Galatians 3:26 - “For ye are all the children of God BY FAITH in Christ Jesus.”
“Free will choice”/Arminians love to quote this verse in their misguided efforts to try to overthrow the clear doctrines of Election and Predestination.
They seem to read the text as though it said “Ye are all the children of God BECAUSE OF YOUR FAITH” as though that is how we become children of God.
But that is not what the text nor the context of this verse is teaching, and their wrong understanding of this verse ends up directly contradicting a massive amount of other verses that tell us that we are the children of God according to His promise and the purpose of God according to the election of grace. Romans 9:8-11.
And they completely ignore the Biblical truth that faith itself is the gift of God given to his elect people. That is why it is called “the faith of God’s elect” - Titus 1:1, and Jesus himself is the author and finisher of our faith - Hebrews 12:2.
Romans 12:3 "For I say, through the grace given unto me, TO EVERY MAN THAT IS AMONG YOU, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as GOD HATH DEALT TO EVERY MAN THE MEASURE OF FAITH."
The "every man" in the context is the "every man among you" or those who are already Christians. That is whom the apostle Paul was writing to. "To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints....I thank God through Jesus Christ for YOU ALL, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." Romans 1:7-8
Not everyone has faith. 2 Thessalonians 3:2 "for all men have not faith" and obviously there are unbelievers.
If you think you got this faith to believe all on your own, then you are guilty of the very thing Paul cautions us against. You are thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think.
Philippians 1:29 "For UNTO YOU IT IS GIVEN in the behalf of Christ, not only TO BELIEVE ON HIM, but also to suffer for his sake."
Did you get that? If you are among those who believe the gospel, it is because IT WAS GIVEN TO YOU TO BELIEVE ON HIM. Words can't be much clearer than this.
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES, IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD."
And the “free will choice”/Arminians blow right on by the stated Biblical reasons why some do NOT and indeed CANNOT believe.
John 10:26.
Jesus said to the Pharisees "BUT YE BELIEVE NOT, BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF MY SHEEP, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
Please notice it does not say "you are not My sheep because you do not believe", as if by believing they would become His sheep, but rather THE REASON THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT HIS SHEEP.
Jesus calls His people His sheep even before they hear His voice. John 10:16. "And other sheep I HAVE, which are not of this fold: them also I MUST BRING, and THEY SHALL HEAR MY VOICE; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."
Likewise in John chapter 8 where the Lord Jesus is speaking to some religious Pharisees he tells them that they are of their father the devil (8:44) and he further states: "And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. He asks them: "And if I say the truth, WHY do ye not believe me?" Then he tells them why they do not believe - "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF GOD."
Again, notice that he does not say "If you would hear my words then you would become of God", but rather the very reason they could not hear the words of God is BECAUSE they are not of God.
Another reason given in Scripture why SOME CANNOT BELIEVE is because God blinds their eyes and hardens their hearts.
John 12:37-40 "But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him; That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE, BECAUSE that Esaias said again, HE (God) HATH BLINDED THEIR EYES, AND HARDENED THEIR HEART; THAT THEY SHOULD NOT SEE with their eyes, NOR UNDERSTAND with their heart, AND BE CONVERTED, and I should heal them."
One of the most common responses I get from the "free willers" when I ask them WHY do some people have faith and others do not, is for them to cite Romans 10:17 - "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Yet this is NOT answering the question as to WHY some believe and others do not.
This verse tells us HOW they came to believe, but it does not tell us WHY they believe or WHY they have faith.
And if we follow the logic of their thinking, then it follows that ANYBODY who simply hears the word of God preached automatically has faith; and we all know this is not true at all.
And Who is it that opens the ears so that some CAN hear, and Who also closes the ears of others so that they CANNOT hear?
See more on Romans 10:17 in my separate article on this verse here -
http://brandplucked.com/faithbyhearingro1017.htm
Does God appoint certain men to unbelief?
Yes, Scripture says that He does. In 1 Peter 2:7-9 we read: "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to THEM WHICH STUMBLE AT THE WORD, BEING DISOBEDIENT; WHEREUNTO ALSO THEY WERE APPOINTED, BUT YE ARE A CHOSEN GENERATION, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
GOD closes the eyes and ears of the non-elect.
"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but THE ELECTION hath obtained it, AND THE REST WERE BLINDED. (According as it is written, GOD HATH GIVEN THEM THE SPIRIT OF SLUMBER, EYES THAT THEY SHOULD NOT SEE, AND EARS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT HEAR;) unto this day." Romans 11:7-8
So what does Galatians 3:26 really teach?
The whole argument of the context of Galatians is contrasting those who cannot be justified (shown to be righteous) by the law, but who are now justified (shown to be righteous) by faith.
We are characterized or shown to be the children of God by faith. We do not become children of God by faith, and this faith was given to us by God himself.
God’s word teaches that we (his elect) ARE his sheep even BEFORE we hear his voice. “And other sheep I HAVE, which are not of this fold (the Jewish believers); THEM ALSO I MUST BRING, and THEY SHALL HEAR MY VOICE; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” John 10:16.
And we ARE the children of God BEFORE we are gathered - “…he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, BUT THAT ALSO HE SHOULD GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE THE CHILDREN OF GOD THAT WERE SCATTERED ABROAD.” John 11:51-52.
This last phrase refers to the children of God among the Gentile nations who had not yet heard the gospel of salvation. Yet God refers to them as His children, even before they hear of what Christ had done for them at the cross.
John Gill comments on this verse saying:
“For ye are all the children of God,.... Not by nature, as Christ is the Son of God, for he is the only begotten of the Father, and in such sense as neither angels nor men are the sons of God; nor by creation, as Adam and all mankind, and the angels are; but by divine adoption by an act of God's rich and sovereign grace, putting them among the children in saying this the apostle directs himself to the Gentiles for their comfort, and says this of them all in a judgment of charity, they being under a profession of faith; lest they should think, because they were not Abraham's seed according to the flesh, nor were ever trained up under the law as a schoolmaster, that they were not the children of God: whereas they were such not by the law, as none indeed are, but by faith in Christ Jesus; not that faith makes any the children of God, or puts them into such a relation; no, that is God's own act and deed; of his free rich grace and goodness, God the Father has predestinated his chosen ones to the adoption of children, and has secured and laid up this blessing for them in the covenant of grace”
ALL of grace, believing the Book - the King James Holy Bible.
Will Kinney
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