Galatians 3:16 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

NIV: The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but 'and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ.

NASB: Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as one would in referring to many, but rather as in referring to one, 'And to your seed,' that is, Christ.

CSB: Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say "and to seeds," as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.

NLT: God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say 'to his children, ' as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says 'to his child' — and that, of course, means Christ.

KJV: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

NKJV: Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

In the previous verses, Paul declared that Christ redeemed—bought out of slavery—all those under the curse of the law by becoming that curse Himself. He paid the price of death and separation from God. What did that gain? He made it possible for even non-Jews (Gentiles) to become the children of Abraham by faith. It allowed them to receive the blessings that come with that relationship.

But can God's promises to Abraham and his descendants really be claimed by non-Jewish people all these centuries later? The Judaizers would apparently say no, perhaps claiming that the law of Moses took the place of God's promises to Abraham. Now Gentiles who wanted to be included in God's family must be circumcised and follow the law, or so they said.

But Paul insists that a covenant cannot be revoked, even by new agreements later on. God declared Abraham righteous—"justified"—because of his faith. God made promises of great blessings to Abraham's offspring, on the basis of that faith. Now Paul insists the offspring God was referring to was, in fact, one man: Christ Himself. Paul is not saying that the promises to Abraham were not for the rest of his descendants, but that the focus of those promises was one singular, offspring: Jesus Christ.

Jesus, during His time on earth, was a fully human Jewish man in addition to being fully God in human form. Matthew 1 tracks the genealogy of Abraham all the way to Jesus. Christ was Abraham's descendant and would become, by God's covenant, the focus of all of God's promises to Abraham. Paul will go on to show, then, that all who are in Christ are included in those covenant promises, as well.

Galatians 3:15–22 begins with Paul making a legal argument about God's covenant with Abraham. This arrangement remained in place even during the later covenant of the law of Moses. Paul follows this by describing what the point of the law really is. It was given both to show what is sinful, and to show how sinful we are. By the law, we learn that we are not able to keep to God's standard and must be saved in another way. That other way is through faith in Christ. Once He arrived, this salvation was available to all people, including non-Jewish Gentiles.

Paul indicates the Galatian Christians are foolish for believing they need to follow the law of Moses to be right with God. He offers three specific arguments to support this. First, they received God's Spirit in a powerful way after believing in Jesus, but before doing any works of the law. Second, Scripture itself shows God's blessing coming by faith, and His curse coming by the law. Christ paid the price of that curse on the cross. Third, God's covenant with Abraham is like a legal document, and it cannot be revoked.

In Galatians chapter 2, Paul declared that we can only be justified—''made right with God''—by faith in Christ and not by following the law of Moses. In chapter 3, Paul offers three arguments for why that is true. He argues from the Galatians own experience, from the Scriptures themselves, and from the legal standpoint of a covenant contract. Finally, Paul answers what the law is for if it cannot save us from our sin. In part, it reveals our sinfulness and convinces us of our need to be saved by faith in Christ. The following chapter will expand on what it means to be an ''heir,'' spiritually.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.