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§16 Gentiles Are Inheritors of God’s Promise to Abraham through Being in Christ (Gal. 3:26–4:7)

3:26 / The basis upon which Paul makes the previous statement in verse 25 is his conviction that the Galatians are all sons of God by virtue of their being in Christ Jesus. Paul continues to work with the metaphor of inheritance to underscore that all of his readers are inheritors of God’s promise. Paul emphasizes that the Galatians already are “sons” or inheritors of God’s promise. (Paul’s use of “sons” is meant not to exclude the female members of the Galatian churches, but to work with the inheritance metaphor. In the ancient world it was generally sons and not daughters who could expect to be inheritors.) For the benefit of both his Gentile Galatian converts and the Jewish Christian troublemakers who would have eventually heard his words, Paul says that “all” receive the inheritance through the faith of Jesus Christ.

The Greek contains two consecutive prepositional phrases, dia tēs pisteōs and en Christō Iēsou, reading literally “through the faith” and “in Christ Jesus.” By means of “the faith”—both the action of believing and the faith of Christ—all are “sons of God.” And by being “in Christ Jesus” all are “sons of God.” For Paul and the early Christians who proclaimed this confession “the faith” was synonymous with being “in Christ.”

This verse introduces what many regard as a pre-Pauline baptismal formula (3:26–28). If this is the case, we have here one of the earliest Christian self-descriptions.

3:27 / Paul declares that the Galatians have clothed themselves with Christ. A similar phrase occurs in Romans 13:14, in which being clothed in Christ is equivalent to avoiding “deeds of darkness.” The metaphor of being clothed is used in other literature of Paul’s time for putting on virtue (e.g., Wisdom of Solomon 5:18). It is used in the Septuagint in connection with receiving the Spirit (e.g., Judg. 6:34). The image of being clothed with Christ becomes a feature of Christian hymns in the first century: for instance, in the Odes of Solomon, “In form he was considered like me, that I might put him on” (7:4; trans. Charlesworth). Thus, being clothed with Christ is putting on Christ’s character, which is that of righteousness. Paul reinforces his claim that the Galatians have no need to search for righteousness in any place other than their present life in Christ. In a situation in which believers are being asked to take on the law, Paul calls these believers to recognize their new identity as those who are clothed with Christ.

Paul appeals to his readers’ having been baptized. Different religious groups or individuals in the ancient world used water ablutions ritually, both Jews (e.g., John the Baptist, the Qumran community, Bannus [see Josephus, The Life 11]) and Gentiles (e.g., in the cults and mysteries of Eleusis, Isis, Bacchus, and Mithras). The significance attached to this sacred washing was different in each context. Even within early Christianity various understandings of baptism are in evidence. In some cases a direct connection is made between baptism and the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8), in others between baptism and repentance (Acts 2:38). Paul speaks infrequently about baptism. It appears that he considered his task primarily to be that of preaching (1 Cor. 1:17). What he says in letters other than Galatians about baptism accords with what he says here—baptism is into Christ (Rom. 6:3) and results in unity, even the unity between Jew and Greek, slave and free (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13). Romans 6 elaborates on the claim that baptism is baptism into Christ. Baptism is into Christ’s death (Rom. 6:3), which is a death for sin (Rom. 5:6–8) and which deals with sin (Rom. 5:10). Being baptized into Christ saves one from sin’s power and allows one to become as Christ is—righteous. Furthermore, baptism is a sharing in the drama of Christ. Through baptism a person dies with Christ and hopes for resurrection (Rom. 6:4). Paul’s main point in Galatians 3:27 is, however, not to describe what happens in baptism but to affirm that his readers are “in Christ.” Because they are in Christ they do not need to add anything to their faith and may live in the freedom that belongs to heirs.

