Many Sons Had Father Abraham: Galatians 3:6-9
“6) Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 7) Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8) The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” 9) So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” Galatians 3:6-9
Paul now uses his classical argument about Abraham. He notes that Abraham the father of the Jews was justified by faith and not by the works of the Law. He was referring to Genesis 15:6 and Gods promise about his descendants when he was childless. This same argument is used in Romans 4:3, 4:19-25, and James 2:23.
This was a profound argument for three reasons. First, it was in keeping with the biblical account of Abraham being justified by faith in the book of Genesis. Second, Abraham lived over four centuries before Moses wrote the Law. Finally, Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation.
This leads to Paul’s next argument in the book of Galatians, Abraham was the father of two groups of people. He was the father of physical descendants and he was the father of faith descendants. Paul actually goes so far as to say that the faith descendants were more significant than the physical descendants.
In Galatians 3:7 Paul states, “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” The next verse points out that the Scriptures were laying the foundation for God to justify the Gentiles by faith. This is amazing, Paul actually says that God preached the gospel beforehand Abraham saying, “All nations shall be blessed in you.” As the song says, “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham.”
He then put the hammer to the nail in verse 9 and says, “So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” By doing this Paul points out that the roots of the gospel and the doctrine of justification by faith goes all the way back to the promise God made to Abraham. He was arguing that the redemptive plan for the Gentiles was not new, rather it was Gods plan from the beginning.
This was a bullet proof argument. His full line of reasoning takes two chapters to unpack. As a new Christian, I though Galatians 3-4 were mundane, as I started growing in the Lord I came to realize they were profound and empowering.
When you fully comprehend these two chapters, the whole Bible takes on new meaning and you and I become part of a much bigger story that goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. As Gentiles, we were in the mind and heart of God from the very beginning.
The story can actually be traced back to Genesis 3:15 when God told the servant that a future descendant of the woman would crush his head. This was the first promise of a Messiah/Redeemer. Make no mistake, you and I are part of a much larger plan than we can imagine.
Daily Bible Commentary By Terry Baxter: Cofounder of GoServ Global