Galatians 3:15 Commentary and Bible Study

Paul now anticipates a query: ‘If as you say, salvation is entirely by faith, as the promises to Abraham suggests, then why was the law given? Why was the conditional blessing which came through the law given when the unconditional blessing was already in place? For if, having made an unconditional promise, conditions are introduced later, then God seems to contradict himself. The promise given freely is in effect withdrawn again if conditions are added later, and what appeared to offer justification freely now offers it on condition of works. But if the one making the promise always knew that he intended to add conditions afterwards, then the blessing was never really free and was not offered sincerely. On the other hand if the conditions added afterwards do not affect the unconditional promise and if it still remains free, then why were the conditions later introduced? Can the promise and the law co-exist at the same time? Evidently not.Paul begins by laying the foundation of our thinking on this subject. He does not immediately try to answer the problem but reminds us of what a covenant is. God’s covenant with Abraham was expressed in the form of a promise, and that fact, he reasons, is enough to tell us – whether or not we understand why God later gave the law – that he could not afterwards have withdrawn the promise. By all means let us inquire why the law was given and understand God’s purposes, but we must start with this clear principle: God’s covenant is inviolable.Even a human covenant, he argues, is binding upon both parties. Neither one side nor the other can free themselves from it while it is in force. Unless the period of its enforcement is limited and that limitation is written into it, it cannot cease to be binding. Once both parties have agreed upon it and have confirmed the covenant with each other, neither side is permitted to disannul it. Nor can they add to it, for to add to a covenant is the same as rewriting it. In the same way God did not later add conditions where there had been none before to the covenant made long before with Abraham, for even God was not free to do so for he too was bound by the terms of his covenant.