Galatians 3:16

Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed which is Christ.

"There is in this verse a sense of the corporate meaning of Christ, as in 1 Corinthians 12:12,[18] where is mentioned "the body of Christ" inclusively of all the redeemed. Christ is again called the "seed singular" in Galatians 3:19. This is the verse that tells "how" the Gentiles, and even the saints of the Old Testament, are saved. They are saved "in Christ," there being this correspondence between the manner of their salvation and our own, namely, that both for them and for us, the basis of it was "the obedience of faith," notwithstanding the tests for them were not the same as the test which those under the New Covenant must meet. For us, the manner of our being "in Christ" is dogmatically declared to be the baptism of believers "into Christ," as Paul would forcefully show a moment later (Galatians 3:27).

Howard thought this verse was "an afterthought";[19] Hendriksen spoke of "its being a bit of rabbinical casuistry (equivocal reasoning), ingenious perhaps, but unconvincing";[20] Coad labeled it a "parenthesis";[21] and on, and on. Clearly there is no help from the majority of commentators on this verse. Nevertheless, it is the key verse of the entire third chapter. This eliminates completely the nonsense about being saved "by faith only," by making it clear that all salvation is "in Christ," a principle which Paul repeated 169 times in his writings! It is tragic that people would prefer to label the apostle Paul as "an equivocator" rather than face the unwelcome truth of this passage.

[18] Everett F. Harrison, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 707.

[19] R. E. Howard, op. cit., p. 62.

[20] William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary on Galatians (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1968), p. 134.

[21] F. Roy Coad, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 134.