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fulness, it is therefore said, on the opposite side, to be made void , to be of no effect. — <? r'nsng — s<7rayysXia, faith — the promise ) words correlative : and they are appropriately put in retrograde order [comp. ver. 13] in an argument like the present, wherein is shown the absurdity which would flow from the opposite theory [by the reduction or argumentum ad absurdum ].
15. No/aoc, the law ) It occurs twice in this verse; first, with the article, definitely ; next, indefinitely. — bpyr\v , wrath) not grace , see the next verse. Hence the law is not of promise and of faith. — ovds ‘TrupdfiutiS) there is not even transgression ) He does not say, not even sin , comp. ch. v. 13, ii. 12 ; offence , ch. v. 20, and transgression have a more express reference to the law which is violated. Transgression rouses wrath.
16. ’Etc Kicreug, of faith) So Jx, ch. iii. 30, v. 1. Supply heirship (the heirship is of faith) comp. ver. 14. — 1% ruv vo/mou, of the law ) so of the circumcision , ver. 12, where the not only belongs to of the circumcision , but in this verse, not only refers to the expression, to that seed which.
17.1 "Or/ — reOeixd <;) so the lxx., Gen. xvii. 5. The con- struction, rzQsixd as, Ttar'svctvn — ©soy, is like the following, ha s/dijrs, apov , Matt. ix. 6. Comp. Rom. xv. 3 ; Acts i. 4. — xarevavn — ©sou, before God ) since those nations did not yet exist before men. — ov ), that is, zarevuvn ©sou, w Int'wnoe e, before God , in whom he believed. — ^uovoiovvrog, quickening') Heb. xi. 19, notes. The dead are not dead to God, and things which be not, are to God. — xa Xowrog, calling) The seed of Abraham did not yet exist, nevertheless God said, So shall thy seed be. The multiplication of the seed presupposes the previous exist- ence of the seed. For example, the centurion says to his servant, who was living and moving in the natural course of the world, Do this ; but God says to the light, whilst it is not in existence, just as if it were, Come forth, ysvov, come into existence. Think of that often recurring and wonderful VP, Gen. i., it ex- presses the transition from non-existence to existence , which is produced by God calling , Ezek. xxxvi. 29.
1 irccrvjp ndvrav vipcuv, father of us all). Hence it is, that although Christ is said to be the Son of David, jet believers are not called the sons of David, but of Abraham. — Y. g.
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