Galatians 3:18
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain
Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain
Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain
- εἰeiIfG1487CONDConjunction
- γὰρgarforG1063CONJConjunction
- ἐκekbyG1537PREPPreposition
- νόμουnomou[the] Law [is]G3551N-GSMNoun Genitive Singular Masculine
- ἡhētheG3588T-NSFDefinite article Nominative Singular Feminine
- κληρονομίαklēronomiainheritanceG2817N-NSFNoun Nominative Singular Feminine
- οὐκέτιouketino longerG2089PRT-N + G2089=ADV
- ἐξexbyG1537PREPPreposition
- ἐπαγγελίας·epangeliasa promiseG1860N-GSFNoun Genitive Singular Feminine
- τῷtō[the]G3588T-DSMDefinite article Dative Singular Masculine
- δὲdebutG1161CONJConjunction
- ἈβραὰμAbraamto AbrahamG11N-DSM-PNoun Dative Singular Masculine Individual
- δι᾽di᾽throughG1223PREPPreposition
- ἐπαγγελίαςepangeliasa promiseG1860N-GSFNoun Genitive Singular Feminine
- κεχάρισταιkecharistaihas granted [it]G5483V-RNI-3SVerb Perfect Middle Or Passive Deponent Indicative 3rd Singular
- ὁho[the]G3588T-NSMDefinite article Nominative Singular Masculine
- θεόςtheosGodG2316N-NSM-TNoun Nominative Singular Masculine Title
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Greek, not the KJV's wording. Why?
This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Greek word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Greek word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “charity” where the gloss reads “love”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.
Words in [ ] are added by the English.
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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Galatians 3:6–18. He set out his notes in a two-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.
The apostle having reproved the Galatians for not obeying the truth, and endeavoured to impress them with a sense of their folly herein, in these verses he largely proves the doctrine which he had reproved them for rejecting, namely, that of justification by faith without the works of the law. This he does several ways.
I.From the example of Abraham's justification.
This argument the apostle uses, Rom. 4. Abraham believed God, and that was accounted to him for righteousness (Galatians 3:6); that is, his faith fastened upon the word and promise of God, and upon his believing he was owned and accepted of God as a righteous man: as on this account he is represented as the father of the faithful, so the apostle would have us to know that those who are of faith are the children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7), not according to the flesh, but according to the promise; and, consequently, that they are justified in the same way that he was. Abraham was justified by faith, and so are they. To confirm this, the apostle acquaints us that the promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12:3), In thee shall all nations be blessed, had a reference hereunto, Galatians 3:8. The scripture is said to foresee, because he that indited the scripture did foresee, that God would justify the heathen world in the way of faith; and therefore in Abraham, that is, in the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, not the Jews only, but the Gentiles also, should be blessed; not only blessed in the seed of Abraham, but blessed as Abraham was, being justified as he was. This the apostle calls preaching the gospel to Abraham; and thence infers (Galatians 3:9) that those who are of faith, that is, true believers, of what nation soever they are, are blessed with faithful Abraham. They are blessed with Abraham the father of the faithful, by the promise made to him, and therefore by faith as he was. It was through faith in the promise of God that he was blessed, and it is only in the same way that others obtain this privilege.
II.He shows that we cannot be justified but by faith fastening on the gospel, because the law condemns us.
