Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Christ the seed, Christ the mediator

¹⁵ My brothers and sisters, let me use a human illustration. When someone makes a covenanted will, nobody sets it aside or adds to it. ¹⁶ Well, the promises were made “to Abraham and his seed,” that is, his family. It doesn’t say “his seeds,” as though referring to several families, but indicates a single family by saying “and to your seed,” meaning the Messiah.

¹⁷ This is what I mean. God made this covenanted will; the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, can’t undermine it and make the promise null and void. ¹⁸ If the inheritance came through the law, it would no longer be by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the family should come to whom it had been promised. It was laid down by angels, at the hand of a mediator. ²⁰ He, however, is not the mediator of the “one”—but God is one!

²¹ Is the law then against God’s promises? Of course not! No, if a law had been given that could have given life, then covenant membership really would have been by the law. ²² But the Bible shut up everything together under the power of sin, so that the promise—which comes by the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah—might be given to those who believe.