SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:17
Esto pues digo: Que el Pacto previamente ratificado de Dios para con el Cristo, la ley que fue hecha cuatrocientos treinta aos despus, no lo abroga, para invalidar la promesa.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Galatians 3:17
Verse 17. Confirmed before of God in Christ] i.e. The promise of justification, &c., made to believers in Christ Jesus, who are the spiritual seed of Christ, as they are children of Abraham, from the similitude of their faith. Abraham believed in God, and it was reckoned to him for justification; the Gentiles believed in Christ, and received justification. Probably the word Christ is to be taken, both here and in the preceding verse, for Christians, as has already been hinted. However it be taken, the sense is plainly the same; the promise of salvation must necessarily be to them who believe in Christ, for he is the promised seed, Gen. iii. 15, through whom every blessing is derived on mankind; and through his spiritual seed-the true Christians, the conquests of the cross are daily spreading over the face of the earth. The present unparalleled dispersion of the sacred writings, in all the regular languages of the universe, is a full proof that all the nations of the earth are likely to be blessed through them; but they have nothing but what they have received from and through Christ.
Four hundred and thirty years after] God made a covenant with Abraham that the Messiah should spring from his posterity. This covenant stated that justification should be obtained by faith in the Messiah. The Messiah did not come till 1911 years after the making of this covenant, and the law was given 430 years after the covenant with Abraham, therefore the law, which was given 1481 years before the promise to Abram could be fulfilled, (for so much time elapsed between the giving of the law and the advent of Christ,) could not possibly annul the Abrahamic covenant. This argument is absolute and conclusive. Let us review it. The promise to Abraham respects the Messiah, and cannot be fulfilled but in him. Christians say the Messiah is come, but the advent of him whom they acknowledge as the Messiah did not take place till 1911 years after the covenant was made, therefore no intermediate transaction can affect that covenant. But the law was an intermediate transaction, taking place 430 years after the covenant with Abraham, and could neither annul nor affect that which was not to have its fulfillment till 1481 years after. Justification by faith is promised in the Abrahamic covenant, and attributed to that alone, therefore it is not to be expected from the law, nor can its works justify any, for the law in this respect cannot annul or affect the Abrahamic covenant. But suppose ye say that the law, which was given 430 years after the covenant with Abraham, has superseded this covenant, and limited and confined its blessings to the Jews; I answer: This is impossible, for the covenant most specifically refers to the Messiah, and takes in, not the Jewish people only, but all nations; for it is written, In thy seed-the Messiah and his spiritual progeny, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. This universal blessedness can never be confined, by any figure of speech, or by any legal act, to the Jewish people exclusively; and, as the covenant was legally made and confirmed, it cannot be annulled, it must therefore remain in reference to its object.
In opposition to us, the Jews assert that the Messiah is not yet come; then we assert, on that ground, that the promise is not yet fulfilled; for the giving of the law to one people cannot imply the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, because that extends to all nations. However, therefore, the case be argued, the Jewish cause derives no benefit from it; and the conclusion still recurs, salvation cannot be attained by the works of the law, forasmuch as the covenant is of faith; and he only, as your prophets declare, who is justified by faith, shall live, or be saved.
Therefore we still conclude that those who are only under the law are under the curse; and, as it says, he that doeth these things shall live in them, and he that sinneth shall die, there is no hope of salvation for any man from the law of Moses. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaiming salvation by faith to a sinful and ruined world, is absolutely necessary, nor can it be superseded by any other institution, whether human or Divine.
