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Robertson's Word Pictures of the NT

Galatians 3:26

For ye are all sons of God

(παντες γαρ υιο θεου εστε). Both Jews and Gentiles (Galatians 3:14) and in the same way "through faith in Christ Jesus" (δια της πιστεως εν Χριστω Ιησου). 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" (verse 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" (υιοθεσια) into his family (verse Galatians 3:5; Romans 8:15; Romans 8:23). Those led by the Spirit are sons of God (Romans 8:14).

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See also Galatians 3:26 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 26. _FOR YE_, WHO HAVE BELIEVED THE GOSPEL, _ARE ALL THE_ _CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS._] But no man is a child of God by _circumcision_, nor by any observance of the Mosaic law....

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    FOR YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD ... - All who bear the Christian name - the converts from among the Jews and Gentiles alike; see the note at John 1:12. The idea here is, that they are no longer und...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    II. CONTRASTS BETWEEN LAW AND GRACE CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The gift of the Spirit not by the works of the law, but by hearing of faith. (Galatians 3:1)_ 2. Righteousness not bestowed by the law, but by fai...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    Inferior, temporary, co-operating such is the distinctive nature of the Law. It had held Israel prisoner, till Christ should come. Or it resembled the slave who led a child to (Christ's) school (1 Cor...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Before faith came we were under guard under the power of the law, shut up and waiting for the day when faith would be revealed. So that the law was really our tutor to bring us to Christ so that we mi...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE GIFT OF GRACE (Galatians 3:1-9)...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    CHRIST JESUS. App-98....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Ye are_ The change from the first person -we are" Galatians 3:25 to the second -ye are" marks a transition from an argument to an appeal. The converse is found 2Co 6:14; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 2 Corinth...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The selection of the metaphor of Galatians 3:24 is by no means accidental. It suggests and leads up to the grand revelation of Gospel blessedness contained in the peroration to this chapter. The very...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ΠΆΝΤΕΣ ΓᾺΡ κ.τ.λ. It has been thought that Galatians 3:26-29 are an appeal to the experience of the Galatians; having, as they have found, all these privileges, they surely cannot be any more under th...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    23–4:7. _The contrast between our former state of pupillage under the Law, and our present state in Christ, full sonship_ This is brought out under two aspects: I. Galatians 3:23-29. The preparative c...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    25–29. See note at Galatians 3:23 (Galatians 3:25) But when that faith came—we believers are no longer under a paedagogue. (Galatians 3:26) For all (not Jews only) of you are sons of God (with full pr...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΈΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΏ ΙΗΣΟΎ (G1722) в Иисуса Христа. Об использовании Павлом этой фразы _см._ Longenecker; DPL, 433-36....

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 2068 THE TRUE USE OF THE LAW Galatians 3:21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness sho...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    FOR YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD, &C.— As a further argument to dissuade them from circumcision, St. Paul tells the Galatians, that, by faith, that is, living faith, in Christ, all, whether Jews or...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    TEXT 3:26-29 (26) For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. (27) for as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. (28) There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there ca...

