1. Galatians 3:29 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What does it mean to be Abraham’s offspring ("seed," NIV)?

Galatians 3:29 (ESV)

29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Christ is the true offspring (seed) of Abraham (Galatians 3:16), the one who fulfilled the original redemptive promise given in Genesis 3:15. He is the only one who has the right to inheritance (life in God’s presence, Galatians 3:18). Those united to him by faith are also offspring of Abraham (Galatians 3:29) in the sense that they get to share in the inheritance that Christ has won (Galatians 3:26). The true offspring of Abraham are thus those who have faith, not those who can trace physical descent.1