New Living Translation
Galatians 4:28
28And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.
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 the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. 27As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!” And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. 30But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
Read all of Galatians 4Galatians 4:28 word by word
ὑμεῖς δέ, ἀδελφοί, κατὰ Ἰσαὰκ ἐπαγγελίας τέκνα ἐστέ.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Galatians 4:28
- Galatians 4:23The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.
- Galatians 3:29And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
- Acts 3:25You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the families on earth will be blessed.’
- Romans 4:13Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.
- Romans 9:8This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.
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
In the dictionaries
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
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