Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 3:8

"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, [saying,] In thee shall all the nations be blessed." — Galatians 3:8 (ASV)

Paul now continues to use Scripture as evidence of what he has already concluded in v.7. His quotation from Ge 12:3 makes two points: (1) that the blessing promised to Abraham was from the beginning intended to include the Gentiles as well as the Jews, and (2) that the Gospel promise preceded everything else in God’s dealings with his people, including the giving of the law (cf. v.17).

The unusual way the OT is cited here makes this an important verse in assessing the value given the OT by Paul and other NT writers. The Scriptures are personified here; they “foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham.” Paul views the Scriptures as if they were God speaking (cf. also Ro 9:17). Such verses highlight an absolute identification of Scripture with the words of God in the minds of the NT writers and are important biblical support for the historical Christian belief in the total inspiration of the Bible.