Galatians 3 · Verse 29

Galatians 3:29

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:29, King James Version

Galatians 3:29 in other translations

BSBAnd if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
WEBIf you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
ASVAnd if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.
YLTand if ye are of Christ then of Abraham ye are seed, and according to promise--heirs.
DARBYbut if ye are of Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.
BBEAnd if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.
WebsterAnd if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

What does Galatians 3:29 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
29. and heirs--The oldest manuscripts omit "and." Christ is "Abraham's seed" (Ga 3:16): ye are "one in Christ" (Ga 3:28), and one with Christ, as having "put on Christ" (Ga 3:27); therefore YE are "Abraham's seed," which is tantamount to saying (whence the "and" is omitted), ye are "heirs according to the promise" (not "by the law," Ga 3:18); for it was to Abraham's seed that the inheritance was promised (Ga 3:16). Thus he arrives at the same truth which he set out with (Ga 3:7). But one new "seed" of a righteous succession could be found. One single faultless grain of human nature was found by God Himself, the source of a new and imperishable seed: "the seed" (Psa 22:30) who receive from Him a new nature and name (Ge 3:15; Is 53:10, 11; Joh 12:24). In Him the lineal descent from David becomes extinct. He died without posterity. But He lives and shall reign on David's throne. No one has a legal claim to sit upon it but Himself, He being the only living direct representative (Eze 21:27). His spiritual seed derive their birth from the travail of His soul, being born again of His word, which is the incorruptible seed (Joh 1:12; Ro 9:8; 1Pe 1:23).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 29. And if ye be Christ's. If you belong to the Messiah, and are interested in his work.

Then are ye Abraham's seed. The promise made to Abraham related to the Messiah. It was a promise that in him all should be blessed. Abraham believed in that Messiah, and was distinguished for his faith in him who was to come. If they believed in Christ, therefore, they showed that they were the spiritual descendants of Abraham. No matter whether they were Jews or Gentiles--whether they had been circumcised or not--they had the same spirit which he evinced, and were interested in the promises made to him.

And heirs according to the promise. See Rom 8:17. Are heirs of God. You inherit the blessings promised to Abraham, and partake of the felicity to which he looked forward. You have become truly heirs of God, and this is in accordance with the promise made to Abraham. It is not by the obedience of the law; it is by faith--in the same way that Abraham possessed the blessing: an arrangement before the giving of the law, and therefore one that may include all, whether Jews or Gentiles. All are on a level; and all are alike the children of God, and in the same manner, and on the same terms that Abraham was.

(a) "Abraham's seed" Gal 3:7 (b) "heirs" Rom 8:17

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 29 And if ye be Christ's - Or, as several good MSS. read, If ye be one in Christ. If ye have all received justification through his blood, and the mind that was in him, then are ye Abraham's seed; ye are that real, spiritual posterity of Abraham, that other seed, to whom the promises were made; and then heirs, according to that promise, being fitted for the rest that remains for the people of God, that heavenly inheritance which was typified by the earthly Canaan, even to the Jews. 1. The Galatians, it appears, had begun well, and for a time run well, but they permitted Satan to hinder, and they stopped short of the prize. Let us beware of those teachers who would draw us away from trusting in Christ crucified. By listening to such the Galatians lost their religion. 2. The temptation that leads us astray may be as sudden as it is successful. We may lose in one moment the fruit of a whole life! How frequently is this the case, and how few lay it to heart! A man may fall by the means of his understanding, as well as by means of his passions. 3. How strange is it that there should be found any backslider! that one who once felt the power of Christ should ever turn aside! But it is still stranger that any one who has felt it, and given in his life and conversation full proof that he has felt it, should not only let it slip, but at last deny that he ever had it, and even ridicule a work of grace in the heart! Such instances have appeared among men. 4. The Jewish covenant, the sign of which was circumcision, is annulled, though the people with whom it was made are still preserved, and they preserve the rite or sign. Why then should the covenant be annulled? This question admits a twofold answer. 1. This covenant was designed to last only for a time, and when that time came, having waxed old, it vanished away. 2. It was long before that void, through want of the performance of the conditions. The covenant did not state merely, ye shall be circumcised, and observe all the rites and ceremonies of the law; but, ye shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. This condition, which was the very soul of the covenant, was universally broken by that people. Need they wonder, therefore, that God has cast then off? Jesus alone can restore them, and him they continue to reject. To us the new covenant says the same things: Ye shall love the Lord, etc.; if we do not so, we also shall be cut off. Take heed, lest he who did not spare the natural branches, spare not thee; therefore, make a profitable use of the goodness and severity of God.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Galatians 3:26-29

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 accepted Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and relying on him alone for justification and salvation, they become the sons of God. But no outward forms or profession can secure these blessings; for if any man have not the…

Read the full comment on Galatians 3:26-29 →

Galatians 3:29 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

εἰeiIfG1487
δὲdenowG1161
ὑμεῖςhumeisyou yourselves [are]G4771
Χριστοῦ,ChristouChrist’s,G5547
ἄραarathenG686
τοῦtou<the>G3588
ἈβραὰμAbraamAbraham’sG11
σπέρμαspermaseedG4690
ἐστέ,esteyou are,G1510
κατ᾽kat᾽according toG2596
ἐπαγγελίανepangelian[the] promiseG1860
κληρονόμοι.¶klēronomoiheirs.G2818

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Galatians 3:29

  • Ephesians 3:6

    That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

  • Romans 9:7-8

    Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

  • Galatians 3:7

    Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

  • Romans 8:17

    And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

  • Romans 4:16-21

    Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: …

  • Galatians 4:22-31

    For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. …

  • Galatians 4:7

    Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

  • Titus 3:7

    That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

  • Revelation 21:7

    He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

  • Romans 4:12-14

    And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

  • James 2:5

    Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

  • 1 Corinthians 3:22-23

    Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Christ's.
5:24; 1Co 3:23; 15:23; 2Co 10:7
Abraham's.
7,16,28; 4:22-31; Ge 21:10-12; Ro 4:12,16-21; 9:7,8; Heb 11:18
heirs.
4:7,28; Ro 4:13,14; 8:17; 1Co 3:22; Eph 3:6; Tit 3:7; Heb 1:14; 6:17
Heb 11:7; Jas 2:5; Re 21:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Galatians 3:28

    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.

  • Galatians 3:29

    And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Read all of Galatians 3

Galatians 3:29 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y si vosotros sois de Cristo, ciertamente la simiente de Abraham sois, y conforme á la promesa los herederos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Or si vous êtes de Christ, vous êtes donc la semence d’Abraham, héritiers selon la promesse.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wenn ihr aber Christi seid, so seid ihr denn Abrahams Same und nach Verheißung Erben.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Si autem vos Christi, ergo semen Abrahæ estis, secundum promissionem hæredes.