3:28 / Being clothed with Christ results in a new self-perception. The implication of this statement is that to regard oneself or others primarily in ethnic (Jew or Greek), social (slave or free), or gender (male and female) terms is to use categories inappropriate to the present, for after the coming of faith, those who believe are “sons of God,” “clothed with Christ,” and “in Christ.” For those Galatians “in Christ,” the law, which maintains ethnic boundary lines and delineates social and gender distinctions, has no relevance. Paul makes statements similar to Galatians 3:28 in 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Colossians 3:11. These two other letters were written from and to circumstances different from those in Galatia, which suggests that this statement was an early and widely used description of the faith.

Only Galatians 3:28 contains the phrase neither male nor female. In the Greek the phrase stands out because it reads literally “male and female” in distinction from “Jew nor Greek,” “slave nor free.” The phrase exactly echoes the Septuagint of Genesis 1:27: God created man “male and female.” Perhaps early Christians chose this phrase deliberately so as to signify that in baptism a new creation occurs (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17), one that redefines even the most basic features of the original creation.

The inclusion of the phrase “male nor female” in Galatians may be because of the issue of circumcision. In this regard it is interesting to read Justin Martyr, whose comments indicate the positive way that the church’s rejection of circumcision could redound to women. Justin comments that

the inability of the female sex to receive fleshly circumcision, proves that this circumcision has been given for a sign and not for a work of righteousness. For God has given likewise to women the ability to observe all things which are righteous and virtuous; but we see that the bodily form of the male has been made different from the bodily form of the female; yet we know that neither of them is righteous or unrighteous merely for this cause, but [is considered righteous] by reason of piety and righteousness. (Dialogue with Trypho 23 [ANF 1.206])

The center of gravity in the confession of 3:26–28 is Christ. Christ is the transformative locus of the faith the Galatians know. Through reference to what may have been a widely used baptismal confession, Paul reminds the Galatians of their initial understanding of the faith. Their original commitment was to a worldview in which they understood themselves to have gained a new identity, one rooted in and defined by Christ. This identity transcended all typical social distinctions and the moral distinctions that resulted from such social differentiating, and upon this shared understanding the affirmation in verse 29b is based. Paul expects the Galatians to fully embrace the self-understanding articulated in 3:27–29a, and so he uses it as another way to support his point that Gentiles are inheritors of the promise to Abraham without following the law.

3:29 / Paul asserts that the Galatian believers belong to Christ, which means that they are Abraham’s seed. The word “seed” is plural and brings to mind Paul’s comments in 3:16. In that verse Paul argued that the promise was given to the singular “seed,” Christ. Now Paul includes the Galatian believers in that promise on the basis of their belonging to Christ. The key element for receiving the promise of inheritance is whether or not one is “in Christ,” or, as Paul puts it here, “belongs to Christ.” Those who are in Christ are the heirs. Paul’s use of the simple present tense, you are, highlights his desire to convince the Galatians to acknowledge and embrace the wondrous new life they have.

4:1 / Paul now draws a tighter circle around the opponents of his gospel. Using the first person singular, which was more characteristic of the earlier part of the letter, he works with the concept of the heir. Paul points out that being an heir is not enough in and of itself, if the heir is still a child. While an heir theoretically owns the whole estate … as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave. An inheritance is of no benefit unless one is an adult.

4:2 / The minor lives neither freely nor fully. Rather, he is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. Paul equates the type of life advocated by the rival evangelists with the confining life of minors. His pregnant phrase “until the date set by his father” signals what he will declare in verse 4, that the appointed time is here.

4:3 / In saying that the Galatians and he once were children Paul implies that in the present they are heirs. As minors are restricted by guardians and trustees, so humans without Christ were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. For Paul’s point to have an impact he must expect the Galatians to have some appreciation of the negative aspect of the “basic principles of the world” (stoicheia tou kosmou). This suggests that the Galatians originally understood their new life as one of freedom from these “basic principles of the world.” Paul’s legal metaphor has moved into the existential realm.