If we put ourselves upon trial in that court, and stand to the sentence of it, we are certainly cast, and lost, and undone; for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, as many as depend upon the merit of their own works as their righteousness, as plead not guilty, and insist upon their own justification, the cause will certainly go against them; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them, Galatians 3:10, and Deuteronomy 27:26. The condition of life, by the law, is perfect, personal, and perpetual, obedience; the language of it is, Do this and live; or, as Galatians 3:12, The man that doeth them shall live in them: and for every failure herein the law denounces a curse. Unless our obedience be universal, continuing in all things that are written in the book of the law, and unless it be perpetual too (if in any instance at any time we fail and come short), we fall under the curse of the law. The curse is wrath revealed, and ruin threatened: it is a separation unto all evil, and this is in full force, power, and virtue, against all sinners, and therefore against all men; for all have sinned and become guilty before God: and if, as transgressors of the law, we are under the curse of it, it must be a vain thing to look for justification by it. But, though this is not to be expected from the law, yet the apostle afterwards acquaints us that there is a way open to our escaping this curse, and regaining the favour of God, namely, through faith in Christ, who (as he says, Galatians 3:13) hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, etc. A strange method it was which Christ took to redeem us from the curse of the law; it was by his being himself made a curse for us. Being made sin for us, he was made a curse for us; not separated from God, but laid for the present under that infamous token of the divine displeasure upon which the law of Moses had put a particular brand, Deuteronomy 21:23. The design of this was that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ - that all who believed on Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, might become heirs of Abraham's blessing, and particularly of that great promise of the Spirit, which was peculiarly reserved for the times of the gospel. Hence it appeared that it was not by putting themselves under the law, but by faith in Christ, that they become the people of God and heirs of the promise. Here note,
1.The misery which as sinners we are sunk into - we are under the curse and condemnation of the law.
2.The love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ towards us - he has submitted to be made a curse for us, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law.
3.The happy prospect which we now have through him, not only of escaping the curse, but of inheriting the blessing. And,
4.That it is only through faith in him that we can hope to obtain this favour.
III.To prove that justification is by faith, and not by the works of the law, the apostle alleges the express testimony of the Old Testament, Galatians 3:11. The place referred to is Habakkuk 2:4, where it is said, The just shall live by faith; it is again quoted, Romans 1:17, and Hebrews 10:38. The design of it is to show that those only are just or righteous who do truly live, who are freed from death and wrath, and restored into a state of life in the favour of God; and that it is only through faith that persons become righteous, and as such obtain this life and happiness - that they are accepted of God, and enabled to live to him now, and are entitled to an eternal life in the enjoyment of him hereafter. Hence the apostle says, It is evident that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. Whatever he may be in the account of others, yet he is not so in the sight of God; for the law is not of faith - that says nothing concerning faith in the business of justification, nor does it give life to those who believe; but the language of it is, The man that doeth them shall live in them, as Leviticus 18:5. It requires perfect obedience as the condition of life, and therefore now can by no means be the rule of our justification. This argument of the apostle's may give us occasion to remark that justification by faith is no new doctrine, but what was established and taught in the church of God long before the times of the gospel. Yea, it is the only way wherein any sinners ever were, or can be, justified.
IV.To this purpose the apostle urges the stability of the covenant which God made with Abraham, which was not vacated nor disannulled by the giving of the law to Moses, Galatians 3:15, etc. Faith had the precedence of the law, for Abraham was justified by faith. It was a promise that he built upon, and promises are the proper objects of faith. God entered into covenant with Abraham (Galatians 3:8), and this covenant was firm and steady; even men's covenants are so, and therefore much more his. When a deed is executed, or articles of agreement are sealed, both parties are bound, and it is too late then to settle things otherwise; and therefore it is not to be supposed that by the subsequent law the covenant of God should be vacated. The original word diathēkē signifies both a covenant and a testament. Now the promise made to Abraham was rather a testament than a covenant. When a testament has become of force by the death of the testator, it is not capable of being altered; and therefore, the promise that was given to Abraham being of the nature of a testament, it remains firm and unalterable. But, if it should be said that a grant or testament may be defeated for want of persons to claim the benefit of it (Galatians 3:16), he shows that there is no danger of that in this case. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, but the covenant is made with Abraham and his seed. And he gives us a very surprising exposition of this. We should have thought it had been meant only of the people of the Jews. "Nay," says the apostle, "it is in the singular number, and points at a single person - that seed is Christ," So that the covenant is still in force; for Christ abideth for ever in his person, and in his spiritual seed, who are his by faith. And if it be objected that the law which was given by Moses did disannul this covenant, because that insisted so much upon works, and there was so little in it of faith or of the promised Messiah, he answers that the subsequent law could not disannul the previous covenant or promise (Galatians 3:18): If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but, says he, God gave it to Abraham by promise, and therefore it would be inconsistent with his holiness, wisdom, and faithfulness, by any subsequent act to set aside the promise, and so alter the way of justification which he had thus established. If the inheritance was given to Abraham by promise, and thereby entailed upon his spiritual seed, we may be sure that God would not retract that promise; for he is not a man that he should repent.
