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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Galatians 3:26 - 3:26
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26. πάντες γὰρ κ.τ.λ. It has been thought that Gal 3:26-29 are an appeal to the experience of the Galatians; having, as they have found, all these privileges, they surely cannot be any more under the Law. But it is questionable whether this does not assume too much experimental religion on the part of the Galatians, and also there is no appeal (as in Gal 3:2; Gal 3:5) to their reception of the Spirit or the existence of miraculous or other gifts. It is better therefore to understand the verses as laying down principles. You are no longer under a paedagogue, for, as I must remind you, you are already sons of God in Christ, yes, all are received in Him, and if you are in Him then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.
πάντες. Primarily whether Jews or Gentiles, but it serves as an occasion for mentioning various conditions of life in Gal 3:28.
γὰρ. Not merely giving he reason for saying πάντες (“why he ranks Galatians and Jews together”), but for speaking of their freedom in Gal 3:25.
νἱοὶ. More than τέκνα (Gal 3:7 note), and even παῖδες (a word not employed by St Paul but suggested by the previous παιδαγωγός), which in the present context would be almost equivalent to νήπιοι (Gal 4:1).
θεοῦ. Here added not in contrast to Abraham (Gal 3:7) as being greater, but rather as being the fundamental privilege of believers, which proves itself eventually to carry with it the further privilege (which has been so much under discussion) of being sons of Abraham (Gal 3:29). But in itself it does not bear the emphasis of the sentence. That is chiefly on νἱοί (in contrast to those under a paedagogus), though formally on πάντες.
διὰ τῆς πίστεως. Here probably “your faith.”
ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ: faith centred on Christ and resting in Him, Col 1:4; Eph 1:15. These parallels make it improbable that ἐν Χρ. Ἰης. are to be taken with νἱοὶ θεοῦ ἐστε as R.V.; cf. also Gal 3:22. The names are in this order (contrast Gal 3:22) because Χρ. takes up Gal 3:24, and Ἰης. is an addition expressly identifying Messiah with Jesus.