The continuance of faith after the giving of the Law 3:15-18

 

3:15-16 Paul now turned to the objection that when God gave the Law He terminated justification by faith alone. He reminded his readers, with a human analogy, that even wills and contracts made between human beings remained in force until the fulfillment of their terms. Likewise the covenant God made with Abraham remains in force until God fulfills it completely. The promises made to Abraham extended to his descendants as well as to him personally. They even extend to Christ, the descendant of Abraham who became the greatest source of blessing God promised would come through his descendants. Paul did not mean that Christ fulfilled the Abrahamic Covenant completely. He meant that through Christ, the descendant of Abraham, God continued to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant. The Mosaic Law did not supersede (take the place of) the Abrahamic Covenant.

The Hebrew word for "seed"or "offspring"(zera, v. 16) is a collective singular that can refer either to one descendant or to many descendants. An English collective singular, for example, is "sheep"that can refer to one sheep or to many sheep. Paul explained that the seed God had in mind in Genesis 13:15 and 17:8 was the one descendant, Christ.⁹⁹

"The term seednot uncommonly denotes all the descendants of some great ancestor, but it is not normally used of one person. Used in this way it points to the person as in some way outstanding; the seedis not simply one descendant among many but THE descendant."¹⁰⁰

The Four Seeds of Abraham in Scripture

Natural Seed

All physical descendants of Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3, 7; et al.

Natural-Spiritual Seed

Believing physical descendants of Abraham

Isaiah 41:8; Romans 9:6, 8; Galatians 6:16

Spiritual Seed

Believing non-physical descendants of Abraham

Galatians 3:6-9, 29

Ultimate Seed

Jesus Christ

Galatians 3:16; Hebrews 2:16-17

3:17-18 Paul summarized his point in verse 17.

The 430 years probably began with God's reiterating the promises to Jacob at Beersheba as he left Canaan to settle in Egypt (in 1875 B.C.; Gen. 46:2-4). They probably ended with the giving of the Mosaic Law (in 1446 B.C.; Exod. 19).

The "inheritance"(v. 18; cf. v. 29; 4:1, 7; 5:21) refers to what God promised to Abraham and his descendants including justification by faith implicit in blessing. Reception of this did not depend on obedience to the Law, but God guaranteed to provide it. The idea of inheritance dominates much of the discussion in the following chapters.¹⁰¹

". . . the inheritance of Gal. 3:18 and 4:30 is parallel not with the land promises, Canaan, but with the gift of justification to the Gentiles. This is the major passage in the New Testament used to equate the inheritance of the land of Canaan with heaven, but the land of Canaan is not even the subject of the passage!"¹⁰²