Historical interpretation
Historical reception
3 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
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The Jews maintain two opposing tenets. For in no way and by no argument can they be persuaded that the promise to Abraham was rendered void by the law, and they are right. But in their short-sighted vanity they maintain another contrary principle, thinking that justification could not come without the practice of the law. They know that Abraham, who is the type [of justification], was justified through faith alone, without the practice of the law.… The heirs to the promise of Abraham are therefore those who are his successors in the adoption of the faith by which Abraham was blessed and justified. The testimony of the promise to Abraham is therefore called a covenant [to signify] that after his death there would be heirs in the promise, made sons of Abraham through faith.
Thus God made a covenant with Abraham, promising that in his seed the blessing should come upon the heathen; and this blessing the Law cannot turn aside. As this example was not in all respects appropriate to the matter in hand, he introduces it thus, "I speak after the manner of men," that nothing might be deduced from it derogatory to the majesty of God. But let us go to the bottom of this illustration. It was promised Abraham that by his seed the heathen should be blessed; and his seed according to the flesh is Christ; four hundred and thirty years after came the Law; now, if the Law bestows the blessings even life and righteousness, that promise is annulled. And so while no one annuls a man's covenant, the covenant of God after four hundred and thirty years is annulled; for if not that covenant but another instead of it bestows what is promised, then is it set aside, which is most unreasonable.
(V. 15 seqq.) Brothers, I speak in human terms: yet no one rejects or adds to a man's covenant, which has been confirmed. The promises were made to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, 'and to seeds,' referring to many, but referring to one, 'and to your seed,' who is Christ. Now I say this: the covenant, which was confirmed by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate the promise, so as to abolish it. For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on a promise. But God gave to Abraham a promise. The Apostle, who became all things to all people in order to gain everyone, is a debtor to Greeks and Barbarians, to the wise and the foolish, even to the Galatians whom he had just called foolish. For he did not use the same arguments with them as he did with the Romans, but simpler ones; things that even fools could understand and almost from the street corner. And so that it would not seem that he did it out of ignorance and not skill, he appeases the wise reader beforehand, and he tempers what he is going to say with a preface: Brothers, I speak as a human being. For what I am about to say, I do not speak according to God: I do not speak according to hidden wisdom, and those who can eat solid food, but according to those who are nourished by the tender milk of the stomach, and are unable to bear great things. (1 Corinthians 5). Therefore, to the Corinthians, among whom fornication was heard, and such fornication that even among the Gentiles, he says: I speak, and not the Lord. (1 Corinthians 7:12). And to the same in the second [letter]: What I am saying, I do not speak according to the Lord, but as if in foolishness (II Cor. XI, 17). Some think that when he is about to discuss examples from the testament of a man and the death of the testator and other things of human similarity, he said: Brothers, I say according to man: although it seems to me, and for this reason indeed that they think, but especially because of what follows being stated (or promised), namely: He does not say 'and to seeds' as if in many, but as if in one, and to your seed, which is Christ. While traversing all the scriptures in meaning and memory, I have never found the seed of writing in the plural number, but whether in a positive or negative sense, it is always in the singular number. Furthermore, the following is inferred: But I say that this testament is confirmed by God, if anyone diligently compares the Hebrew volumes and other editions with the translation of the Septuagint interpreters, they will find where the testament is written, not to sound like testament, but a covenant, which is called 'Berith' in the Hebrew language. Therefore, it is clear that the Apostle did what he promised, and he did not use hidden meanings to the Galatians, but rather everyday and lowly things that could displease the prudent (I speak in human terms unless I add this). To calculate the years from the time when the Lord spoke to Abraham, saying, 'And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed' (Genesis 22:18), until the lawgiver Moses: whether they are four hundred and thirty, or how the