Galatians 4:28

Galatians 4:28 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
• New International Version (NIV)Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

Context of Galatians 4:28

26But Abraham's wife, Sarah, is a picture of the new Jerusalem that is above. Sarah was a free person, not a slave, and she is like our mother. 27It says in the Bible: ‘Be happy, you woman who could not have any children! You have never known the pain of a child's birth. But now shout loudly because you are so happy! Yes, be happy, because the lonely woman now has more children than the woman who has a husband.’ You, my Christian friends, are like Sarah's son, Isaac. Like him, you became God's children as a result of God's promise. 29Isaac was born because of God's Spirit. The son who was born in the human way gave much trouble to Isaac at that time. You who are believers receive the same kind of trouble now. 30But this is what it says in the Bible: ‘Send away the woman who is a slave and her son. That woman's son will never receive anything from his father. The son of the free woman will receive all those good things.’

Galatians 4:28 word by word

ὑμεῖς δέ, ἀδελφοί, κατὰ Ἰσαὰκ ἐπαγγελίας τέκνα ἐστέ.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Nowδέde · thenG1161
• weἐγώegō · I/weG1473
• brethrenἀδελφόςadelphos · brotherG80
• asκατάkata · according toG2596
• Isaac wasἸσαάκIsaak · IsaacG2464
• areεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• the childrenτέκνονteknon · childG5043
• of promiseἐπαγγελίαepaggelia · promiseG1860

Cross-references for Galatians 4:28

• Galatians 4:23Hagar was a slave. Her son was born as a result of what Abraham himself decided. But Abraham's wife, Sarah, gave birth to the other son. That son was born as a result of what God had promised to Abraham.
• Galatians 3:29And if you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham. Because of that, you will receive all the good things that God promised to Abraham.
• Acts 3:25You are the people who receive that message from God today. The promise that God made to bless our ancestors is the same promise that he makes to you. God said to our ancestor Abraham, “Through your descendants, I will bless all the people on the earth.”
• Romans 4:13God promised to Abraham, and to his descendants, that the world would belong to them one day. God did not promise that because Abraham obeyed any rules. God promised it because Abraham believed in him. That is why God accepted Abraham as right with him.
• Romans 9:8This means that not all of Abraham's children are really God's children. It is only those children who were born as a result of God's promise. Only they are the people that God calls true descendants.

Commentaries on Galatians 4:28

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 28Now we - Who believe in the Lord Jesus, are the children of promise - are the spiritual offspring of the Messiah, the seed of Abraham, in whom the promise stated that all the nations of the earth should be blessed.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 28Now we, brethren - We who are Christians. Are the children of the promise - We so far resemble Isaac, that there are great and precious promises made to us. We are not in the condition of Ishmael, to whom no promise was made.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 28-31Verses 28-31 The history thus explained is applied. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free. If the privileges of all believers were so great, according to the new covenant, how absurd for the Gentile converts to be under that law, which could not deliver the unbelieving Jews from bondage or condemnation! We should not have found out this allegory in the history of Sarah and Hagar, if it had not been shown to us, yet we…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 28-31Paul uses the story of Hagar and Sarah in 4:21–27 to explain the situation in Galatia. Isaac represents those born through God's promise (see 3:8) by the Spirit's power (3:2–5; see also Ephesians 1:13–14). These people trust in God for salvation through Christ by faith. Ishmael represents those who think following the law of Moses will make them acceptable to God (Galatians 3:10–11). This idea would have surprised the Judaizers, who believed they were…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2828. we--The oldest manuscripts and versions are divided between "we" and "ye." "We" better accords with Ga 4:26, "mother of us." children of promise--not children after the flesh, but through the promise (Ga 4:23, 29, 31). "We are" so, and ought to wish to continue so.Read the comment

Topics related to Galatians 4:28

• Abraham
• Isaac
• Justification
• Parables

In the dictionaries

• Isaac
• Doubt
• Flesh
• Observe
• Sarah
• Zealously
• Abraham
• Allegory
• Galatians, Epistle to the
• Ishmael (1)

Commentaries on Galatians 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings