Galatians 3:29Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how at last he has proved what he said above about the seed, namely, that the blessings were given to Abraham and to his seed?

Earlier he said that the seed of Abraham, in whom the nations will be blessed, is Christ, to Whom the promises were given. He also indicated that you too have the image of Christ.

Now he concludes: therefore you too are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promised blessing. How then, after this, do you cling to the law? You have received the blessing by putting on Christ and being conformed to Him, and from this you have become Abraham’s seed.

Therefore we have become the seed of Abraham by the grace of God. God did not make Abraham’s coheirs from the flesh of Abraham. He deprived those of the inheritance and added these as heirs.

From the olive tree whose root is in the patriarchs, He cut off the natural branches filled with pride and grafted in the humble wild olive (cf. Rom 11:17).

But if you belong to Christ, Who is from Abraham, then you are Abraham’s seed, having become heirs according to the promise.

It is true that whenever our Lord is called Abraham's seed, this must be understood in the bodily sense, that is, in that He was born from his root.

But when we, after receiving the Savior's teaching, believe in Him and receive Abraham's nobility, to whom the promise was given, then we must understand this name in the spiritual sense, as the seed of faith and preaching.

One must also pay attention to this. When it is said of the Lord, "The promises were given to Abraham and to his seed," that is, to Jesus Christ, Paul uses the word "promises" in the plural.

But when he speaks of those who are Abraham's seed through Christ, he sets "promise" in the singular, as in the present passage.

The Apostle called the faithful sons of God. Then he showed the manner of adoption, saying, “Having put on Christ, Who is truly the Son of God, you are rightly called sons of God.” Thus he again joins us to Abraham.

For if we are the body of Christ, and Christ is our head, and He is called Abraham’s seed, then through Him we too are joined by faith to Abraham and have received the promised blessing.

For it is impossible that the head should be acknowledged as belonging to Abraham, while the body belongs to someone else.

“If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed.” Step by step the Apostle exposes the errors of the false teachers and proves beyond doubt that faith alone in Christ gives all those rights which were considered the privilege of the Jews alone.

If Christians have put on Christ and have become Christ’s, then at the same time they have become Abraham’s seed. For their head, Christ, was Abraham’s seed, and it cannot be that the head is acknowledged as Abraham’s while the body does not belong to him.

To be Abraham’s seed meant to receive the blessing promised to him and to obtain all the rights connected with it.

“But if you are Christ’s, and Christ is the descendant of Abraham, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” That is, as spiritual children of Christ, the descendant of Abraham, Christians too are the true descendants of Abraham.

Therefore they will undoubtedly inherit the blessing of the nations and the justification promised to the offspring of this forefather. The fulfillment of the law contributes nothing to this. It has already become unnecessary.

The thought that all are alike in the matter of union with Christ seems to remove all special conditions of salvation that had existed among different people.

But this does not affect the promise given to Abraham, so that it extends to all people without distinction of nations.

Therefore the Apostle draws the most natural conclusion. All who believe in Christ as the promised seed, in whom all nations will be blessed, are lawful heirs of this promise.

As such, they spiritually become Abraham's seed and yield in nothing essential to Abraham's seed according to the flesh.

In the gifts of the spiritual inheritance from him, they have the same rights as his descendants according to the flesh, if only they believe in Christ as the promised seed.

"But if you are Christ's," you have been appropriated to Christ, and Christ has appropriated you. You have believed in Christ, loved Him, and been received by Him into favor, protection, defense, and most intimate communion.

You are Christ's because you have put on Christ and have been inwardly organized according to the image of Christ by the grace of the Spirit. You are Christ's also because you have been begotten by Christ and in Christ.

"Then you are Abraham's seed." The posterity promised to Abraham was not only fleshly, but chiefly spiritual. It was formed through likeness to Abraham by faith, when a person entered kinship with him through faith.