Lord promises to Abraham in Genesis that his descendants shall come out of the land of bondage after four hundred years. For it is not a small matter, and sought after by many, I do not know if it was invented by someone else. Also, that which is read in the same book about Thamar and her two little ones (Genesis 38), that is, that the first one called Zara extended his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread on it, and then, as he pulled his hand back inside, the hand of the one named Phares was extended in its place. It is fitting that this demonstrates how Israel, in the work of the Law, extended his hand and contracted it, polluted by the blood of the prophets and of the Savior himself. But afterwards, the people of the Gentiles burst forth, because of whom it is often said to have been destroyed, and the middle wall that had been between the Jews and the Gentiles was broken down, so that there would be one flock and one shepherd, and there would be glory, and honor, and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. However, the simple meaning that is hidden in this passage has this force, that the Apostle teaches that the promises that were made to Abraham cannot be destroyed by the Law, which was given afterwards, and that the later things cannot take priority over the earlier ones, since the promises were given to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before, so that all nations would be blessed in him. But the observation is, that whoever had done it, would live in it, after four hundred and thirty years Moses gave it on Mount Sinai. On the contrary, this could be said: Why then was it necessary to give the Law after so much time of promise, when even with the Law given, the suspicion of a broken promise could arise, and the Law given would not be profitable while the promise remained? The Apostle, foreseeing this question, poses and explains it to himself in the following, saying:
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This verse
If the inheritance depended on keeping the law it would no longer rest on a promise, but God gave it to Abraham freely, by promise.
“For if the inheritance be of the law,”
A condition, ei: suppose the inheritance (klēronomía) came out of (ek) the law (nómos).
“it is no more of promise:”
Then it would be “no longer” (oukéti) of promise, because what is earned by obedience is a wage.
“but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”
The word dé turns to what happened: theós gave it freely (charízomai) to Abraám, diá the promise, by way of the promise.
The Law Cannot Nullify the Promise
Galatians 3:15–18
Summary
Paul takes an example from ordinary life. Once even a man’s covenant has been confirmed, no one else may cancel it or add new terms to it. God made his promises to Abraham and to his seed, and Paul points out that “seed” is singular and refers to one person, Christ. The law of Moses came four hundred and thirty years after God had confirmed that covenant, so it leaves the promise standing as God gave it. The inheritance God promised therefore comes as his free gift: “God gave it to Abraham by promise.” In these four verses we learn that God keeps his word, that his promises to Abraham meet in Christ, and that what we receive from God we receive as a gift.
What Paul is answering in these verses
Galatians 3 is Paul’s defence of justification by faith. Some Jewish Christians, often called Judaizers, were teaching the Gentile believers in Galatia that they had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be truly saved. Paul has reminded the Galatians that they received the Spirit by the hearing of faith (Galatians 3:1–5). He has shown that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, and that those who believe are the children of Abraham (Galatians 3:6–9). He has said that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:10–14).
A question follows naturally. The law came long after Abraham, and it came from God as well, so did it change the terms of what God had promised? These four verses give Paul’s answer, and the verses after them explain what the law was for.
Why a confirmed covenant stands (verse 15)
Paul opens with “Brethren”, speaking to the Galatians as family, and then says, “I speak after the manner of men.” He is taking his illustration from everyday human dealings, the kind of legal agreement his readers knew well.
The word for covenant, diathḗkē, means a disposition, a covenant or a will. Among Greeks and Romans it was often used of a will or testament, which became binding once it had been ratified. Paul’s verb for “confirmed”, kyróō, means to make authoritative or to ratify, the step that makes an agreement legally binding. After that, “no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.” To disannul, athetéō, is to set something aside and treat it as void. So a confirmed agreement is closed on both sides, and no outsider may cancel it or write fresh conditions into it.
