¹⁵ Brothers, let me use an example from everyday life.^[a] Once an agreement^[b] has been ratified, no one can cancel it or add conditions to it. ¹⁶ Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn’t say “descendants,” referring to many, but “your descendant,”^[c] referring to one person, who is the Messiah.^{[d] 17} This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.