For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
- BSB You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
- NKJV For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
- NASB For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
- NLT For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Through faith in Christ Jesus, all believers are sons and daughters of God. This is the heart of the gospel: full family standing comes by faith, not law-keeping.
Overview
Paul concludes his argument that the law was a temporary guardian (3:24-25) by declaring the result of Christ's coming: believers are now full children of God. The phrase 'through faith' underscores that sonship rests on union with Christ, not on works or ethnic descent. This sweeping 'you are all' anticipates verse 28's unity and grounds the believer's identity entirely in Christ rather than in the law.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Eph 1:5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
- 2 Cor 6:18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
- John 1:12–13But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
- Gal 4:5–6To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
- 1 Jn 3:1–2Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
- Rom 8:14–17For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
- Phil 2:15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
- Rev 21:7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
- Eph 5:1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
- John 20:17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
- Heb 2:10–15For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 3:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.