The Original Blueprint: Abraham's Gospel Text: Galatians 3:6-9
Introduction: The Ancient Feud
The book of Galatians is a firefight. It is not a quiet theological discourse for academics in a climate controlled library. It is the apostolic equivalent of a close quarters battle in a hallway. Paul is writing to a group of churches that he founded, churches that were being actively subverted by a group of theological con men we call the Judaizers. These men were teaching a gospel of Jesus-plus. They said, "Yes, believe in Jesus, that's a good start. But if you want to be a real Christian, a complete Christian, you must also be circumcised. You must also keep the ceremonial law. You must become a Jew first."
This was not a minor disagreement over liturgical preferences. Paul identifies this teaching as "a different gospel," which is to say, "not a gospel at all" (Gal. 1:6-7). To add anything to the finished work of Christ is to subtract Christ entirely. To add our works to His grace as a condition of our justification is to nullify grace and to fall from it (Gal. 5:4). This is why Paul is so ferocious in this letter. The eternal destiny of the Galatian Christians was at stake.
To win his argument, Paul does something that must have stunned the Judaizers. They were the ones appealing to Moses and the traditions of the fathers. They were the ones wrapping themselves in the flag of Abraham. So Paul takes the fight right to their chosen ground. He appeals to the Old Testament Scriptures. He goes back before the Law of Moses was ever given on Sinai. He goes back to the foundation, to the patriarch Abraham himself, to show that the gospel he preaches, the gospel of justification by faith alone, is not some new invention. It is the original blueprint. It is the ancient faith of our father Abraham. The Judaizers thought they were defending the family business, but Paul demonstrates that they were, in fact, trying to disinherit the true sons.
The Text
Just as Abraham BELIEVED GOD AND IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS, so know that those who are of faith, those are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
(Galatians 3:6-9 LSB)
The Test Case (v. 6)
Paul begins his scriptural argument by quoting the foundational text on this matter, Genesis 15:6.
"Just as Abraham BELIEVED GOD AND IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," (Galatians 3:6)
This is the heart of the matter. How did Abraham, the friend of God, get right with God? The Judaizers would have you look at his circumcision in Genesis 17. But Paul goes back two chapters earlier. Before Abraham was circumcised, before the Law was given, what was the transaction that made him righteous in God's sight? The Scripture is plain: he believed God. That's it.
The word "believed" here is not a weak, intellectual nod. It is not Abraham saying, "I suppose what God says is likely true." This is a robust, radical trust. God had promised Abraham, an old man with a barren wife, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. From a human perspective, this was laughable. It was biologically impossible. But Abraham did not look at the deadness of his own body or the deadness of Sarah's womb. He looked to the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist (Rom. 4:17). He took God at His word. This is what faith is: taking God at His word and acting accordingly.
And what was the result? It was "counted to him as righteousness." The Greek word is logizomai, an accounting term. It means it was credited to his account. This is the doctrine of imputation. God did not look at Abraham's fledgling faith and say, "Well, that faith is an admirable work, so I will treat it as a down payment on righteousness, and he can work off the rest." No, God credited Abraham's faith as righteousness. It was a legal declaration. At the moment Abraham believed, God looked at his spiritual ledger, which was filled with the red ink of sin, and stamped it in bold letters: RIGHTEOUS. Not because of what Abraham had done, or would do, but because he trusted the promise of God. The ground of his justification was the righteousness of the one promised, Christ himself, but the instrument by which he received it was faith, and faith alone.
The True Family Line (v. 7)
Paul then draws the inescapable conclusion from his test case. This is simple spiritual logic.
"so know that those who are of faith, those are sons of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7 LSB)
This verse was a bombshell. The Judaizers were obsessed with physical lineage. For them, being a "son of Abraham" was a matter of blood and blades, of genealogy and circumcision. They were the original racial supremacists. They believed their ethnic identity gave them a special standing with God. Paul demolishes that entire framework. He says, you want to know who the real children of Abraham are? It's not about your bloodline. It's about your faith-line.
