The Meaning of Galatians 3:7 Explained

Galatians 3:7

KJV: Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

YLT: know ye, then, that those of faith -- these are sons of Abraham,

Darby: Know then that they that are on the principle of faith, these are Abraham's sons;

ASV: Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Know ye  {5720} therefore  that  they which are of  faith,  the same  are  the children  of Abraham. 

What does Galatians 3:7 Mean?

Context Summary

Galatians 3:1-10 - Righteousness Based On Faith
The strong tendency of the Galatian Christians to depend upon ceremonies or upon legal obedience, in addition to their faith in Christ, elicits in this chapter a magnificent demonstration of the simplicity and sufficiency of faith alone.
Faith had underlain the commencement of their Christian life, Galatians 3:1-5. They had found peace with God through faith. Through faith they had received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. As they had begun, so let them finish!
Faith had been the means, too, of Abraham's acceptance with God, Galatians 3:6-10. From the first the gospel of faith had been proclaimed to him by the divine Spirit. Long before he had become a Jew by the initial rite of Judaism, he had been a humble believer in God's promise, on the basis of which he was reckoned righteous. Simple faith was the only condition that he had fulfilled, and the promise that all flesh should be blessed through him had been given when he was still a believing Gentile. Surely what had sufficed for the father of the faithful was good enough for his children! Let each reader see to it that he does not merely believe about Christ, but believes in Him, so as to be no longer under the curse, but within the blessing. [source]

Chapter Summary: Galatians 3

1  He asks what moved them to leave the faith, and hold onto the law
6  Those who believe are justified,
9  and blessed with Abraham
10  And this he shows by many reasons
15  The purpose of the Law
26  You are sons of God

Greek Commentary for Galatians 3:7

The same are sons of Abraham [ουτοι υιοι εισιν Αβρααμ]
“These are.” This is Paul‘s astounding doctrine to Jews that the real sons of Abraham are those who believe as he did, “they which be of faith” (οι εκ πιστεως — hoi ek pisteōs), a common idiom with Paul for this idea (Galatians 3:9; Romans 3:26; Romans 4:16; Romans 14:23), those whose spiritual sonship springs out of (εκ — ek) faith, not out of blood. John the Baptist denounced the Pharisees and Sadducees as vipers though descendants of Abraham (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7) and Jesus termed the Pharisees children of the devil and not spiritual children of Abraham (not children of God) in John 8:37-44. [source]
Know ye [γινώσκετε]
Imperative. It may also be rendered as indicative, ye know, but the imperative is livelier, and the statement in the verse is one of the points which the writer is trying to prove. [source]
They which are of faith [οἱ ἐκ πίστεως]
Ἑκ πίστεως fromor out of faith, is found with the verb to justify (Romans 3:26, Romans 3:30; Romans 5:1): with other verbs, as live (Romans 1:17); eat (Romans 14:23): with the noun δικαιοσύνη righteousness(Romans 1:17; Romans 9:30; Romans 10:6): with other nouns, as promise (Galatians 3:22), law (Galatians 3:12). For parallels to the phrase οἱ ἐκ πίστεως , see Romans 3:26; Romans 4:16; Romans 14:23; Galatians 3:9. It denotes believers as sprung from, or receiving their spiritual condition from that which specially characterizes them. Comp. οἱ ἐξ ἐριθίας theywho are of faction, Romans 2:8; οἱ ἐκ νόμου theywho are of the law, Romans 4:14; ὁ ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας hewho is of the truth, John 18:37. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Galatians 3:7

