Martin Luther on Galatians 3:29

Verſe. 29. And if ye be Chriſtes, then are ye Abrahams Seede, and heires by promiſe. That is to ſay: If ye be beleue and be baptiſed into Chriſt, if ye beleue (I ſay) that he is that promiſed Seede of Abraham which brought the Bleſſing to all the Gentiles,The Gentiles that beleue, are the Seede of Abraham. then are ye the childrē of Abraham, not by nature, but by adoption. For the Scripture attributeth vnto it, not onely the children of the fleſh, but alſo of adoption and of the promiſe, and foreſheweth that they ſhall receaue the inheritāce, and the other ſhall be caſt out of the houſe. So Paule in few wordes tranſlateth the whole glory of Libanus, that is to ſay, of the nation of the Iewes, vnto the deſert, that is, vnto the Gentiles. And this place comprehendeth a ſinguler conſolation: to witte, that the Gentiles are the children of Abraham, and conſequently the people of God. But they are the children of Abraham, not by carnall generation, but by the promiſe. The kingdom of heauen then, life, and the eternall inheritaunce belongeth to the Gentiles. And this the Scripture ſignified long before when it ſayeth:Geneſ. 17.5. Geneſ. 22.18. I haue made thee a Father of many nations. Againe: In thy Seede shall all nations be bleſſed. Nowe therefore becauſe we which are Gentiles doe beleue, and by Faith doe receiue the Bleſſing promiſed to Abraham & exhibited by Chriſt, therfore the Scripture calleth vs the children and heires of Abraham, The Gentiles are the childrē and heires of Abraham, and the people of God. not after the fleſh, but after the promiſe. So that promiſe: In thy ſeede, &c. belongeth alſo to all the Gentiles, and according to this promiſe Chriſt is become ours. The promiſe made to the Ievves, & not to the Gentiles. Pſal. 147.19.20 In dede the promiſe was made onely to the Iewes, and not to vs that are Gentiles. Pſal. 147. He ſhevveth his vvorde vnto Iacob. &c. He hath not delte ſo vvith euery nation, &c. Notwithſtandyng, that which was promiſed commeth vnto vs by faith, by the which onely we apprehende the promiſe of God. Albeit then that the promiſe be not made vnto vs, yet is it made as touching vs and for vs: for we are named in the promiſe:The Gentiles are named in the promiſe. In thy ſeede ſhall all nations be bleſſed. For the promiſe ſheweth plainely that Abraham ſhould be the father, not onely of the Iewiſh nation, but of many nations, and that he ſhould be the heyre,Rom. 4.13.17. not of one kingdome, but of all the worlde. Rom. 4. So the glory of the whole kingdome of Chriſt is tranſlated vnto vs. Wherefore all lawes are vtterly ablioſhed in the hart and conſcience of a chriſtian: notwithſtanding they remaine without ſtil in the fleſh. And hereof we haue ſpoken largely before.