Scripture Reading: Gal. 3:7, 9, 16, 19, 26-29
In Galatians 3 Paul speaks of the seed of Abraham (vv. 16, 19, 29) and the sons of Abraham (v. 7). The seed is singular, whereas the sons are plural. It is rather difficult for many readers of Galatians to understand the significance of this.
Concerning God’s promise to Abraham, there is the aspect of fulfillment and the aspect of enjoyment. To fulfill the promise is one thing, but to enjoy the blessing of the promise is another. Concerning promises made by one person to another, the one who fulfills the promise is seldom the one who enjoys the blessing of the promise. Usually the person who makes the promise is the one to fulfill the promise, and the one to whom the promise is made is the one who enjoys its blessing. In the case of God’s promise to Abraham, God, strictly speaking, is not the one to fulfill the promise. Instead, the promise is fulfilled by the seed, Christ (v. 16). Christ has fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham. Thus, the fulfillment of this promise does not depend on the many sons of Abraham, but on the unique seed of Abraham. However, with respect to the enjoyment of the blessing of this promise, the many sons are involved. Whereas the unique seed is the fulfiller, the many sons are the enjoyers. If we understand this matter, we shall be able to understand what Paul is talking about in Galatians 3.
Paul wrote the third chapter of Galatians as if he were an attorney writing a legal document. His wording is specific and precise. Consider verse 16: “But to Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed. He does not say, And to the seeds, as concerning many, but as concerning one, And to your seed, Who is Christ.” In verses 19 and 29 Paul also refers to the seed. But in verse 26 he speaks of the sons of God. The sons of Abraham in verse 7 are the sons of God in verse 26. Now we must ask how the many sons of Abraham can be the many sons of God. The answer to this question involves the seed. On the one hand, the seed is the heir who inherits the promise. However, as the seed of Abraham, Christ also fulfills the promise.
The children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, inherited the good land of Canaan. In typology, the good land signifies Christ. Christ is both the seed and the land. He is not only the seed inheriting the promise; He is also the good land. Both the seed and the good land are types of Christ. As the unique seed in Galatians 3, Christ not only inherits the promise, but He also fulfills the promise. The promise God made to Abraham was fulfilled by Christ as Abraham’s seed.
In the matter of fulfilling the promise, we have no part. Only Christ, the unique seed, is qualified to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham. In this sense, the seed is uniquely one. But in the aspect of enjoying the fulfilled promise, the seed becomes many, the many sons of Abraham.
We know from 3:16 that Christ is Abraham’s unique seed. Christ is the seed, and the seed is the heir who inherits the promises. Here, Christ is the unique seed inheriting the promises. Hence, in order to inherit the promised blessing, we must be one with Christ. Outside of Him, we cannot inherit the promises given by God to Abraham. In God’s eyes Abraham has only one seed, Christ. We must be in Him that we may participate in the promise given to Abraham. He is not only the seed inheriting the promise, but also the blessing of the promise for inheritance. For the Galatian believers to turn back from Christ to the law meant that they would forfeit both the Heir and the inheritance of the promises.
If Christ had not come, there would have been no way for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham. As we have pointed out, the One who fulfilled this promise is not the One who made the promise, but the promised One, the seed. God had promised to give Abraham both a seed and the good land. This promise was fulfilled by the unique, promised seed.
As the unique seed of Abraham, Christ includes all the believers who have been baptized into Him (3:27-28). In one sense, when Christ died on the cross, He was crucified alone as our Redeemer. But in another sense, when He was crucified, we were with Him. For the accomplishment of redemption, Christ was crucified alone. But for terminating the old creation, Christ included us in His crucifixion. In the same principle, in the fulfillment of the promise made by God to Abraham, we are not included as part of the unique seed. We can have no share in the fulfillment of this promise. However, for inheriting the promise and enjoying it, we are included. Christ alone fulfilled the promise. But Christ and we share in the enjoyment of the promise. Therefore, on the one hand, the seed is uniquely one; on the other hand, it is all-inclusive. For fulfillment, the seed is one; for inheritance and enjoyment, the seed is all-inclusive, including all believers who have been baptized into Christ.
