Galatians 3:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Galatians 3:8
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
justify
δικαιοῖdikaioi
G1344
to render (i.e. show or regard as) just or innocent · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
heathen
ἔθνηethnē
G1484
a race (as of the same habit) · noun — accusative plural neuter
through
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
faith
πίστεωςpisteōs
G4102
persuasion · noun — genitive singular feminine
gospel
προευηγγελίσατοproeuēngelisato
G4283
to announce glad news in advance · verb — aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
Abraham
ἈβραὰμAbraam
G11
Abraham · noun — dative singular masculine, a proper name
In
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
thee
σοίsoí
G4671
to thee
shall
εὐλογέωeulogéō
G2127
to speak well of
all
πάνταpanta
G3956
all · adjective — nominative plural neuter
nations
ἔθνη.ethnē
G1484
a race (as of the same habit) · noun — nominative plural neuter
blessed
εὐλογέωeulogéō
G2127
to speak well of
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the sout…
Genesis 18:18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
Genesis 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the…
Romans 3:28-30 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them tha…
Galatians 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Galatians 3:6-18
The apostle having reproved the Galatians for not obeying the truth, and endeavoured to impress them with a sense of their folly herein, in these verses he largely proves the doctrine which he had reproved them for rejecting, namely, that of justification by faith without the works of the law. This he does several ways.
I. From the example of Abraham's justification. This argument the apostle uses, Rom. 4. Abraham believed God, and that was accounted to him for righteousness (Gal 3:6); that is, his faith fastened upon the word and promise of God, and upon his believing he was owned and accepted of God as a righteous man: as on this account he is represented as the father of the faithful, so…
And--Greek, "Moreover."
foreseeing--One great excellency of Scripture is, that in it all points liable ever to be controverted, are, with prescient wisdom, decided in the most appropriate language.
would justify--rather, "justifieth." Present indicative. It is now, and at all times, God's one way of justification.
the heathen--rather, "the Gentiles"; or "the nations," as the same Greek is translated at the end of the verse. God justifieth the Jews, too, "by faith, not by works." But he specifies the Gentiles in particular here, as it was their case that was in question, the Galatians being Gentiles.
preached before the gospel--"announced beforehand the Gospel." For the "promise" was…
The Scripture, foreseeing - See the notes on Rom 4:3-16 (note). As God intended to justify the heathen through faith, he preached the Gospel that contains the grand display of the doctrine of salvation by faith, before, to Abraham, while he was in his heathen state; and thus he is called the father of believers: therefore it must refer to them who shall believe the same Gospel among the Gentiles; and, as the door of faith was open to all the Gentiles, consequently the promise was fulfilled: In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
The Church Fathers
The greatest cause for triumph in Abraham was that, before his circumcision, faith was reckoned to him for righteousness. This is most correctly referred to the promise that "All nations shall be blessed in you," meaning of course by the following of his faith, by which he was justified even before the ordinance of circumcision, which he received as a token of faith, and long before the servitude of the law, which was given much later.
"preached the gospel beforehand." As signifying a great good, salvation through faith. For this is what the phrase "preached the gospel beforehand" indicates. "In you shall all the nations be blessed." The "in you" that is, in your seed, who is Christ. But how are they blessed? Through faith, namely, of which Abraham is the pioneer. Moreover, the "in you" can be understood as through the faith from him. The "in you," according to your pattern and likeness, is interpreted by Saint Cyril, in the second book of his treatise on worship, which is On the Spirit and on Truth, interprets at the beginning of the book ἐν σοί as "in you," that is, to your imitation and likeness.
God, providing that the descendants of Abraham should not be mixed with the other nations … marked off the Israelite people by a particular rite: circumcision.… After that for forty years no one was circumcised in the wilderness. They were living without any intermixing with other nations.… As soon as the people crossed the river Jordan and the host poured out onto the territory of Judea in Palestine, he made provision by a necessary circumcision against the future error from miscegenation with the Gentiles. But the fact that the people are said to have been circumcised a second time by their leader Joshua signifies that circumcision had ceased in the wilderness, though practiced in Egypt for a good reason. Believers now are cleansed by our Lord Jesus Christ through a spiritual circumcision.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Heathen — (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word goyim denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the…
Gospel, The · Preached beforehand to Abraham — Preached beforehand to Abraham
Heathen, The · Salvation of, foretold — Salvation of, foretold
Justification · 23:6; — 23:6;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Galatians 3:8
And the Scripture foreseeing,.... This seems to agree with the Jewish forms or citing passages of Scripture, , "what does the Scripture foresee?" and , (n) "what does the law foresee?" The Scripture here, by a "prosopopeia", is represented as foreseeing an event that would come to pass, and accordingly spoke of it before hand, and designs God the author of the Scripture; and so the Syriac version renders it, "for seeing" , "that God" foreknew, &c. and means either the Holy Spirit, who searches the deep things of God, is privy to all his counsels and decrees, and to this of the justification of the Gentiles; or God the Father, who justifies the uncircumcision through faith, according to hi…
Galatians 3:6-9
6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
6. Quemadmodum Abraham credidit Deo, et imputatum est illi in justitiam. (Genesis 15:6 Romans 4:3 James 2:23.)
7. Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
7. Cognoscite ergo, quod qui ex fide sunt, ii sunt filii Abrahae.
8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
8. Scriptura autem, quia praevidebat, quod ex fide justificet Deus Gentes, ante evangelizavit Abrahae: In to benedicentur omnes Gentes. (Genesis 22:18.)
9. So t…
the Scriptures looked forward: By faith, Abraham foresaw the coming Messiah (cp. John 8:56) and received the message that “All nations will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18).Through Abraham’s offspring, the Messiah, God would accept all nations on the same basis as Abraham himself—by faith.
