Now another subject is treated—the relation of the law to the promises of God. Law having come in, is it the true ground of blessing, to the setting aside of the promises made of old to Abraham? No one could question that the Gentiles have an interest in the promises, at least in those to which the apostle here refers, “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto” (ver. 15). Such is the apostle's simple method of dealing with the matter. Would God do less than man? Even man holds to a confirmed covenant. When once the document is signed and sealed, the matter is closed, it cannot be set aside or added to. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God to Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect” (vers. 16-17).
It is of moment to understand the particular promises to which the apostle here alludes. It is beyond question that some of the promises refer solely to the natural seed, but these are not before us in this place. The apostle is speaking of those which involve blessing for Gentiles. In Gen. 12 God said to Abraham, “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” None can limit such a word as this. It shows how the heart of God went out to all even in earliest times, and that blessing for Gentiles was ever before His mind. But on what ground? Certainly not that of law, to which the foolish Galatians were vainly turning; for the law had no existence when God thus expressed Himself to the father of the faithful. The promise was unconditional, and depends on God alone for fulfillment. It was not drawn forth by anything in man, nor even in Abraham individually; it flowed solely from the grace of His heart.
Moreover He confirmed the word many years after, and who can annul a confirmed covenant? Observe carefully the occasion of its confirmation. It is found in Gen. 22. There we see Abraham offering up his only begotten son, and receiving him again from the dead (in figure); expressive type of the dead and risen Christ. This being all accomplished, the angel of Jehovah called to him out of heaven and said, “By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” This must not be mixed up with the word in the previous verse. There Abraham is told that his seed should be multiplied as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the seashore, and that they should possess the gate of their enemies. This clearly refers to Israel and includes no blessing for the Gentiles, but rather the reverse. This will be fully realized in a day yet to come, when Israel shall be led in triumph over all their foes, and all shall be subdued under them. But this is not what the apostle is reasoning upon in Galatians. His mind is fixed upon the precious word, “In thy seen shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” The seed here, he argues, is singular, not plural—it is Christ. What minute attention we should pay to scripture, if so much depends on a single letter! “He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” The omissions of the Spirit of God are as instructive as His words, to such as have eyes to see, and ears to hear.
The substance of the argument is this; that the promise concerning Gentile blessing was altogether unconditional on God's part, and that it is settled and sure in Christ dead and risen. Consequently, the law, which was given of God at Sinai four hundred and thirty years later, cannot disannul it, “For if the inheritance be of law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise” (ver.18). The two principles are opposed in nature and character. If the inheritance is on the principle of works, it becomes a matter of debt, not of promise at all; whereas it is clear that God gave it to the patriarch by promise. If blessing really is through law then the promises of God are expunged. Man can never merit them.
Thus were the Galatians carried back to the beginning of things, that they might see the unreasonableness of the position they were taking up. Why turn to something given four centuries later than the original promise? Why rest their blessing on such precarious ground? Especially as they ought to know that law had never brought blessing to Israel: their scattered and servile condition being a standing warning to all. On the ground of law nothing is certain, such is the condition of man; but when God comes in, in the wonderful grace of His heart, the soul that rests in Him, as helpless and needy, finds everything sure and stable; the righteous ground being the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Another question arises out of this. If law cannot bring souls into blessing, if it really only ruins all who place themselves under it, why was it given? A serious question surely. “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgression, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made: and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator” (ver. 19). The apostle always jealously vindicates the law, while contending for the liberty of the believer in Jesus. In Rom. 3:3131Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Romans 3:31), he is careful to show that the principle of faith does not nullify the law, but that rather it is established, all its righteous sentence having been endured by Christ for us. In Rom. 7:77What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (Romans 7:7), he shows that the law is not sin, that we turned away from it, but that it is holy and just and good. Here the same care may be observed. The law was God's perfect rule for man; but man is corrupt and bad, and therefore it can only condemn and curse him. It was added because, or for the sake of, transgressions. It makes manifest man's true state. Sin was in the world before the law was given, consequently none can impiously assert that law made man a sinner. It came by the way, as it were, after the promise and before the fulfillment of it, to demonstrate man's real state in the sight of God. Yet so blind are men as to their true condition, that they have taken up that which was intended to make plain their ruin, and have endeavored to attain to righteousness and life by means of it. It is long since Paul wrote his Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians, but the illusion is not dispelled to this hour.
Law cannot justify, nor can it sanctify. It is God's plumb-line making manifest man's crookedness: His mirror showing up his vileness.
The promised Seed has come, Christ has died and is risen; why turn back to law? Why abandon a sure ground for one so unsafe and uncertain?
The apostle adds some interesting remarks here, as to the giving of the law. “It was ordained through angels.” Stephen says, “who have received the law by the disposition of angels” (Acts 7:5353Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. (Acts 7:53)). God did not act immediately on the solemn day of Sinai. There were angels, and there was a mediator—Moses. What a contrast to Christianity!
Through Christ's work, believers are brought to God, cleansed from all their sins, set down in His blessed presence in cloudless favor. We are loved by the Father with the same love wherewith He loves His Son, and are pronounced clean every whit, meet for the inheritance of the saints in the light. Nothing of this could be known and enjoyed under law. God spoke out of the thick darkness, His people quaked and trembled at the foot of the fiery mount; and angels and a mediator were between them and Himself.
The principle of promise does not need a mediator in this sense, there being but one party engaged; hence we read, “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one” (ver. 20). The unity of God was the great fundamental truth that Israel was responsible to confess before the nations around, who had all departed into idolatry (Deut. 6:44Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: (Deuteronomy 6:4)). Thus God will make good His unconditional promises. Man may fail, but He never. We do not need a Moses and a host of angels between our souls and such a God.