In 3:19 we see that the promise was made to the seed before the law was given. The promise was made not to the many sons, but to the seed who fulfilled the promise.
The unique seed is also the good land. The seed here is not only for the fulfillment of the promise, but also for the inheritance of the promise. To inherit the promise is to inherit the good land. The unique seed is the land. This proves that the seed is also the one to fulfill the promise, not only the one to inherit the promise. If He were only the one to inherit the promise, who then is the land?
Galatians 3:7 says, “Know then that they who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham.” Works of law make people disciples of Moses (John 9:28) with nothing whatever related to life. Faith in Christ makes the New Testament believers sons of God, a relationship altogether in life. We, the New Testament believers, were born sons of fallen Adam, and in Adam, because of transgressions, we were under the law of Moses. But we have been reborn to become sons of Abraham and have been freed from the law of Moses by faith in Christ. We are sons of Abraham not by natural birth, but by faith. Hence, our being sons of Abraham is based upon the principle of faith. It is based on our believing, not on our working. Our basis for being sons of Abraham surely is not natural descent. We are Abraham’s sons according to the principle of faith.
In verse 9 Paul goes on to say, “So that they who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Under God’s dealing, Abraham was not working to please God. He was believing Him. Now we who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Faith is the reflection of grace. We may also say that faith is a photograph of the divine scenery. Through such faith we become true sons of Abraham. When we believed in Christ, an organic union took place. The divine life entered into us, and we were born of God through faith. As our faith photographed the divine scenery of grace, something of a real and substantial spiritual nature was infused into us. Although this substance is neither material nor physical, it is nonetheless very real. Faith is not superstition. It is related to substantial spiritual reality, a reality which admittedly is very mysterious. This reality is actually the processed Triune God Himself. When we exercise faith in Christ and thereby take a spiritual photograph of the divine scenery, the processed God enters into our being to be our life. This life is divine, spiritual, heavenly, and holy. Entering into us, it causes a spiritual birth to take place. This birth brings about an organic union between us and the Triune God. Because God has been born into our being, we have become sons of God. Thus, we may say that we are God-men.
Some Christians oppose the use of the term God-men and even defame us for saying that the believers in Christ, the sons of God through faith in Christ, are God-men. But according to the Bible, it is a divine fact that human beings can become sons of God. When we believed in Christ, the divine life with the divine nature — in fact, the divine Being of the Triune God Himself — entered into us, and we were born of God to become sons of God. Just as a man’s son partakes of his life and nature, so we as God’s sons partake of the divine life and nature. The offspring of a tiger is a tiger. In the same principle, God’s offspring are His sons possessing the divine life and the divine nature.
Certain early church fathers went so far as to speak of the “deification” of the believers in Christ. We need to be careful in using such a term. To say that the believers are deified to become objects of worship is blasphemy. But it is correct to say that the believers are deified in the sense of possessing the divine life and the divine nature. We may use the word deification in a limited sense to convey the fact that we have been born of God to become sons of God. Praise the Lord that God is our Father and that we are the same as He with respect to the divine life and nature! However, we emphatically state that we shall never be the same as God in the sense of deserving to be worshipped. It is blasphemy to claim that, as sons of God, we should be worshipped along with God. But it is not too much to say that because we are sons of God, we have the very life and nature of our Father. Far from being blasphemy, it is a glory to the Father to declare this fact.
Now we must go on to ask in what way the sons of God are also the sons of Abraham. Christ is both the Son of God and the Son of Abraham. Because we are now in Christ, we are sons of God on the one hand and sons of Abraham on the other hand. How can we be sons of God? Because we are in Christ, who is the Son of God. How can we be sons of Abraham? Also because we are in Christ, who is the Son of Abraham.