If Abraham was justified by faith, then it follows that all who are justified in the same manner, by faith, are his true children. The defining family characteristic is not what is in your blood, but what is in your heart. Do you trust God's promises like Abraham did? Then you are in the family. This means a Gentile believer in Galatia who has never been circumcised, but who trusts in Christ, is more a son of Abraham than a circumcised, ethnically Jewish man in Jerusalem who rejects Christ and trusts in his own works. Faith is the true spiritual DNA.
This is a radical redefinition of the people of God, but it is not a redefinition at all. It is a clarification of what was true from the very beginning. The covenant was never merely about ethnicity; it was always about faith. Paul is not inventing a new family; he is simply reading the original family charter correctly.
The Ancient Gospel (v. 8)
But Paul pushes it even further. Not only is this how it has always been, but this was God's plan from the very beginning. The inclusion of the Gentiles was not a divine Plan B.
"And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.'" (Galatians 3:8 LSB)
Notice how Paul personifies the Scripture. "The Scripture, foreseeing..." This is a high view of inspiration. The Scripture is not a dead letter; it is the living voice of God, speaking with divine foreknowledge. The Old Testament Scriptures knew what God was up to. They saw the end from the beginning.
And what did the Scripture foresee? That God's plan of justification by faith was not just for the Jews. It was for the Gentiles. The whole project was aimed at the nations from the outset. And when did God make this plan known? Paul says He "proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham." The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a New Testament novelty. The essential message, that God saves sinners by grace through faith on the basis of a promised Redeemer, was preached to Abraham four thousand years ago.
The specific gospel promise quoted here is from Genesis 12:3 and 22:18. "In you all the nations will be blessed." How would this happen? How would one man's family become a blessing to every tribe and tongue on earth? It would be through his seed, singular (v. 16), who is Christ. The blessing is not a vague feeling of goodwill. The blessing is justification. The blessing is being declared righteous before God. And this blessing would overflow the banks of Israel and flood the entire world. The Judaizers wanted to build a wall; God was always planning to open a gate.
The Common Blessing (v. 9)
Paul now ties it all together in a concluding summary.
"So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer." (Galatians 3:9 LSB)
The logic is airtight. If the gospel was preached to Abraham, and the central promise of that gospel was a blessing for all nations, and that blessing comes through faith, then the conclusion is simple. "Those who are of faith," whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, "are blessed."
And what is the nature of this blessing? They "are blessed with Abraham." We get the same blessing he got, in the same way he got it. It is a shared, common blessing. There is not one way for Abraham to be saved and another way for us. There is not a Jewish plan of salvation and a Gentile plan of salvation. There is one God, one faith, one Savior, and one family. We all come to God through the same door: the door of faith in His promise.
Notice the final description of Abraham: "Abraham, the believer." Or, as it could be translated, "faithful Abraham." This is his defining characteristic. This is what God wants written on his tombstone. Not "Abraham, the circumcised," or "Abraham, the wealthy patriarch," but "Abraham, the man who believed God." That is his legacy, and it is the only legacy that matters. It is the only inheritance that can be passed down to his spiritual children.
Conclusion: Are You in the Family?
The implications of this passage are massive. First, it establishes that the gospel is one, unified story from Genesis to Revelation. The Old Testament is not a book of legalism to be contrasted with the New Testament's book of grace. The gospel is in the Old Testament, and the law is upheld in the New. God has always saved His people in exactly the same way: by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Second, it demolishes all forms of spiritual pride and elitism. We are not saved because we are from a good Christian family, or because we were baptized as an infant, or because we are members of a sound church, or because we are American. We are saved for one reason only: we have abandoned all trust in ourselves and have cast ourselves entirely on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. Your pedigree, whether ethnic or religious, means nothing in the court of heaven. The only question is, are you "of faith?"
The Judaizers were trying to make Christianity into an exclusive club with high membership fees. Paul insists that it is a family, entered into by birth, the new birth, which is received by faith. The question for us today is the same one that confronted the Galatians. On what are you resting for your right standing with God? Is it Jesus, plus something you do? Jesus plus your quiet times? Jesus plus your moral effort? Jesus plus your political activism?
If there is any "plus," you have fallen from grace. You are not a son of Abraham. But if your answer is nothing, nothing but the blood of Jesus, if you are trusting with the simple, desperate faith of Abraham, then you are in the family. You are a true son. You have been blessed with faithful Abraham, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against you.