for ye are all God's sons by faith in Christ Jesus.
Paul has just called the law a guardian that kept God's people under control until Christ came. Now he tells the Galatian believers what they already are, and every word counts: "sons," "all," "through faith," "in Christ Jesus."
Paul's word marks a change of position in the family:
Faith in Christ Jesus has brought us into the favoured place of "sons of God." The word in verse 26 is "sons," not "children." The saints under the law were like children still in infancy: under age, and so under the guardian. The believer today is like a child who has come of age. He leaves guardianship behind and takes his place as a son in his father's house.
A son, unlike a child, is old enough to be trusted:
The word here in the Greek is "sons," not "children," which gives a beautiful distinctness to the line of thought. In chapter 4:2-3 the word child implies immaturity and learning under subjection, like a servant. Son, however, means a distinct position of freedom and dignity. A son no longer needs legal restraints and prohibitions. He can be trusted with responsibility apart from rules and regulations.
Up to this point Paul has been saying "we." At verse 26 the pronoun changes:
Notice the striking change from verse 26. It is no longer "we," but "you." Now he is addressing the Galatians. They had of course been Gentile sinners, and yet they enjoyed the nearness of sons of God. Faith in Christ Jesus, he implies, brings you into this high relationship, without the law stepping in. The law, after all, deals with slaves, or at least treats those under it as if they were slaves. They were all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus — Gentiles as well as Jews.
The word "all" also settles whether "sons" leaves women out:
No natural distinction. Brothers and sisters alike are "priests to God and His Father" (Revelation 1:6); brothers and sisters alike are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 4:6 adds what comes next, and the order matters:
"In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith" (Galatians 3:26). "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6). This is the divine order. We are born of the Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus, and so become sons. Then God sends the Spirit as the Spirit of sonship to dwell in our hearts. So the Spirit's indwelling does not happen at the same moment as becoming sons; it follows from it.
The last phrase of the verse tells us where faith puts a person:
Paul has led the believing Jew out of legal bondage into the righteous liberty of faith. Now he shows all believers, circumcised or not, the true glory of their divine title and relationship. Here we see plainly what faith does: it unites the believer to the One he believes in, and identifies him with that ever blessed Person in whose name he stands. Sonship is natural to the only begotten of the Father, and to no one else. But believers are, in the Spirit's estimate, where their faith is. They are distinctly "in Christ." The Galatians lost sight of this, and so lay open to the persuasions of those who pressed the law on them.
One writer sets this verse beside the Lord's words to the religious leaders who claimed God as their Father:
Notice how the Lord's words completely destroy the false idea, held by so many, of the "universal Fatherhood of God"… Jesus said, "If God were your Father…" It was a denial. The devil was their father. The Fatherhood of God is limited to those who believe, as Galatians 3:26 states.
The verse states a fact, not a goal. Yet many believers hesitate to own it:
Many in our day have faith in Christ Jesus, yet are afraid to believe that they are sons of God, and that they remain so. Such unbelief grieves the Holy Spirit. While it lasts He can only reprove it, instead of giving them the joyful liberty that belongs to such a relationship.
- Sons. The word is "sons," not "children." A son has come of age, out from under the guardian, with freedom and dignity in his father's house.
- All. Paul switches from "we" to "you." Gentiles as much as Jews, brothers and sisters alike, hold the same title.
- Faith. Sonship comes through faith, without the law; the Spirit of the Son is then sent because you are already a son.
- In Christ. Sonship belongs by nature to Christ alone, God's only Son. Believers hold it because faith puts them in Him, and God counts them where their faith is.
- Certainty. God's Fatherhood is not universal; it rests on faith in Christ. Those who believe are meant to enjoy the relationship, not doubt it.
For ye, as many as have been baptised unto Christ, have put on Christ.
Paul has just said that believers are sons of God through faith, and this verse gives the ground for it: baptism, and a garment. Two questions follow: what is it to be baptized into Christ, and how far does putting on Christ reach — to outward profession, or to inward reality?
The verse begins with "for." It points back to what faith has already done: it dismissed the law as guardian and brought the believer home.
Here are precious deeds of faith! It dismisses the schoolmaster; it brings the soul to God as to a father, and then it clothes the believer with the value of Christ in God's sight and acceptance... We are brought from under the law — the schoolmaster, and, with him, guardians and trustees are gone; we are "sons" at home in the Father's house, and have the rights and the mind of the First-born Himself put on us.
"Put on" is clothing language. The believer wears Christ, and that garment covers everything else from view.
Christ is, according to the truth announced in baptism itself, the One in whom we are, therefore, before God. It is His perfection, His beauty that is seen upon us. Nothing else is seen, no earthly condition, no place of privilege beside.
Scripture also uses "put on" as a daily command, not only as a settled fact.
Scripture urges us in practice not only to cast off the works of darkness but to put on the armor of light, and, more widely still, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:12, 14); while in principle Galatians 3:27 says all who are baptized have put on Christ.