The words “or addeth thereto” fit the Galatians closely. The teachers troubling them were adding circumcision and the keeping of the law to God’s promise as conditions of belonging to him. Paul’s reasoning runs from the lesser to the greater. If people respect a man’s covenant once it has been confirmed, how much more must God’s covenant stand as he made it.
Which covenant Paul has in mind
The covenant behind this illustration is the one God made with Abraham, recorded in Genesis 12:1–3, Genesis 15 and Genesis 17. God promised Abraham many descendants and a land, and told him that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. God gave that covenant by grace, and Abraham received it by faith, centuries before the law was given at Sinai.
Why does Paul stress “seed” and not “seeds”?
Paul stresses the singular because he reads the promise as aimed from the start at one descendant of Abraham, and he names him: “which is Christ.”
“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” The word for promise, epangelía, means an announcement or a promise, and Strong’s adds “especially a divine assurance of good”. These are God’s own promises, and the plural gathers up all that he said to Abraham.
The word for seed, spérma, means something sown, and by extension offspring or descendants. Like the Hebrew zera, it can stand for many people at once, the way the English word “fish” can mean one fish or a whole catch. Jews commonly took Abraham’s seed to mean his many descendants, the nation of Israel. Paul draws attention to the singular form in the promises as the Greek Old Testament gives them, as in “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). God said “seed”, “as of one”, and Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, tells us who that one is. Christós means anointed, the Messiah, and it is the title of Jesus.
The singular and the plural meet in Christ. He is the one heir to whom the promises were made, and everyone united with him by faith, Jew or Gentile, belongs to that one seed. Paul says so at the end of the chapter: those who are Christ’s are Abraham’s seed and “heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26–29). That is how the blessing promised to all nations reaches people of every background, by faith in the one seed. Abraham himself lived by faith in what God had promised, looking for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:8–10).
The law came four hundred and thirty years later (verse 17)
“And this I say” brings Paul to the point of his illustration. The covenant “was confirmed before of God in Christ”. Paul’s verb, prokyróō, means to ratify beforehand. God himself ratified the covenant long before the law existed, and the words “in Christ” point to the one in whom its blessing for all nations would be fulfilled.
The law came “four hundred and thirty years after”. This is the span between God’s covenant with Abraham, which begins in Genesis 12, and the giving of the law at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19–20. The same figure appears in Exodus, at Israel’s departure from Egypt (Exodus 12:40–41). Paul uses this plain fact of history to settle the question. An arrangement that came centuries later has no authority over one that God had already ratified.
Here the word for disannul is akyróō, to invalidate or deprive of force, a different word from the one in verse 15. “Of none effect” translates katargéō, to make idle or inactive, to render inoperative. The law came from God, and still it could not render his promise idle. The promise keeps its full force, untouched by everything that came after it.
Does this make the law bad?
The law is “holy, and just, and good,” as Paul says in Romans 7:12, and God gave it for a different work from the promise. In the verses that follow, Paul explains that the law “was added because of transgressions”, that life and righteousness come by promise, and that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:19–25). Its work was to show God’s righteous standard, expose sin and make plain our need of a Savior, and so to lead people to the Christ in whom the promise is fulfilled. The law is good in its purpose, and the promise still stands beside it.
The inheritance comes by promise (verse 18)
“For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise.” The word ei, “if”, sets up a condition for the Galatians to test. The inheritance, klēronomía, is a possession received as a legacy, an estate that passes to an heir. For Abraham it included the land God promised him. In Galatians it takes in all that God gives his people in Christ: righteousness, adoption into his family, the gift of the Spirit and eternal life.