It is a matter of tremendous significance for the divine life to be imparted into us. This impartation of the divine life causes an organic union which makes us both the sons of God and the sons of Abraham. This organic union takes place exclusively in Christ. In Christ we enjoy the wonderful organic union with the Triune God. In this union we are, on the one hand, the sons of God and, on the other hand, the sons of Abraham. Christ is the unique sphere in which this all takes place. When we enter into this sphere, we become sons of God and sons of Abraham. Our true status is that in Christ and by the organic union we are both sons of God and sons of Abraham.
We are both sons of Abraham and sons of God because we have been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ (3:27). To believe is to believe into Christ (John 3:16), and to be baptized is to be baptized also into Christ. Faith in Christ brings us into Christ and makes us one with Christ, in whom is the sonship. We must be identified with Christ through faith so that in Him we may be sons of God. By both faith and baptism, we have been immersed into Christ, we have thus put on Christ, and we have become identified with Him.
Although we all have a natural life with a natural ancestry, we need not live any longer according to that life. Instead, we may live by the divine life with the divine nature. By living according to this life, we are in reality the sons of God and the sons of Abraham. We have been baptized into Christ, the unique seed who has fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham. We and Christ have been joined in a marvelous organic union. Because of this union, we are sons of God and sons of Abraham. Here in this organic union we inherit the promise which has been fulfilled by Christ. Actually, Christ Himself is this inheritance. The promise we inherit is the promise we now enjoy.
Galatians 3:28 says, “There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot be slave nor free man, there cannot be male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Here we see that the sons of Abraham are all one in Christ, without any natural status. In Christ there are no differences among races and nationalities, in social rank, or between the sexes.
Galatians 3:29 says, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Abraham’s seed is only one, Christ (v. 16). Hence, to be Abraham’s seed we must be Christ’s, a part of Christ. Because we are one with Christ, we are also Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise, inheriting God’s promised blessing, which is the all-inclusive Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed God to be our portion. Under the New Testament, the believers as God’s chosen people, being sons of full age, are such heirs, not under law but in Christ. The Judaizers who remained under law and kept themselves apart from Christ were, like Ishmael (4:23), Abraham’s descendants according to flesh, not, like Isaac (4:28), his heirs according to promise. But the believers in Christ are such heirs, inheriting the promised blessing. Hence, we should remain in Christ and not turn to law.
Since the law is unable to give us life (3:21), it cannot produce the sons of God. But the Spirit that is received by faith (3:2) and that gives us life (2 Cor. 3:6) can produce the sons of God. Law kept God’s chosen people under its custody until faith came (3:23). Faith in Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit makes God’s chosen people Abraham’s seed as “the stars of the heavens” (Gen. 22:17) according to God’s promise.
Now we are in a position to see a brief sketch of Galatians 3. This chapter reveals that God intended to give the promise to Abraham according to His eternal purpose. Before this promise was accomplished, the law was given to serve as the custodian of God’s chosen people. Then, at the appointed time, Christ, the promised seed, came to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham. When Christ came, the fulfillment of God’s promised blessing also came. This is grace. Hence, grace came with Christ and with the fulfillment. All this is on God’s side. On our side, we need a way to apprehend, realize, and grasp all that Christ, the seed, has accomplished. In other words, we need a spiritual camera to photograph the scenery of grace. This “camera” is our faith. Therefore, with the coming of grace on God’s side, there is also the coming of faith on our side. Now that we have grace, faith, and the seed which has fulfilled the promise, we no longer need the law to serve as our custodian. Hence, the law should be set aside. It should no longer have any place in the scenery. We must turn from the law, the custodian, and stay with Christ, the One who has fulfilled the promise. Of course, this means we should also stay with grace and faith. Then we shall be included in Christ, the unique seed, to inherit the fulfilled promise and to enjoy the blessing of the promise to Abraham. This blessing is the processed Triune God as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
