Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
- KJV Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
- NKJV Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
- NASB And you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.
- NLT And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.
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
Like Isaac, believers are children of promise. Our place in God's family rests on His gracious promise, not on human effort or descent.
Overview
Paul applies the allegory directly: Christians correspond to Isaac, born not by the flesh but by God's promise. This affirms that believers' status as God's children is entirely a gift of grace received by faith. It also assures them of their secure identity over against the false teachers' demands.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Gal 4:23His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.
- Rom 9:8–9So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.
- Rom 4:13–18For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
- Gal 3:29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
- Acts 3:25And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 4:28 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
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