Galatians 3:15-18
New Living Translation
The Law and God’s Promise
15 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] here’s an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case. 16 God gave the promises to Abraham and his child.[b] And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children,[c]” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child”—and that, of course, means Christ. 17 This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. 18 For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise.
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Galatians 3:15-18
New English Translation
Inheritance Comes from Promises and not Law
15 Brothers and sisters,[a] I offer an example from everyday life:[b] When a covenant[c] has been ratified,[d] even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant.[e] Scripture[f] does not say, “and to the descendants,”[g] referring to many, but “and to your descendant,”[h] referring to one, who is Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: The law that came 430 years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God,[i] so as to invalidate the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave[j] it to Abraham through the promise.
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- Galatians 3:15 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.
- Galatians 3:15 tn Grk “I speak according to man,” referring to the illustration that follows.
- Galatians 3:15 tn The same Greek word, διαθήκη (diathēkē), can mean either “covenant” or “will,” but in this context the former is preferred here because Paul is discussing in vv. 16-18 the Abrahamic covenant.
- Galatians 3:15 tn Or “has been put into effect.”
- Galatians 3:16 tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).
- Galatians 3:16 tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.
- Galatians 3:16 tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.
- Galatians 3:16 tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.sn A quotation from Gen 12:7; 13:15; 17:7; 24:7.
- Galatians 3:17 tc Most mss (D F G I 0176 0278 1505 M it sy) read “ratified by God in Christ” whereas the omission of “in Christ” is the reading in P46 א A B C P Ψ 6 33 81 1175 1241 1739 1881 2464 co. The shorter reading is strongly supported by the ms evidence, and it is probable that a copyist inserted the words as an interpretive gloss. However, this form of the “in Christ” expression is somewhat atypical in the corpus Paulinum (εἰς Χριστόν [eis Christon] rather than ἐν Χριστῷ [en Christō]), a fact which tempers one’s certainty about the shorter reading. Nevertheless, the expression is used more in Galatians than in any other of Paul’s letters (Gal 2:16; 3:24, 27), and may have been suggested by such texts to early copyists.
- Galatians 3:18 tn On the translation “graciously gave” for χαρίζομαι (charizomai) see L&N 57.102.
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