Galatians 3:5-9 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

He therefore Namely, God; that ministereth to you the Spirit Who is continually giving you additional supplies of grace by the Spirit; and worketh miracles, &c. Bestows the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit upon you; doeth he it by the works of the law Through your hearing and embracing the doctrine of those who inculcate the necessity of observing the ceremonies of the law; or by the hearing of faith By your hearing, receiving, and acquiescing in the doctrine of justification and salvation by faith in Christ and his gospel? Or doeth he it in confirmation of men's preaching justification by observing regal rites, or of their preaching justification by faith? Even as Abraham, &c. Doubtless he does it in confirmation of that grand doctrine, that we are justified by faith even as Abraham was. The apostle, both in this and in the epistle to the Romans, makes great use of the instance of Abraham; the rather, because from Abraham the Jews drew their great argument (as they do at this day) both for their own continuance in Judaism, and for denying the Gentiles to be the church of God. As Abraham believed God When God said, Thy seed shall be as the stars; and it was accounted to him for righteousness Because his belief of this promise implied that he entertained just conceptions of the divine power, goodness, and veracity. See notes on Romans 4:3-22. Know then that they which are of faith Who receive God's truths and promises in faith, relying on the power, goodness, and faithfulness of God to fulfil them; the same are the children of Abraham Show themselves to be his spiritual children, of the same disposition with him, and entitled to the same blessings of which he was the heir. And the Scripture That is, the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration the Holy Scriptures were written; foreseeing that God would justify the heathen When he should call them by his grace, in the same manner as he justified Abraham; only through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham Declared to him the glad tidings of salvation; saying, In, or through thee As the father of the Messiah; shall all nations Gentiles as well as Jews; be blessed That is to say, by their faith in that glorious person who is to descend from thee, all persons, of whatever nation they be, who imitate thy ready and obedient faith, shall obtain justification, and all other blessings, as Abraham did by his faith. So then The inference to be drawn is; all they And they only; who are of faith Who believe God as Abraham did, and show their faith by their works; are blessed with faithful Abraham Shall inherit the promises made to him, and the blessings promised, though they are as he was when he first received these promises, in a state of uncircumcision, and always remain in that state, and never comply with the ceremonies of the Mosaic law.