You cannot wear two robes. Baptism to Christ ruled out the other garments a person might have put on.
If we had been circumcised, we would have put on Judaism. That would have committed us to keeping the law for justification. If we had taken John the Baptist's baptism, we would have put on the robe of professed repentance. That would have committed us to believing in the One who was to come after him. As it is, if we were baptized into Christ, we have put on Christ. We have committed ourselves to living out the life of Christ in practice — what the next chapter calls "the fruit of the Spirit."
Commentators differ here. Some hold that baptism goes no further than outward profession. In their view it pictures death with Christ, not the giving of life.
It is a sign of death with Christ, as Romans 6 and Colossians 2 make plain. It is not a sign of life-giving, and still less of the gift of the indwelling Spirit of God... Water baptism does not go beyond profession, as in Galatians 3:27 and elsewhere, though we are responsible to be true. No one is true except the person who believes and has Christ as his life.
Others read the wording the other way. They argue that the act itself does something.
Baptism, here, is said to be a putting on of Christ. Again, it does not say that baptism is a public confession of faith, or an act of obedience, or a picture of something already true (though of course it may involve all these). But surely it matters that the inspired writer states, as clearly as words can, that the act of baptism itself brings something about?
If baptism marked the end of the old ground, going back to law contradicts what you confessed.
Baptism is in itself a sign of burial... When I am baptized I acknowledge that the death of Christ has ended the first creation for me. By this I in figure put off the old garment and "put on Christ." This does not mean receiving Christ into the heart... If I have done this, and then go back to law as a rule of life, I announce loudly that I was wrong ever to be baptized into Christ.
Every believer wears the same garment. The old differences lose their standing.
Every true believer is clothed with Christ. When God looks at me, He sees me in Christ, clothed with Christ... And this is true of every believer, Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. We all have put on Christ... It is not an old creation, but a new creation. In the old creation there were all these differences, but this is something entirely new.
- Freed — Faith has dismissed the schoolmaster; the believer stands as a son at home, not a pupil under guardians.
- Clothed — To put on Christ is to wear Him: God sees His perfection and beauty on us, and nothing else.
- Exchanged — Baptism into Christ put off one robe and put on another; circumcision would have meant wearing Judaism.
- Disputed — How far does baptism reach? Some say no further than profession, picturing death with Christ; others say the act itself does something.
- United — One garment for all: Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female have no standing in the new creation.
There is no Jew nor Greek; there is no bondman nor freeman; there is no male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus
Paul has just told the Galatians that faith in Christ, not law-keeping, makes a person a child of God. This verse closes that argument. It names three walls that once divided people, and it raises a question: does being "one in Christ Jesus" erase who you are as a Jew or Greek, a slave or free person, a man or a woman?
The three pairs are not random. Each names a different kind of barrier.
In the new creation there is neither Jew nor Greek [no national or religious distinction], there is neither slave nor free [no social distinction], there is no male and female [no natural distinction].
Teachers were pushing the Galatians back under the law. Writers point out what that move does. It brings back the very differences this verse removes.
By pushing people back to the Jewish law, they had brought national differences back to life. They even created new ones they had not noticed before. Legalism always insists on the difference between the Jew and the Gentile, and claims the Jew is superior... Under the law, women had a lower place in worship than men. The males were the appointed worshippers at the great national gatherings... But now males do not go up alone to keep God's feasts. Believers of either sex are heirs together of the grace of life. Both come alike into the presence of the Father. Both come to the throne of grace where He sits. Both come in the same powerful Name, and by the one Spirit who lives in them.
The reason lies in the two words at the end: in Christ. If everyone is in Christ, then what God sees is the same in every case.
God sees His perfection, His beauty, on us. He sees nothing else — no earthly condition, no special standing... If each one of us is in Christ, then Christ must be the same for each and all of us. There can be no distinction here. For distinction, we must look away from Christ.
The differences listed belong to the world as it now is. Christ's people already belong to a new order — though, one writer notes, their bodies do not yet.
In the last chapter we find that in Christ Jesus there is new creation. That is why all the differences of the old creation are gone. This new creation work has already reached our souls, though not yet our bodies. So we cannot yet take these things up in an absolute way... Still, even now we are in Christ Jesus. So we can learn to see each other apart from these differences, and lifted above them.
Writers here draw a line. The verse speaks of our place before God, and they warn against two ways it has been misused.
All these differences belong to the old creation. The risen Christ brings all into equal blessing and privilege. It is a question of our place and portion in Him. Let us be careful to keep the passage to that. People have used it to set aside or belittle the ordinary relationships of life. Others have used it to justify a woman taking the man's place in the services of God. But this twists the plain words of Paul. God approves the ordinary relationships of life in Christianity, just as before, and the letters of the New Testament all give order to them.
One writer follows that second misuse into the home.
