Galatians 3:7 Cross References

Galatians 3:7

7: The real children of Abraham, then, are all those who put their faith in God.

Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

And so it is: All who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.

So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him.
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians--you are one in Christ Jesus.
And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you.

Just the fact that they are descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. For the Scriptures say, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted," though Abraham had other children, too.
This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. It is the children of the promise who are considered to be Abraham's children.

It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead.

"Our father is Abraham," they declared. "No," Jesus replied, "for if you were children of Abraham, you would follow his good example.

Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a son of Abraham.

The circumcision ceremony was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous--even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are made right with God by faith.
And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.
It is clear, then, that God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God's law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.
So if you claim that God's promise is for those who obey God's law and think they are "good enough" in God's sight, then you are saying that faith is useless. And in that case, the promise is also meaningless.
But the law brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

I want you to know that our brother Timothy is now out of jail. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you.

Just so, when you see the events I've described taking place, you can be sure that the Kingdom of God is near.

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