Children of Abraham – Galatians 3
‘Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.’ — Galatians 3:7
When I was a boy, we used to sing a song called, ‘Father Abraham, had many sons…’ It was an active song that required lots of energy. Though I enjoyed the song, I never really knew what the song meant. The idea of the song comes from Galatians 3.
In Galatians, God through Paul is combating an error that was being taught to Gentile believers – that they had to keep the law to be saved. This idea is totally false, and a careful study of the Bible will reveal that faith in God is the key to salvation.
One key example is Abraham, who ‘believe God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’ (Gal 3:6 quoting Genesis 15:6). This justification of Abraham took place hundreds of years before the law, sometime before God instituted the rite of circumcision (Gen 17:24,26), and certainly to a man who was far from perfect.
God holds Abraham up as a pattern for all people in how to be saved – through faith. Galatians 3:7 says that ‘they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.’ And this is what God was talking about when He said in Genesis 12:3, ‘In thee shall all nations be blessed.’
So, though Abraham was the father of the Israelite nation, he can be a Jewish person’s biological ‘father’ (ancestor) without being their spiritual father. But Abraham is also the father of all who believe because he models the way all people – Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, men and women – get saved.
So, have you come to believe on Christ like Abraham did? Have you followed in His footsteps? Has the blessing of justification through faith that Abraham received been given to you as well? If not, then believe on the Lord, believe on His promised deliverer, Jesus Christ who died for you, and you too can be declared righteous by God and become a child of God and ‘a child of Abraham’.