Romans 9:6 For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel [ου γαρ παντες οι εχ Ισραηλ ουτοι Ισραηλ]
“For not all those out of Israel (the literal Jewish nation), these are Israel (the spiritual Israel).” This startling paradox is not a new idea with Paul. He had already shown (Galatians 3:7-9) that those of faith are the true sons of Abraham. He has amplified that idea also in Romans 4. So he is not making a clever dodge here to escape a difficulty. He now shows how this was the original purpose of God to include only those who believed. [source]
Romans 9:24 But also from the Gentiles [αλλα και εχ ετνων]
Paul had already alluded to this fact in Romans 9:6. (cf. Galatians 3:7-9). Now he proceeds to prove it from the Old Testament. [source]
Romans 8:14 Sons of God [υιοι τεου]
In the full sense of this term. In Romans 8:16 we have τεκνα τεου — tekna theou (children of God). Hence no great distinction can be drawn between υιος — huios and τεκνον — teknon The truth is that υιος — huios is used in various ways in the New Testament. In the highest sense, not true of any one else, Jesus Christ is God‘s Son (Romans 8:3). But in the widest sense all men are “the offspring” (γενος — genos) of God as shown in Acts 17:28 by Paul. But in the special sense here only those are “sons of God” who are led by the Spirit of God, those born again (the second birth) both Jews and Gentiles, “the sons of Abraham” (υιοι Αβρααμ — huioi Abraam Galatians 3:7), the children of faith. [source]
Romans 9:6 Hath come to nought [εκπεπτωκεν]
Perfect active indicative of εκπιπτω — ekpiptō old verb, to fall out. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel (ου γαρ παντες οι εχ Ισραηλ ουτοι Ισραηλ — ou gar pantes hoi ex Israēl houtoi Israēl). “For not all those out of Israel (the literal Jewish nation), these are Israel (the spiritual Israel).” This startling paradox is not a new idea with Paul. He had already shown (Galatians 3:7-9) that those of faith are the true sons of Abraham. He has amplified that idea also in Romans 4. So he is not making a clever dodge here to escape a difficulty. He now shows how this was the original purpose of God to include only those who believed. Seed of Abraham Physical descent here, but spiritual seed by promise in Romans 9:8. He quotes Genesis 21:12. [source]
1 Corinthians 10:18 After the flesh [κατα σαρκα]
The literal Israel, the Jewish people, not the spiritual Israel (Ισραηλ κατα πνευμα — Israēl kata pneuma) composed of both Jews and Gentiles, the true children of faith (Romans 2:28; Romans 9:8; Galatians 3:7). [source]
Galatians 6:12 They constrain [οὗτοι ἀναγκάζουσιν]
Neither A.V. nor Rev. gives the strong, definitive force of οὗτοι . It is these - the Judaising emissaries, that constrain, etc. Comp. Galatians 3:7. [source]
Galatians 3:29 Abraham's seed []
As being one with Christ. See Galatians 3:7, Galatians 3:16. In Romans 4Paul shows that Abraham was justified by faith, and was thus constituted the spiritual father of all believers in Christ, whether circumcised or uncircumcised. The purpose of God in making the inheritance of the promise dependent on faith was that the promise might be sure to all the seed. Abraham, he says, is “the father of us all ” (Romans 4:16). This spiritual paternity does away with the current Jewish notion of physical paternity. Physical relationship with Abraham is of no significance in the economy of salvation. The apostle “discovers the basis of Christian universalism in the very life of him in whose person theocratic particularism was founded. He has demonstrated the existence of a time when he represented Gentilism, or, to speak more properly, mankind in general; and it was during this period, when he was not yet a Jew, but simply a man, that he received salvation” (Godet). [source]
Galatians 3:19 In the hand of a mediator [ἐν χειρὶ μεσίτου]
Ἑν χειρὶ bythe agency of. A Hebraism. In this sense, not elsewhere in N.T. See lxx, Genesis 38:20Leviticus 16:21. In the hand of Moses, Leviticus 26:46; Numbers 4:37, Numbers 4:41, Numbers 4:45, Numbers 4:49. Comp. σὺν χειρὶ ἀγγέλου withthe hand of the angel, Acts 7:35. For μεσίτης mediatorsee on 1 Timothy 2:5, and comp. Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 12:24. It is a later Greek word signifying also umpire, arbitrator, and appears in lxx only in Job 9:33. The mediator here is Moses, who is often so designated by rabbinical writers. The object is not (as Meyer) to enable the reader to realize the glory of the law in the dignity and formal solemnity of its ordination, but to indicate the inferior, subordinate position held by the law in comparison with the promise, not the gospel. A glorification of the law cannot be intended, since if that were contemplated in the mention of angels and the mediator, the statement would tend to the disparagement of the promise which was given without a mediator. Paul, in the section Galatians 3:6-9, Galatians 3:7, aims to show that the law does not, as the Judaisers assume, stand in a relation to the divine plan of salvation as direct and positive as does the promise, and that it has not, like the promise and its fulfillment, an eternal significance. On the contrary, it has only a transitory value. This estimate of the law does not contradict Paul's assertions in Romans 7:12-25. In representing the law as subordinate and temporary he does not impugn it as a divine institution. [source]
Galatians 3:16 Which is Christ [ος εστιν Χριστος]
Masculine relative agreeing with Χριστος — Christos though σπερμα — sperma is neuter. But the promise to Abraham uses σπερμα — sperma as a collective substantive and applies to all believers (both Jews and Gentiles) as Paul has shown in Galatians 3:7-14, and as of course he knew full well Here Paul uses a rabbinical refinement which is yet intelligible. The people of Israel were a type of the Messiah and he gathers up the promise in its special application to Christ. He does not say that Christ is specifically referred to in Genesis 13:15 or Genesis 17:7. [source]
Galatians 3:26 For ye are all sons of God [παντες γαρ υιοι τεου εστε]
Both Jews and Gentiles (Galatians 3:14) and in the same way “through faith in Christ Jesus” There is no other way to become “sons of God” in the full ethical and spiritual sense that Paul means, not mere physical descendants of Abraham, but “sons of Abraham,” “those by faith” (Galatians 3:7). The Jews are called by Jesus “the sons of the Kingdom” (Matthew 8:12) in privilege, but not in fact. God is the Father of all men as Creator, but the spiritual Father only of those who by faith in Christ Jesus receive “adoption” Those led by the Spirit are sons of God (Romans 8:14). [source]
Galatians 4:31 But of the freewoman [αλλα της ελευτερας]
We are children of Abraham by faith (Galatians 3:7). [source]

What do the individual words in Galatians 3:7 mean?

Know then that those of faith these sons are of Abraham
Γινώσκετε ἄρα ὅτι οἱ ἐκ πίστεως οὗτοι υἱοί εἰσιν Ἀβραάμ

Γινώσκετε  Know 
Parse: Verb, Present Imperative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: γινώσκω  
Sense: to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel.
ὅτι  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
οἱ  those 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πίστεως  faith 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: πίστις  
Sense: conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it.
οὗτοι  these 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
υἱοί  sons 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: υἱός  
Sense: a son.
Ἀβραάμ  of  Abraham 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: Ἀβραάμ  
Sense: the son of Terah and the founder of the Jewish nation.