The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 187

obedience. 3. It was designed for Gentiles as well as Jews. The stream WIii destined t.o flow through Jews to the Gentiles, freed from all the limitations of the old dispensation. V. THE nESULT OF THE BLESSING. " That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." There is here an obvious return to the question of the aeoond verse, and a definite answer is now given to th:1t question, It was not through the Law, but through faith, we realize the promise of the Spirit. This was the special subject of promise (Joel ii. 28; Acts i. 4, 2; Eph. i. 13). Our Lord ha.s placed us in the dispensation of the Spirit, and has opened all blessings t.o men out of his arose and his tomb. Ver. 15.-.A newline ofargv:rMnt-tht relation between the covenant and the Law. Up to this point the apostle has touched upon no point that we have not seen in the Epistle to the Romans. Now he breaks new ground. "Brethren, I speak after the m:mner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man • disa.nnulleth, or ad<leth thereto." L IT IS ALLOWABLE TO USE HUMAN ANALOGIES Il!i ENFORCEMENT OF DIVINE TBUTII, The phrase, " after the manner of men," has various significations in the apostle's writings, bnt he evidently means here that the human analogy is perfectly appropriate, and that that which is true of a mere human arrangement is a fortiori of a.n arrangement made by God. II. THE CONDITIONS OF COVENANT-MAKING m HUMAN LIFE. 1. A covenant is an arrangement between two parties for mutual benefit, with an implied character of per- manence. It is designed to perpetuate e. relation of some sort. 2. The covenant stands in the integrity of all its provisions without either party having the power to annul it or to add fresh clauses, whether consistent or inconsistent with its provisions. III. IMPLICATION THAT WHAT IS TBUE OF A HUMAN COVENANT 18 ESSENTIALLY INVOLVED m THE IDEA OF A DIVINE COVENANT. It is irreversible and irrevocable, since it is a covena.nt este.blished by oath. God swears and he will not repent. The Judaistic theory, however, under the form of e. supplement, would really effect the entire abrogation of the covenant. Ver. 16.-The contents of the covenant and the parties to it, "Now to Abrahe.m and bis seed were the promises made." L THE CONTENTS OF THE COVENANT. "The promises." They are elsewhere spoken or BI! "the promise." It was repeated several times. This promise carries the whole of se.lvation within it. It is elsewhere referred to as" the oath and the promise"-" the two immute.hle things in which it was impossible for God to lie''-for God confirmed the promise by an oath, e.nd the promise is linked with the Melchisedec priesthood of Christ, and thus involves all that is involved in priesthood, that is, e.tonement and intercession. It is the promise that bears up the burden of the world's hope, for it is on the ground of it we have "fled for refuge to the hope set before us" (Heb. vi. 18, 19). II. THE PARTIES TO THE ooVENANT. These are-God on the one side; Abraham and his seed on the other. Not Abraham a.lone, bnt Abraham and his seed. " And he saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." 'l'he seed was not the Jewish race, nor strictly the spiritual posterity of Abraham, but Christ himself, in whom the Jewish race found its embodiment and to whom the spiri- tual posterity was organically united. There is a distinction between Christ personal e.nd Christ mystical. regarded as the second Adam, as the Head of the body. 'l'hus we understand how the whole body of believers is expressly called "Christ" (1 Cor. xii.12). 'l'hey are "all one in Christ,'' and "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed" (eh. v. 28, 29). - IIL A. :NECESSARY OONCLUSIOJr, H the seed is Christ, then the promise we.s not yet fulfilled, but awaiting fulfilment, when the Law was given. It could not, therefore, be disannulled by the Law, nor could the Law add fresh clauses to it. Vers. 17, 18.-Tlte irreversibleness of the covenant by the Law. "This, however, I say, that the covenant that has been confirmed before in reference to Christ, the Lflw, which was four hundred and thirty years after, does not disannul, the.t it should do away with ihe promise." llH. lU, 1-29.] THE EPIS'l'tE 'l'O 'l'IlE GALATIANS. 153