The Promise Came First

¹⁵ Brothers, I am speaking in human terms. When someone has established a last will and testament, no one nullifies it or adds to it. ¹⁶ The promises God spoke referred to Abraham and to his seed. It doesn’t say, “And to seeds,” as if it were referring to many, but, as referring to one, “And to your seed,”^[a] who is Christ. ¹⁷ What I am saying is this: The law, which came into being 430 years after the covenant established earlier by God in Christ,^[b] does not annul that covenant, with the result that it invalidates the promise. ¹⁸ In fact, if the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by the promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham by a promise.