Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 3:29

"And if ye are Christ`s, then are ye Abraham`s seed, heirs according to promise." — Galatians 3:29 (ASV)

The third result of passing from law to grace through faith in Jesus Christ is that all who believe become one with those who have been saved by faith throughout the long history of salvation. Thus, by union with Christ, believers become “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Here that which Paul had previously declared to be Christ’s—the inheritance of the promise made to Abraham (3:16)—he now applies to the entire Christian church by virtue of its actually being Christ’s body. The verse carries the thought back to the beginning of the chapter.

The use of the word “seed” without the article is of great importance, for it keeps the necessity of a union with Christ constantly before the Galatians. The prize the legalizers had been holding before the eyes of the Galatian Christians in their hope to win them to the ceremonial aspects of Judaism was the possibility of becoming part of the physical seed of Abraham. Paul now replies that what the legalizers were offering through circumcision was actually already theirs in Christ. He is the seed to whom the promises were made. Believers enter into the promises by entering into him and become spiritual seed to God as well.