“Of the law” uses ek, “from” or “out of”, with nómos, the law of Moses. An inheritance that came out of keeping the law would rest on human obedience, and then it would be “no more” of promise. The word is oukéti, “no longer”. A promise is freely given and received by faith, while a reward for keeping commands is earned like a wage, and the same inheritance can rest on only one of them. Mixing the two would turn God’s gift into payment and empty the promise of its gracious character.
“But God gave it to Abraham by promise.” The word “but”, dé, turns from the condition to what actually happened. The giver is God, theós, and the verb is charízomai, to grant as a favor, freely. He gave it to Abraám by promise, diá with epangelía, so the promise was the way the inheritance came to him. Abraham believed God, “and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
Paul makes the same argument in Romans 4:13–16, where the promise that Abraham would be heir comes through the righteousness of faith. He sums it up in that letter: “a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). And to the Ephesians he writes, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
Christ, in whom the promise is sure
Everything in these verses leads to Christ. He is the seed to whom the promises were made, and the covenant was confirmed “in Christ” from the beginning. He bore the curse of the law for us so that the blessing of Abraham could reach the Gentiles. At the Last Supper he spoke of “the new testament in my blood” (Luke 22:20). As a will is confirmed by the death of the one who made it, the covenant of grace is made sure through the death and resurrection of Christ, and he is “the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).
Hebrews also speaks of God’s promise to Abraham. God confirmed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things the heirs of promise might have strong consolation (Hebrews 6:13–18). Paul puts it most simply: “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). The promise to Abraham is as secure as the faithfulness of God and the finished work of his Son.
Resting on what God has promised
These verses settle where our standing with God rests. It rests on his promise, freely given, confirmed long ago and kept in Christ. Our performance rises and falls, while the covenant God confirmed stays as he made it. The thing that tempted the Galatians can tempt us too: to add something of our own to grace, some rule or record, and treat it as what keeps us in God’s favor. Paul’s answer is that God gave the inheritance by promise, and a promise is received by trusting the one who made it.
Obedience still matters. The law is holy and good, and a life of obedience and holiness is the glad response of people who have already received the inheritance by grace. Because Christ is the one seed, everyone who belongs to him belongs to the same family and shares the same inheritance, whatever their background. What God has promised, he will surely do.
Galatians 3:15
“Brethren, I speak after the manner of men;”
Paul addresses the Galatians as family and tells them that his illustration comes from ordinary human affairs.
“Though it be but a man’s covenant,”
The word diathḗkē covers both a covenant and a will. Even an agreement made by a mere man is binding.
“yet if it be confirmed,”
Confirming, kyróō, is ratifying, the step that makes the agreement legally binding.
“no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.”
Two things are then ruled out for anyone else: setting it aside (athetéō) and attaching new conditions to it.
Galatians 3:16
“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.”
The promises (epangelía) went to Abraham and to his seed, a singular word.
“He saith not, And to seeds, as of many;”
Paul looks closely at the wording of God’s promise, which uses the singular spérma.
“but as of one, And to thy seed,”
A word that can mean many descendants is used here of one person.
“which is Christ.”
Paul names the one seed: Christós, the Anointed, Jesus the Messiah, heir of all that God promised Abraham.
Galatians 3:17
“And this I say,”
Paul now applies the illustration of verse 15 to God’s covenant.
“that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ,”
God himself ratified it in advance (prokyróō), with Christ in view.
“the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after,”
The law given at Sinai came centuries after the promise to Abraham.
“cannot disannul,”
The later law lacks the authority to invalidate (akyróō) the earlier covenant.
“that it should make the promise of none effect.”
The verb katargéō means to make idle or inoperative. The promise keeps its full force.
Galatians 3:18 This verse
“For if the inheritance be of the law,”
A condition, ei: suppose the inheritance (klēronomía) came out of (ek) the law (nómos).
“it is no more of promise:”
Then it would be “no longer” (oukéti) of promise, because what is earned by obedience is a wage.
“but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”
The word dé turns to what happened: theós gave it freely (charízomai) to Abraám, diá the promise, by way of the promise.
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