Below are some preliminary questions to assist in the study of this passage. For a comprehensive study of the passage, download the Study Guide (PDF download).
1. According to verse 6 (printed below), how was Abraham justified, or acquitted, before God?
…Abraham “believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness” (Galatians 3:6)
In verse 6 Paul points out that Abraham was justified by faith. The apostle quotes Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.” Abraham had no righteousness of his own; he had no personal merit before God. The Lord accepted Abraham on the basis of Abraham’s faith: Abraham trusted the Lord’s word and the Lord’s ability to fulfill His purpose and promise. Thus Paul is arguing that it is the clear statement of Scripture that Abraham was justified by faith (in the Lord), not by works that he himself produced and presented to the Lord.
2. According to verse 7 (printed below), who are the true sons of Abraham?
…you must understand that those who have faith, they are the sons of Abraham. (Galatians 3:7)
Having dealt with the question, How was Abraham justified (accepted by God?), in verse 7 Paul goes on to deal with the next question, Who are the true sons of Abraham? The heretical teachers who were troubling the churches of Galatia claimed that they were the children of Abraham because of their physical descent from Abraham. But what these men failed to realize was that there is not only a physical relationship with Abraham, there is also a spiritual relationship—and it is the spiritual relationship alone that is all-important with regard to salvation. This is the very truth that the apostle Paul is emphasizing here in Galatians 3:7; namely, one must believe in Christ in order to be a true son of Abraham.
3. Up to this point Paul has demonstrated that it is not enough for a Jew to merely be a physical descendant of Abraham, it is essential for him to possess the same faith in the Lord as Abraham had. But what about the Gentiles? See verse 8 (printed below).
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, announced the good news in advance to Abraham, proclaiming, “All the nations shall be blessed through you.” (Galatians 3:8)
Once again Paul provides the answer from Scripture, quoting Genesis 12:3. The Lord declared to Abraham, “All the nations shall be blessed through you.” Abraham is the source of blessing because it would be from his lineage that the promised Savior would come. The Lord asserts that “all the nations” shall be blessed. The blessing of salvation is promised not only to Abraham’s direct descendants (the believing Jews) but to all who possess the same faith as Abraham.
4. In contemporary terms, how does Paul’s teaching apply to a person who has a devout Christian heritage and a devout father like Abraham? What does such a person need to understand? What does he need to do?
By way of contemporary application: we must each one personally and individually possess the same saving faith in Christ as our forefathers. We must not put our trust in being part of the religious heritage passed down from our forefathers, putting our confidence in the fact that “my own name is recorded in the same church role as my godly grandfather.” We must not put our trust in the mere fact that we happen to be the physical offspring of godly forefathers, putting our confidence in the fact that “Dad had a great relationship with the Lord, I am his son/daughter, so I guess the Lord will accept me, too, for dad’s sake because I am his child.” Rather than putting our faith in our forefathers and whatever religious heritage we may have received from them, we must imitate their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. On what does Paul base his teaching (note, for instance, verse 8, printed below?) What is the significance of this?
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, announced the good news in advance to Abraham, proclaiming, “All the nations shall be blessed through you.” (Galatians 3:8)
Paul bases his teaching on the Old Testament Scriptures. He is quoting from passages found in the book of Genesis. Galatians 3:6 contains a quotation from Genesis 15:6. Galatians 3:8 contains a quotation from Genesis 12:3. This shows that the New Testament teaching is a continuation and fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures and that the New Testament is not a new religion distinct from the Old Testament. (Note Revelation 10:11, a passage in which the voice of the Old Testament prophets informs the New Testament apostle John that he and his fellow apostles must carry on the ministry they had begun.) This also teaches us that all our doctrine and beliefs must be founded upon the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and not derived from any other source.
