Gal. 3:15-18, Law or Promise?

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.  He paid the ransom price, recovering us from the powerful curse of death on us because we are law-breakers!  The price was that He give His life, as a sacrificial lamb.  His blood was shed, and that blood, the blood of a truly righteous Man, has been accepted by God as full-payment for our sin and guilt.  We are justified by faith, not law.

Today’s paragraph is critical to Paul’s argument in Galatians (to which, perhaps you say, they are all critical).  The picture Paul has in mind again comes from the OT and Israel’s time of slavery in Egypt.  God gave the promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to each of them.  The specific words, and to your seed, appear in Gen. 12:7; 13:15 to Abraham and Gen. 24:7 to Isaac.  In each case, the NKJV translates the Hebrew word zera as “descendants.”  But the word means “seed” and it is singular, not plural.  It is not to “seeds.”  Paul is very specific about this in Gal. 3:16: He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 

Thus, God made this promise to Abraham and Isaac.  And then what happened?  By the end of Jacob’s life, the entire family had moved to Egypt (in the time of Joseph).  One thing led to another, and eventually the people of Israel (Jacob) were enslaved by the Egyptians.  They were there, we are told in the OT, for 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41).  That is what Paul is referring to in 3:17.  Not long after leaving Egypt they came to Mt. Sinai where the Law was delivered to Moses.

Now what is the point of all this?  In 3:15 we see that God made a covenant with Abraham.  It was completed in God’s promise to Abraham and confirmed in the covenant ceremony in Gen. 15, after Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.  Thus, when God made the covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai, it did not affect the covenant He made with Abraham.  They are two different things.  God’s promise was made to Abraham and God, who is true and faithful, will not add some conditions to that covenant after Abraham has died.

Therefore, we see that law is not only contrary to faith (3:10-14); law is contrary to promise (3:15-18).  God made a promise to Abraham, that the Gentiles would be blessed through him, referring to the Messiah who would come from Abraham.  This inheritance, for Abraham’s Seed, cannot be replaced later by a different covenant.  The Abrahamic was unconditional, based totally on faith.  The Mosaic Covenant was all conditional, based on obedience. 

The point here is to establish the continuing validity of God’s promise to Abraham.  The next obvious question is, “was there something wrong with the law, that it could not justify us in the sight of God?”  And that comes next.  For now, let us praise our God for His faithfulness in keeping the promise to us through Christ!