And you, brothers and sisters, 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.
- BSB Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
- NKJV Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, 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 4:23However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise.
- Rom 9:8–9That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs.
- Rom 4:13–18For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
- Gal 3:29If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
- Acts 3:25You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
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.