+I. Redemption was effected by Christ enduring the penalty of
violated law+ (ver. 13).
+II. Redemption by Christ has brought blessing to all
nations.+--"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ" (ver. 14).
+III. The spiritual results of redemption are realised only by
faith.+--"That we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith" (ver. 14).
Ver. 13. _The Curse and Sentence of the Law_ lies on record against
sinners, it puts in its demand against our acquittance, and lays an
obligation upon us unto punishment. God will not reject nor destroy
His law. Unless it be answered, there is no acceptance for sinners.
Christ answered the curse of the law when He was made a curse for us,
and so became, as to the obedience of the law, the end of the law for
righteousness to them that believe. And as to the penalty that it
threatened, He bore it, removed it, and took it out of the way. So
hath He made way for forgiveness through the very heart of the law;
it hath not one word to speak against the pardon of those who
believe.--_John Owen._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 15-18.
_The Divine Covenant of Promise_--
+I. Is less susceptible of violation than any human
covenant.+--"Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be
confirmed [approved], no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto" (ver.
15). Common equity demands that a contract made between man and man
is thoroughly binding and should be rigidly observed; and the civil
law lends all its force to maintain the integrity of its clauses. How
much more certain it is that the Divine covenant shall be faithfully
upheld. If it is likely that a human covenant will not be interfered
with, it is less likely the Divine covenant will be changed. Yet even
a human covenant may fail; the Divine covenant never. It is based on
the Divine Word which cannot fail, and its validity is pledged by the
incorruptibility of the Divine character (Mal. iii. 6).
+II. Is explicit in defining the channel of its fulfilment.+--"Now to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made; . . . to thy seed, which
is Christ" (ver. 16). The promise is in the plural because the same
promise was often repeated (Gen. xii. 3, 7, xv. 5, 18, xvii. 7,
xxii. 18), and because it involved many things--earthly blessings to
the literal children of Abraham in Canaan, and spiritual and heavenly
blessings to his spiritual children; and both promised to Christ--the
Seed and representative Head of the literal and spiritual Israel
alike. Therefore the promise that in him "all families of the earth
shall be blessed" joins in this one Seed--Christ--Jew and Gentile, as
fellow-heirs on the same terms of acceptability--by grace through
faith; not to some by promise, to others by the law, but to all
alike, circumcised and uncircumcised, constituting but one seed in
Christ. The law, on the other hand, contemplates the Jews and
Gentiles as distinct seeds. God makes a covenant, but it is one of
promise; whereas the law is a covenant of works. God makes His
covenant of promise with the one Seed--Christ--and embraces others
only as they are identified with and represented by Him (_Fausset_).
+III. Cannot be set aside by the law which was a subsequent
revelation.+--"The covenant, . . . the law, which was four hundred
and thirty years after, cannot disannul" (ver. 17). The promise to
Abraham was a prior settlement, and must take precedence, not only in
time but also in authority, of the Mosaic law. It was a bold stroke
of the apostle to thus shatter the supremacy of Mosaism; but the
appeal to antiquity was an argument the most prejudiced Jew was bound
to respect. "The law of Moses has its rights; it must be taken into
account as well as the promise to Abraham. True; but it has no power
to cancel or restrict the promise, older by four centuries and a
half. The later must be adjusted to the earlier dispensation, the law
interpreted by the promise. God has not made two testaments--the one
solemnly committed to the faith and hope of mankind, only to be
retracted and substituted by something of a different stamp. He could
not thus stultify Himself. And we must not apply the Mosaic
enactments, addressed to a single people, in such a way as to
neutralise the original provisions made for the race at large. Our
human instincts of good faith, our reverence for public compacts and
established rights, forbid our allowing the law of Moses to trench
upon the inheritance assured to mankind in the covenant of Abraham"
(_Findlay_).
+IV. Imposed no conditions of legal obedience.+--"If the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham
by promise" (ver. 18). The law is a system of conditions--so much
advantage to be gained by so much work done. This is all very well as
a general principle. But the promise of God is based on a very
different ground. It is an act of free, sovereign grace, engaging to
confer certain blessings without demanding anything more from the
recipient than faith, which is just the will to receive. The law
imposes obligations man is incompetent to meet. The promise offers
blessings all men need and all may accept. It simply asks the
acceptance of the blessings by a submissive and trustful heart. The
demands of the law are met and the provisions of the covenant of
promise enjoyed by an act of faith.
+Lessons.+--1. _God has a sovereign right to give or withhold
blessing._ 2. _The Divine covenant of promise is incapable of
violation._ 3. _Faith in God is the simplest and sublimest method of
obedience._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._