 51:2 - for Acts 3:26 - sent Romans 4:5 - But to Romans 4:6 - blessedness Galatians 3:6 - as Ephesians 1:1 - which Ephesians 1:3 - who Colossians 1:2 - the saints 1 Timothy 2:7 - in faith Hebrews 1:14 - heirs

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it." God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"

Genesis 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

Genesis 3:17
He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."

Genesis 3:20
The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

Genesis 3:21
God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

Genesis 4:9
God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"

Genesis 11:5
God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So then they which be of faith,.... This is the apostle's conclusion upon the whole, from the instance of Abraham, and, the promise made to him; and is an explanation of the preceding clause, and shows that it must be taken in a limited sense, and understood not of every individual; only of those who are of the same faith with Abraham, are believers in Christ, and seek for justification by faith in him, and not by the works of the law:

these are blessed with faithful Abraham; in his seed Christ; they are blessed with a justifying righteousness in Christ as he was, and will be blessed with eternal life as he is; they shall sit with him, and with Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. The character of "faithful" given to him, respects not his uprightness and integrity among men, but his faith in God; and does not suppose that he was blessed for his faith, but that it was through faith that he received the blessing of justification, and not by the works of the law; and that in the same way, all that believe enjoy the same favour, for to them it is limited and restrained: nor can the Jews of all men find fault with this interpretation of the apostle's, since they themselves interpret the above clause of some particular persons of the nations of the world, and say in so many words, that

"the meaning is, not that all the men of the world should be blessed, but that every family that is in the world,

שתתקרב למשמעתו ואמונתו, "that comes to the obedience and faith of him" (God,) to it shall adhere the blessing and providence. o''

o Abarbinel in Pentateuch, fol. 54. 1, 2. Vid. R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 1. c. 13. p. 135.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So then they which be of faith - They whose leading characteristic it is that they believe. This was the leading trait in the character of Abraham, and this is the leading thing required of those who embrace the gospel, and in the character of a true Christian.

Are blessed with faithful Abraham - In the same manner they are interested in the promises made to him, and they will be treated as he was. They are justified in the same manner, and admitted to the same privileges on earth and in heaven.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. They which be of faith — All who believe, as Abraham has believed, are made partakers of Abraham's blessings.