15---10.
τῷ σπέρματί σου, ὅς ἐστι Χριστός.
171 17. τοῦτο δὲ λέγω, διαθήκην
η ε a an al ε , 4 ό A ά προκεκυρωμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ” ὁ μετὰ ETH τετρακόσια καὶ τριάκοντα
γεγονὼς νόμος οὐκ ἀκυροῖ, εἰς τὸ καταργῆσαι τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν.
18.
εἰ γὰρ ἐκ νόμου ἡ κληρονομία, οὐκ ἔτι ἐξ ἐπαγγελίας - τῷ δὲ ᾿Αβραὰμ
δι᾿ ἐπαγγελίας κεχάρισται ὁ Θεός.
19. Τί οὖν ὁ νόμος ; τῶν παρα-
βάσεων χάριν προσετέθη,2 ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθη τὸ σπέρμα ᾧ ἐπήγγελται, xap ρ η» αχρ N ρμᾶ ᾧ επηγΥ
leus Χριστον after Θεον DEFGKL; om. ΝΑΒΟΡ 17, etc, 2 προσετεθὴ NABD*EKL; ετεθη D!FG 71, etc.
and spirit, for they are members of His body and partake of His spirit (cf. vv. 28, 29).
Vv. 17, 18. The inviolate sanctity of God’s earlier covenant in presence of the subsequent promulgation of the Law is here affirmed in virtue of the principle established in ver. 15. Had the inherit- ance been made contingent on obedience to Law, the previous promise would have been thereby invalidated.
The Received Text inserts ets Χριστόν after Θεοῦ. The words appear from the MS. evidence to be a later addition to the text, suggested probably by the previous argument, which associated the promise to Abraham with the coming of Christ, in whom alone that promise finds its fulfilment. The very form of the sentence forbids the acceptance of the addition here: for διαθήκην in the absence of an article does not denote the particular covenant concluded with Abraham, but signifies any covenant in the abstract, if duly ratified by God, whatever its nature.—8v’ ,émayy. κεχάρισται. The full bearing of the language on the argument can hardly be expressed in English without a paraphrase. χαρίζεσθαι denotes not merely a gift, but a free gift bestowed by the grace of God without reserve, and ἔπαγγελία marks the promise as a spontaneous offer, and not an under- taking (ὑπόσχεσις) based on terms of mutual agreement.
Vv. 10-22. THE LAW WAS A ΤΕΝ- PORARY ENACTMENT ORDAINED TO DEAL WITH THE OFFENCES WHICH IT DE- NOUNCES UNTIL THE COMING OF THE PROMISED SEED. THE GOD FROM WHOM IT PROCEEDED WAS THE GoD OF ABRA- HAM, BUT HE PROMULGATED IT THROUGH ANGELS AND AN APPOINTED MEDIATOR TO ALL THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM AFTER THE FLESH, NOT TOTHE ONE CHOSEN SEED. DID IT THEN CONTRAVENE HIS PROMISES? NAY VERILY. IF INDEED IT HAD BEEN CAPABLE OF QUICKENING LIFE, IT WOULD HAVE PROVIDED NEW MEANS OF JUSTIFI-
CATION: BUT WHAT IT REALLY DID WAS TO CONVICT ALL ALIKE OF SIN, THAT THE PROMISE MIGHT BE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE ON FAITH IN CHRIST. —Ti οὖν ὁ νόμος. What function then had the Law, if it had absolutely no effect on God’s previous covenant with Abraham ἢ — τῶν παραβάσεων χάριν. Our versions render this because of transgressions, ignoring the Greek article. But there could obviously be no trans- gressions until the Law existed, however grievous the moral degradation. The real meaning is that it was added with a view to the offences which it specifies, thereby pronouncing them to be from that time forward transgressions of the Law. Its design is gathered in short from its contents. The prohibitions of the Ten Commandments teveal their own purpose: they were enacted in order to repress the worship of false gods, idolatry, blasphemy, Sabbath breaking, disobedience to parents, murder, adultery, theft, false witness, covetousness. These sins prevailed be- fore the Law, but by pronouncing them to be definite transgressions it called in the fear of God’s wrath to reinforce the weakness of the moral sense and educate man’s conscience. The same aspect of the Law is forcibly presented in τ Tim. i. 9. Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly... . Attention is in both concentrated on the moral Law to the exclusion of the sacri- ficial and ceremonial.—aypis οὗ. The alternative reading ἄχρις ἄν does not affect the sense. It is assumed on the strength of previous argument that the dispensation of the Law came to an end with the coming of Christ. By the gift of an indwelling spirit He emancipated His faithful disciples from allegiance to an outward Law.—émyjyyeAtar: He (i.e., God) hath promised (cf. Rom. iv. 21, Heb, xii. 26). ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι never has a passive sense in the Ν.Τ.-- διαταγεὶς δι ἀγγέλων. The N.T. refers three times to the interposition of angels in