The husband would give up his rightful place of authority. The wife would lose her only happy place of subjection. And where would the Christian child be if this idea were carried out? As children of God, all do stand on the same level. Father, mother and child, if they believe, enjoy the same spiritual privileges.
This oneness was not just a teaching. It produced a community the surrounding world could not explain.
...the new brotherhood that astonished the world. It included women whom faith in Christ had set free. They had been treated as mere servants and playthings by men. Now they stood in a close, shared relationship where Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female cannot be; "for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
- One garment. Because every believer is in Christ, God sees the same beauty on each — nothing else, no earthly condition, no extra privilege.
- One standing. The three walls fall: national and religious, social, natural. Legalism put the Jew above the Gentile and women below men; in Christ both sexes reach the Father by the same Name and one Spirit.
- One creation. The differences belong to the old creation. The new creation has reached our souls, not yet our bodies. So we cannot take this up in an absolute way today.
- One caution. Standing before God is not the same as roles on earth. God still approves the ordinary relationships of life. The New Testament letters give order to them. Using this verse against them twists Paul's plain words.
- One brotherhood. Lived out, this oneness astonished the world. Others could see it, not just hear it.
but if *ye* [are] of Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.
Teachers in Galatia told Gentile believers to get circumcised and keep the law of Moses to count as Abraham's family. Paul's answer points to a Person, not a ceremony: the claim rests on two words, "Christ's" and "promise."
Everything turns on the opening phrase. One writer notes that a closer rendering — "if you are of Christ" — makes the logic plain.
The most vital point is this: Christ Himself is the Seed of Abraham. All believers are represented in Christ — they are "of Christ." So because He is Abraham's seed, they are too. Faith has brought them into this position and given them a close connection with Christ. It is a faith that sees its own worthlessness. It turns away from self completely and finds all good, all blessing, in the blessed Person of the Son of God. The promise was made to Abraham and to his Seed — that is, to Christ. Our own wonderful place of blessing is as "fellow heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17).
So the title comes to us only through Him: we are Abraham's seed because we are Christ's.
Paul's answer had a practical target: the demand that Gentiles take up Jewish rites.
That is to say, they did not have to submit to circumcision, or any other rite of the law, to get the promises. The Holy Spirit brings us into these promises through having Christ. If you are striving to gain them by law, you lose them; if you receive Christ, they are certainly yours. He is the true seed of Abraham, and, having Christ, I have all the promises of God.
Another writer puts it from the Galatians' side. They already were what the teachers told them to become.
The Galatian believers saw that they needed to be linked with Abraham. But how to do that was the question. Teachers who pressed the Jewish law claimed to have the answer. They insisted on the rite of circumcision and on keeping the law of Moses. Paul showed them the error of all this... and told them that they were Abraham's seed already, because they were in Christ.
The verse redraws the line of who counts as Abraham's family.
The fatness — that is, spiritual enrichment — did not come to a man because he was a direct descendant of Abraham as a Jew. It came because he shared Abraham's faith and shared the blessing Abraham enjoyed. And this is open to Gentiles as well.
The word "heirs" points forward to what is not yet in hand.
The apostle has been reasoning earlier that Christ is the true seed of Abraham. Here He brings us into the same place. We share it. All that is true of Him, as the risen and accepted Man, is true of everyone who believes. He has given us His standing and portion, and we are to inherit all things with Him in the coming day.
The last phrase names the principle on which that inheritance rests. One writer traces the whole chapter as a single contrast: under law the result is a curse, while "in the latter part, we find the blessings of the inheritance ours, not by law, but by promise" — a way of dealing that "applies itself to the constant tendency of the human heart... which ever goes to exalt man, and to debase God."
One writer adds a caution. This verse states a real privilege, but not the highest blessing God gives to believers.
The letter to the Galatians never takes up the standing of the Church in the proper sense. It does not go beyond the inheritance of promise... But in Ephesians the great point is that God is bringing out completely new and heavenly privileges. There are distinct, added privileges there that Abraham never thought of or heard of... So to have a right view of the Christian's full blessing, we must take the Ephesian blessing along with the Galatian.
A second caution concerns Israel, and it turns on which promise this verse is about.
Here the promise is the blessing of all nations in the seed, that is, in Christ. Of this promise believers are heirs as made one with Christ. The chapter does not name the promise given to Abraham's countless descendants. Still less does it show the Church taking this promise away from Israel.
- Christ first. He is the true Seed of Abraham. Every title in this verse is His before it is ours.
- Christ's, therefore Abraham's. Belonging to Him is the only qualification. No rite adds to it, and striving by law loses what faith secures.
- Christ reaches further. The family line now runs through shared faith, not through descent. So it reaches Gentiles too.
- Christ's portion shared. "Heirs" means His standing is ours now. His inheritance is ours in the coming day — by promise, not by law.
- Christ has more to give. Being Abraham's seed is real, but it is not the summit. Commentators point to Ephesians for privileges Abraham never heard of.