  • Combined Bible Commentary

    _ VERSE 26. FOR WE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS._ Paul as a true apostle of faith always has the word "faith" on the tip of his tongue. By faith, says he, we are the children o...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. CHILDREN - no longer children in years [paides], but [ huioi (G5207)], 'sons,' and that, too, not merely sons of Abraham, but of God. F...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    3 Paul now appeals to the experience of the Galatians themselves. Before the Judaisers came they received the Spirit of God, and suffered for the evangel, and did mighty works quite apart from the law...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JUSTIFICATION IS BY FAITH, NOT WORKS 1-14. The Apostle upbraids the Galatians with their speedy change from faith to legal observances, reminding them of the fact that their reception of the Spirit h...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    YE.. ALL] whether Jews or Gentiles, are no longer bondsmen (cp. Romans 8:14.), but sons: see Galatians 3:16; Galatians 3:17 are a kind of parenthesis....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    ‘God’s sons’ refers to an adult son that is able to receive his father’s property. In those days, only sons could receive such a gift. But Paul was not referring only to men. He was contrasting the ad...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE GALATIANS _HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 3 LIVE BY GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT, NOT BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS V1 You Galatians are foolish. You behave as if someone has used magic powers to lead...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    CHILDREN OF GOD. — The translation “children” here is unfortunate, as the point to be brought out is that the Christian is no longer in the condition of “children,” but in that of grown-up “_sons._” T...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    (25-29) But now the Law has been exchanged for the dispensation of faith. Henceforth the old state of pupilage is at an end. We are no longer like children, but adult members of the divine family — _s...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 15 THE EMANCIPATED SONS OF GOD. Galatians 3:25 "FAITH has come!" At this announcement Law the tutor yields up his charge; Law the jailor sets his prisoner at liberty. The age of servitude ha...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    BUT NOW WE ARE NO LONGER CHILDREN. YE ARE ALL SONS OF GOD: AT YOUR BAPTISM YE PUT ON CHRIST, AND WERE INVESTED WITH SPIRITUAL MANHOOD: ALL PREVIOUS DISTINCTIONS OF CREED OR RACE, OF POSITION OR NATURE...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE LAW LEADS TO CHRIST Galatians 3:20 The Mosaic law was not designed to be the final code of the religious life, but to prepare the soil of the human heart to receive Jesus Christ in all the fullne...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here begins the second division of the epistle, in which Paul deals with the doctrine of liberty. He begins with the exclamation, "O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you?" He then inquired, Did they...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (27) For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (27) Because age does not change the condition of servants, he adds that we are free by condition, and therefore, seeing we are out o...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (21) Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. (22) But the scripture ha...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Galatians 1:1-24. We saw the second of Corinthians characterized by the most rapid transitions of feeling, by a deep and fervent sense of God's consolations, by a revulsion so much the more powerful i...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    26._For ye are all the children of God_. It would be unjust, and in the highest degree unreasonable, that the law should hold believers in perpetual slavery. This is proved by the additional argument,...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    What a loss, dreadful and irreparable, to lose such a Christ, as we, under grace, have known Him; such a righteousness; such a love; the Son of God our portion, our life; the Son of God devoted for us...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    FOR YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD,.... Not by nature, as Christ is the Son of God, for he is the only begotten of the Father, and in such sense as neither angels nor men are the sons of God; nor by c...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Ver. 26. _The children of God_] Gr. The sons of God, grown up at man's estate; _Qui magnum ferulae subduximus, _ who are no longer under a...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster_ That is, the instructer of the childhood of us Jews, or of the church of God, in its state of minority; see on Galatians 4:3; _to bring us unto Christ_ To trai...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    FOR YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The Law's pedagogical task has now been completed:...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    FAITH IS THE ONE PRINCIPLE OF BLESSING (vs.1-9) "0 foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" (v.1). Little wonder, as Paul considers the principles and tremendous issues involved, that he speaks out...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    You are God's children by faith, therefore, you are not under the tutor....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    26-29 Real Christians enjoy great privileges under the gospel; and are no longer accounted servants, but sons; not now kept at such a distance, and under such restraints as the Jews were. Having acce...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    All you that believe, whether native Jews or Gentiles, are the children of God by adoption, through faith in Jesus Christ, 1 THESSALONIANS 1:12: so that you need not run back to the law to look for he...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. [Faith, announcing justification from sin, is like a messenger of the father's announcing maturity and liberty to the son so long under the...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book I There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."[64] Tertullian Agai...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Galatians 3:26 For G1063 are G2075 (G5748) all G3956 sons G5207 God G2316 through G1223 faith G4102 in...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.' For having responded to Christ we are accepted as righteous in God's sight and are thus adopted as full grown sons, sons who have reached m...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    Galatians 3:26. FOR YE ALL ARE SONS OF GOD. ‘All,' Jews and Gentiles alike (comp. Galatians 3:27-28). ‘Sons' (not ‘children,' E. V.), implies here the idea of age and freedom, as distinct from the sta...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    _The Educational Mission of the Law_. Paul now assumes a milder tone, and reasons with the Galatians from the common dealings of men. Even a human covenant is sacred and cannot be set aside, much more...

  • Scofield's Bible Commentary

    THE CHILDREN (Greek, "uihos", means "sons"). (_ See Scofield) - (Ephesians 1:5). _...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I lea...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Paul, writing, to those changeable Galatians, who had so soon deserted the faith, says to them in this chapter Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,_ Paul writes as if they had come under some kind of witchcraft, and been deluded by it. This seemed to astonish the apostle, so he cries o...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?_ These Galatians thought that...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Gift of Spirit by faith apart from law-works. Man under law-works is under the law curse. Christ bears the law curse that we might have the faith blessing. The true intent of the law. CHARA...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Galatians 3:1. _Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you:_ εβασκανε, who hath fascinated, beguiled, or seduced you by subtlety and cunning, and sought by ingenious malice to draw you from the trut...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    IT IS THROUGH FAITH. "The Law had no authority or ability to make us God's sons! It is through _faith_ that both Jews and Gentiles are _adopted_ as God's sons (Romans 8:15)!" [In the Bible, the _mascu...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GALATIANS—NOTE ON GALATIANS 3:26 YOU ARE ALL SONS OF GOD. Life under the law was slavery. Life in Christ is marked by the freedom that comes from being God’s “sons.” The Greek word used for “sons” is...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    CHAPTER 3 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER S. Paul proceeds to prove by five reasons that we are justified not by the law, or the works of the law, but by Christ. I. The first proof is drawn (ver. 2) from e...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    _For ye are all the children of God._ Both Jews, who were under the law, and Gentiles, who were not, are become, by faith in Christ, children of God. The conjunction _for_ is causal, and indicates the...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Galatians 3:26. YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD.—No longer children requiring a tutor, but sons emancipated and walking at liberty. Galatians 3:28. YE ARE ALL ONE IN C...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GALATIANS 3:1 O FOOLISH GALATIANS (ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται). In thus apostrophizing them, the apostle brands their present behaviour, not any lack of intelligence on their part in general...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Galatians chapter three. Background: Paul the apostle had been in the area of Galatia. Galatia was a general area like a county or a state. It was not a city. There...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 John 3:1; 1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Ephesians 1:5; Ephesians 5:1

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CROSS AND ITS OBJECTIVES Galatians 3:10; Galatians 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS The Cross must ever stand forth in the limelight of Bible and spiritual study. Apart from Christ's Calvary work we have...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    For ye — Christians. Are all adult sons of God — And so need a schoolmaster no longer....

  • William Burkitt's Expository Notes

    Observe here, 1. glorious gospel privilege discovered, namely, adoption; YE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD. The church of God, under the New Testament, is in. special state of sonship and adoption, to whom t...

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Old Testament