Know ye, therefore, that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
γινωσκετε αρα οτι οι εκ πιστεως ουτοι εισιν υιοι αβρααμ
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Since they feared that by departing from the Law they might be deprived of kinship with the patriarch, in whom they took great pride, he shows the opposite. Faith, more than anything else, makes those who possess it sons of Abraham.
He discusses this more fully in the Epistle to the Romans, namely, that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision (Rom 4:10).
Carefully preserving this thought, he teaches that those are children of Abraham who believe with the same mind as Abraham while he was still uncircumcised.
For he was glad to see the day of the Lord and rejoiced when he saw it (Jn 8).
Therefore it is said to the unbelieving Jews, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham" (Jn 8:39).
But what other works did God require of them then, when this was said, except faith in the Son of God, Whom the Father sent?
He says: "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him Who sent Me" (Jn 12:44).
Therefore in another place this answer is given to men who boasted of the antiquity and nobility of their race: "Do not say, We have Abraham as our father.
"For the Lord is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones" (Mt 3:9).
No one doubts that there, by stones, are meant the coarse hearts of the Gentiles. Later they were softened and received the banner of faith.
Diligent reader, number the good works of Abraham by which he was pleasing to God even before circumcision.
If you find anyone with similar deeds, tell them that they are children of Abraham, justified in uncircumcision.
For he received the sign of circumcision not according to the merits of his works, but as a sign of his preceding faith.
Yet Christ was to be born from his seed, and in Christ the blessing of all the Gentiles was promised. Many ages had to pass from Abraham's time until Christ.
Therefore God took precaution, lest the descendants of beloved Abraham be mingled with other nations, and his family little by little become unknown.
At one time He marked the flock of Israel with the seal of circumcision, so that while living among Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans, it would be distinguished from them by this sign.
Then, during forty years of life in the wilderness, no one was circumcised, because they alone lived in the wilderness without any other mixture.
But immediately after the people's crossing of the Jordan, and after the Jewish multitude entered the land of Palestine, circumcision became necessary to prevent future mingling with the Gentiles.
The fact that under the leader Joshua the people are again described as circumcised (Josh 5:2-4) has this meaning.
Circumcision, prudently used in Egypt, also ceased in the wilderness. From the Lord Jesus Christ, believers must be circumcised with spiritual circumcision.
The whole mystery of salvation accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ requires only faith. It was then accomplished for us, for the sake of our resurrection and deliverance, when we believe in the mystery of Christ and in Christ. The Godhead prepared and sent Him beforehand, so that man might be justified by faith. Therefore, just as Abraham's faith was reckoned to him as righteousness, so we also, if we believe in Christ and in His whole mystery of salvation, will become sons of Abraham. That is, our whole life will be accounted as righteousness.
"Those who are of faith are sons of Abraham."
To prove more clearly the possibility of justification through faith, the Apostle reveals the spiritual kinship that exists between Christians from the Gentiles and Abraham.
Through faith in Christ the promised One, the descendant of Abraham, they became sons of Abraham. By this very fact they received rights to all that Abraham had.
And since God is always the same, having justified their forefather through faith, He must justify his descendants in the same way.
The Apostle shows that not only those who descended from him according to the flesh receive the promise and are saved by faith, but also the Gentiles.
He cites literally the promise itself, in which it is said that all nations are to be blessed in Abraham's seed.
But the Gentiles could not receive such a blessing if they could not, through faith, enter into kinship with Abraham. Compare Rom 9:24 and Rom 4:11.
The second proof of the uselessness of the law is taken from the manner of justification both of Abraham himself, the forefather of the justified, and after him of all future heirs of Abraham's promises (Gal 3:6-9).
"Thus Abraham, before he had been circumcised, believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."
Is it not a direct conclusion from this that for adoption to Abraham nothing else is required than his own faith?
"Know then," says the Apostle, "that those who believe are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham," when he had not yet been circumcised.
"In you all the nations shall be blessed." And not even a hint is given that these nations must be circumcised. On this see more fully Rom 4:3 and following.
Why did the Apostle begin to speak about Abraham? One may suppose that the Jewish seducers especially insisted on Abraham.
They pointed to him as one whom the Lord God Himself declared to be the source and channel of blessing for all the tribes of the earth.
