Galatians 3:6-10

 

Gal 3:6 (KJB)
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
 
It was accounted - Reckoned, considered, or credited
 
(John 8:33 KJV) They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
 
(John 8:39 KJV) They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
 
Now Paul introduces a subject which would have been near and dear to the Jews of that day. Jesus had faced the rulers of Israel when He was here on Earth and one of their arguments against Him was that they were Abraham’s seed and that Abraham was their father. Paul states here that Abraham had believed God and that belief was accounted to him for righteousness. Paul was trying to convey that Abraham did not gain right standing before God by keeping any laws because the law was still about 600 years from being written down in the time of Moses. Therefore, it was important for them to know that Grace was in force even before the time of the effusion of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is also important to know that Abraham believed God because he was qualified to believe, in other words, before Abraham could believe God he had to become saved so the Holy Spirit could indwell him making him alive unto God. This is why Paul brought up Abraham because the Jews were under the impression that if they were the descendants of Abraham or the seed of Abraham, that would mean they would still be considered the chosen people of God.
 
Gal 3:7 (KJB)
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
 
Paul uses an emphatic “Know” to convey to the Galatians that those who are saved by grace alone, as Abraham was, are the true descendants of Abraham, regardless of race. Being a physical descendant was not a prerequisite for salvation. No longer was God dealing with only one nation, the true gospel was now going out to the world and those who would become saved by free grace would be those who would be considered children of Abraham. Everyone who reads this that is truly saved is a descendant of Abraham. God has in view a spiritual lineage and not a physical lineage.
 
Gal 3:8 (KJB)
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
 
Foreseeing - See beforehand or look forward
Justify - Declares not guilty or pronounce righteous
Heathen - Gentiles
 
(Gen 12:3 KJV) And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.  In Genesis, God had already determined that the Gospel would go the entire world. In Abraham’s time the gospel was preached to Abraham and since he was elect, he became saved. Now the gospel has always been the same throughout time, right from the beginning, the only thing that has changed since the beginning is the clarity of the presentation since Christ has come and gone back to Heaven. In the Old Testament, one must look at certain passages with gospel eyes to see it within the text. For example:
 
(Gen 49:10 KJV) The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
 
(Num 24:17 KJV) I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
 
(Micah 5:2 KJV) But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
 
Paul quotes that in Abraham all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. This is because God has His elect in every nation on earth. (Mark 16:15 KJV) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. The command to send forth the gospel is a worldwide command. It is not limited in scope to a certain area of the world but it is to go to the entire world. Every nation in the world shall be blessed because many will be saved out of all the different nations of the world. They will not be saved by keeping the law but will be saved by the hearing of the gospel and God applying that gospel to the hearts of His elect and thereby saving them. So the descendants of Abraham will be found in every country on earth and that is why Israel cannot claim to be the sole descendants of Abraham. Within both ancient and modern Israel, there will be those who will be the true spiritual descendants of Abraham while not being the physical descendants. (Rom 9:6 KJV) Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: There is no physical Jew on earth today who can give proof positive they are a direct descendant of Abraham.
 
Gal 3:9 (KJB)
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
 
So those who have become truly saved, are blessed with faithful Abraham. Those who are still under the law cannot make such a claim simply because Abraham did not have the law, so those who want to keep the law cannot claim they are a descendant of faithful Abraham, only those who have become truly saved. Again God does not care what race a person is, if they are saved, they are blessed with faithful Abraham. I am a third generation Hungarian but because of my salvation, I am a descendant of faithful Abraham.
 
Gal 3:10 (KJB)
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
 
(Deu 27:26 KJV) Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. The word “confirmeth” means “to rise or to stand in keeping the words.” In other words a person must make a conscious effort to keep every tenet of the law if they are to become saved by keeping it.
A curse is something that is damming or a denunciation and those who sought to continue in the works of the law were required to keep the law perfectly. If they did not, then the curse of the law took effect and that effect was eternal damnation. This is why Paul spoke of Abraham being faithful for even he would have been unable to keep the law perfectly. Abraham, like every other true believer, was justified by grace alone without the keeping of the law, which would have only adulterated grace and disallowed anyone from becoming saved. There is no such thing as combining partial grace and partial law for salvation, it is only by full, free grace alone that someone is saved.

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