Paul’s statement that “we were in slavery,” when it is read in conjunction with his qualification of the basic principles (stoicheia) as being of the world, suggests that he is making a statement about a general, widely held attitude. He is appealing to a worldview in which the human condition was seen as subject to the forces of the cosmos; this worldview was often accompanied by fear or fatalism. By implicitly equating being under the law with being enslaved to the “basic principles of the world,” Paul finds another way to focus his readers’ attention on the folly and danger of adding the law to faith in Christ.

4:4 / Continuing with the concept of the time-limited purpose of the law, Paul writes that at a particular point, when the time had fully come, God ended the age of minority and the period of enslavement. With the coming of Jesus, when God sent his Son, a new period in God’s salvation plan has begun (cf. Rom. 8:3). The implicit warning to the Galatian readers is that by adding the law to their faith they are going backwards and are becoming out of sync with God’s plan.

Paul’s use of the christological title “Son” resonates with the surrounding verses, in which he states that believers are also “sons of God.” Paul underscores, perhaps by alluding to an already known christological formulation, that the Son of God is to be identified as the one born of a woman, born under law. His reference to Jesus’ Jewish birth may be a retort to an argument of the rival evangelists. Jesus’ Jewishness could well have been used to persuade Gentile converts to adopt Jewish practices. Paul here affirms the Son of God’s Jewishness but with a view to a different outcome.

4:5 / God sent God’s Son so that those under law might be redeemed. The law’s confining function is emphasized, as it was in 3:23. The role of Christ was to redeem, to buy out of slavery, those imprisoned under law (cf. 3:13). According to Paul, that which the Galatians are considering as an addition to their faith in Christ is the very thing that Christ was commissioned to bring freedom from. Christ’s Jewishness is not a reason for believers to adopt the Jewish law. It is the means by which God brought in the new age of freedom from the law.

God also sent God’s Son so as to allow the Galatians and other believers to receive the full rights of sons. Picking up the theme of inheritance and using a word for adoption (huiothesian; here translated “full rights”) that in the Greek is built on the root “son,” Paul states that through Christ God has made it possible for all believers to partake of the heritage of God’s Son. Paul uses the concept of adoption to solve from another angle the problem of how Gentiles can be legitimate descendants of Abraham. His reference to Christ’s Jewish birth in the previous verse is employed here to declare that now believers share in Christ’s lineage, but not by being under law.

4:6 / Using the present tense, Paul declares that his readers are sons, that is, they are the legitimate heirs.

Just as God sent the Son to do the work of redeeming those under the law, to allow for adoption (4:4–5), so God sent the Spirit of his Son into the hearts of all sons of God. The adoption is not only legal, for believers receive the Spirit of Christ so that they can authentically call God “Abba, Father.” Paul affirms that God’s work of adoption is a wholistic work: God makes it possible for believers to become God’s legitimate children and to know themselves as such, through the Spirit.

In all likelihood Paul is referring to the Galatians’ experience of the Spirit, to which he referred earlier (3:2–5). He uses this experience to demonstrate again that they already have all they could ever ask for. While the metaphor of legal minority has broken down by this point in Paul’s argument, the present image of sons being able directly to address their father still works with the metaphor. Believers have gained special status with God and are no longer “subject” (4:2) to anyone else’s authority. Through the spirit they know themselves to be what they are—children of God (cf. Rom. 8:15–16).

4:7 / Paul brings his use of the inheritance metaphor to a conclusion by stating that now the Galatians should think of themselves as a son. The previous argument has demonstrated that to take on the law would be to become a slave. The key to receiving the inheritance is not to follow the Jewish law but to embrace what God has given them in Christ. Already, as children of God (4:6), God has made them also an heir. Paul’s choice here of singular rather than plural nouns may be so as to indicate that the Galatians are now a people in a manner comparable to the OT’s use of the singular “son” or “child” of God for Israel (e.g., Hos. 11:1). We see something similar elsewhere in the NT when believers are described as a people (1 Pet. 2:9).