The Apostle therefore leads the Galatians to this thought: by what, precisely, did Abraham himself prove to be righteous?
The living proof of the significance of faith in the work of salvation is the patriarch Abraham. The promise given him by God, concerning the blessing of all nations through him, shows that all Gentiles also were appointed to be saved through faith.
"In hardened old age Abraham believed that he would have a descendant and posterity. He believed only because God had promised it, and God was able to do this and did it: 'in hope against hope he believed' (Rom 4:18).
"Such also is the spirit of faith in Christ the Lord. From God it is proposed: the crucified man named Christ is God incarnate, Who offered Himself on the Cross as a sacrifice for sins.
"Here too there is nothing on which to rest except the word of the true God. Here too there is hope against hope" (Theophan).
Saint John Chrysostom says: "If Abraham, who lived before grace and was so adorned with good works, was justified by faith, how much more are you?
"What harm did he suffer because he was not under the law? None. Faith alone was sufficient for his justification."
They feared that they might lose kinship with Abraham if they abandoned the law. But Saint Paul dispels this fear, showing that faith especially establishes kinship with him.
The basis for this spiritual kinship is the sacred account of God's blessing through Abraham of all who believe in the Lord.
By the power of this promised blessing, they will receive all gifts of grace, beginning with justification.
According to Saint John Chrysostom, "The Lawgiver Himself, before He gave the law, appointed justification through faith for the Gentiles."
"The Galatians feared lest they fall under the curse if they did not join themselves to the law. But the Apostle shows the opposite.
"Those will be blessed who, apart from the law, cleave to faith, just as faithful Abraham was blessed for faith, though he did not know the law" (Theophan).
"Thus justification is explained by blessing, and blessing below, in verse 14, is identified with receiving the Spirit by faith.
"Consequently, justification is not the bare declaration that the justified man is righteous. It is also his complete sanctification by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
"In this action faith is the conditioning principle, not the producing power" (Theophan).
He said earlier that by faith they became like Abraham. Now he leads to the conclusion that this is precisely what places you in kinship with Abraham, and this is what makes you his sons.
But he does not say this to them directly. He sets it forth as a general proposition: those are sons of Abraham who believe.
You value being Abraham's. Know, then, that you already have this through faith alone. You need not seek another way to enter into kinship with him.
Saint Chrysostom says: "Since they feared that they might lose kinship with Abraham, which they greatly valued, if they abandoned the law, Saint Paul dispels this fear.
"He shows that faith especially establishes kinship with him."
"Those who are of faith" are those who have the same disposition of spirit that Abraham had. It is the disposition of faith, of hope against hope.
They properly constitute his promised race and are his sons according to the promise.
Countless posterity was promised to Abraham, and it came to be. But fleshly descent from Abraham alone does not make one his descendant.
What especially matters is to be of one spirit with him. Thus even fleshly descendants who do not have this spirit are not descendants, as the Lord told the Jews to their face (see Jn 8:39).
On the contrary, those who are not fleshly descendants, yet are full of this spirit, are descendants.
Saint Damascene writes: "The Gentiles who have believed should boast of Abraham as father, or as the homeland of Abraham, more than those who are of circumcision.
"Faith made Abraham a friend of God, not circumcision. Circumcision was already a seal and sign of faith.
"The sign is less than that of which it is the sign. Therefore those who are of faith ought more rightly to be called sons of Abraham than those who are of circumcision."
Jerome explains this more fully: "Here the Apostle says that those are sons of Abraham who believe in the same spirit in which uncircumcised Abraham believed.
"Therefore the Lord said to the unbelieving Jews, 'If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham' (Jn 8:39).
"What works did the Lord expect of them when He said this, except faith? For He had already said to them before: that you believe in Him Whom God has sent (cf. Jn 6:29).
"In another place it was said to Jews who trusted in their descent and the antiquity of their race: 'Do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.
"'For God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham' (cf. Mt 3:9).
"By stones, as no one will doubt, are signified the wild and coarse hearts of the Gentiles, which afterward were softened and received the seal of faith.
"Therefore, discerning reader, enumerate the virtues by which Abraham pleased God before circumcision.
"Whomever you find like him in this, call him a son of Abraham, who was justified in uncircumcision."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 10 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS