Galatians 3:8
The gospel foretold to Abraham
- The gospel’s word προευαγγελίζομαι proeuangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
and the Writing, having foreseen that God declares righteous the nations by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham:
또 하나님이 이방을 믿음으로 말미암아 의로 정하실 것을 성경이 미리 알고 먼저 아브라함에게 복음을 전하되 모든 이방이 너를 인하여 복을 받으리라 하였으니
또 하나님께서 믿음을 통해 이교도들을 의롭게 하려 하심을 성경 기록이 미리 보고 아브라함에게 미리 복음을 선포하여 이르되, 네 안에서 모든 민족들이 복을 받으리라, 하였으니
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Gal 3:6-14 as a whole
The apostle proves the doctrine he had blamed the Galatians for rejecting; namely, that of justification by faith without the works of the law. This he does from the example of Abraham, whose faith fastened upon the word and promise of God, and upon his believing he was owned…
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Gal 3:8
And the scripture - That is, the Holy Spirit, who gave the scripture. Foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles also by faith, declared before - So great is the excellency and fulness of the scripture, that all the things which can ever be controverted are therein both…
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Paul calls Abraham as his witness. Wesley observes that "from Abraham the Jews drew their great argument" Wesley, and Paul answers on that very ground. He begins with the Abraham who "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Galatians 3:6), and here he says that Abraham heard the gospel long before the law, which came "430 years later" (Galatians 3:17).
The verb, , comes only here in the New Testament: euangelizomai with pro-, "beforehand." Its aorist, proeuēngelisato, points to a moment in Genesis. Its subject is Scripture itself, which, having foreseen (proidousa) what God would do, preached the gospel ahead of time. What it foresaw was that "God would justify the Gentiles by faith." The Greek verb there is present, dikaioi, "justifies," and many read it as a standing truth: God's way of putting people right with himself was the same in Abraham's day as in Paul's.
What Abraham heard was this: "All nations will be blessed through you." Paul's wording joins two promises: "through you" from Genesis 12:3 and "all the nations" from Genesis 18:18. The first gospel was a blessing for the nations through one man, and verse 14 names its arrival: "that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:14).
The KJV says that the scripture "preached before the gospel unto Abraham," keeping the gospel word inside the verb; the BSB and the LSV say "foretold the gospel" and "foretold the good news." The same Greek word, ethnē, stands twice in the verse: the Gentiles whom God justifies and all the nations who are blessed. The KJV's "the heathen" and "all nations," like the BSB's "the Gentiles" and "All nations," divide it into two English words. Read in Greek, the nations who are blessed are the very Gentiles who are justified. The LSV prints the promise itself at the start of verse 9.
Matthew Henry explains the figure: "The Scripture is said to foresee, because the Holy Spirit that indited the Scripture did foresee" Matthew Henry. He concludes "that justification by faith is no new doctrine, but was taught in the church of God, long before the times of the gospel" Matthew Henry. Wesley sees in the verse the fullness of Scripture: "So great is the excellency and fulness of the scripture, that all the things which can ever be controverted are therein both foreseen and determined" Wesley.
The gospel was not a second plan drawn up after the law failed; it was promised to Abraham before the law was given. Among the "all nations" of that promise stands anyone, in any country, who reads this verse.