How we arrive at the sum of 430 years may be seen in the note on Exod. xii. 40. Dr. Whitby also gives a satisfactory view of the matter. "The apostle refers to the promise made, Gen. xii. 3, since from that only are the 430 years to be computed, for then Abraham was 75 years old, Gen. xii. 4; from thence to the birth of Isaac, which happened when Abraham was 100 years old, (Gen. xxi. 5,) 25 years; from his birth to the birth of Jacob, 60 years, for Isaac was 60 years old when Rebecca bare him, Genesis xxv. 26. From Jacob's birth to the descent into Egypt, 130 years, as he said to Pharaoh, Gen. xlvii. 9. The abode of him and his posterity in Egypt was 215 years; so that, with their sojourning in Canaan, was 430 years;" the sum given here, and in Exodus xii. 40, where see the notes.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 17. And this I say , etc..] Assert and affirm as a certain truth, that is not to be gainsaid; that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul ; by the covenant is meant, not the covenant made with Adam, as the federal head of all his posterity; for this was made two thousand years before the law was given; nor that which was made with the Israelites at Mount Sinai, for that itself is the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after this covenant; nor the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham, for that was not so long by some years, before the giving of the law, as the date here fixed: but a covenant confirmed of God in Christ; a covenant in which Christ is concerned; a covenant made with him, of which he is the sum and substance, the Mediator, surety, and messenger; and such is what the Scriptures call the covenant of life and peace, and what we commonly style the covenant of grace and redemption; because the articles of redemption and reconciliation, of eternal life and salvation, by the free grace of God, are the principal things in it. This is said to be in Christ, eiv criston , with respect to Christ; though the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions leave out this clause, nor is it in the Alexandrian copy, and some others; meaning either that this covenant has respect to Christ personal, he having that concern in it, as just now mentioned, and as it was made manifest and confirmed to Abraham, was promised in it to spring from him; or rather that it has respect to Christ mystical, as before, to all Abraham's spiritual seed, both Jews and Gentiles: and this is said to be confirmed of God, with respect thereunto; which must be understood, not of the first establishment of the covenant, in and with Christ, for that was done in eternity; nor of the confirmation of it by his blood, which was at his death; nor of the confirmation of it in common to the saints by the Spirit of God, who is the seal of the covenant, as he is the Spirit of promise; but of a peculiar confirmation of it to Abraham, either by a frequent repetition thereof, or by annexing an oath unto it; or rather by those rites and usages, and even wonderful appearances, recorded in ( Genesis 15:9,10) ( Genesis 15:12,13,17,18) and which was four hundred and thirty years before the law was given, which are thus computed by the learned Pareus; from the confirmation of the covenant, and taking Hagar for his wife, to the birth of Isaac,15 years; from the birth of Isaac, to the birth of Jacob,60 years, ( Genesis 25:26), from the birth of Jacob, to his going down into Egypt, 130 years, ( Genesis 47:9), from his going down to Egypt, to his death,17 years, ( Genesis 47:28) from the death of Jacob, to the death of Joseph in Egypt, 53 years, ( Genesis 50:26) from the death of Joseph, to the birth of Moses,75 years; from the birth of Moses, to the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt, and the giving of the law, 80 years, in all 430 years. The Jews reckoned the four hundred years spoken of to Abraham, ( Genesis 15:13) and mentioned by Stephen, ( Acts 7:6) from the birth of Isaac; but they reckon the four hundred and thirty years, the number given by Moses, ( Exodus 12:40) and by the apostle here, to begin from the confirming the covenant between the pieces, though somewhat differently counted; says one of their chronologers f54 , we reckon the 430 years from the 70th year of Abraham, from whence to the birth of Isaac were 30 years, and from thence to the going out of Egypt, 400 years; and another of them says, they are to be reckoned from the time that the bondage was decreed, in the standing between the pieces; and there were years of them from thence to the going down to Egypt, and these are the particulars; the 105 years which remained to Abraham, and the 105 years Isaac lived after the death of Abraham, and there were 10 years from the death of Isaac, to the going down to Egypt, and it remains that there were 210 years they stayed in Egypt: another of their writers says, that from the time that the decree of the captivity of Egypt was fixed between the pieces, to the birth of Isaac, were 30 years; and from the birth of Isaac to the going down of the children of Israel into Egypt, 400 years; take out from them the 60 years of Isaac, and the 130 years that Jacob had lived when he went into Egypt, and there remain 210.
Josephus reckons these years from Abraham's coming into the land of Canaan, to the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and makes them 430, agreeably to ( Exodus 12:40) and to the apostle here, and to the Talmud; (See Gill on Acts 7:6). However, be these computations as they will, it is certain, that the law, which was so long after the confirming of the covenant to Abraham, could not make it null and void: or that it should make the promise of none effect; the particular promise of the covenant, respecting the justification of Abraham and his spiritual seed, by faith in the righteousness of Christ.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 15-18 - The covenant God made with Abraham, was not done away by the giving the law to Moses. The covenant was made with Abraham and his Seed. It is still in force; Christ abideth for ever in his person, and his spiritual seed, who are his by faith. By this we learn the differenc between the promises of the law and those of the gospel. The promise of the law are made to the person of every man; the promises of the gospel are first made to Christ, then by him to those who are by fait ingrafted into Christ. Rightly to divide the word of truth, a grea difference must be put between the promise and the law, as to the inward affections, and the whole practice of life. When the promise i mingled with the law, it is made nothing but the law. Let Christ be always before our eyes, as a sure argument for the defence of faith against dependence on human righteousness.
Greek Textus Receptus
τουτο 5124 δε 1161 λεγω 3004 5719 διαθηκην 1242 προκεκυρωμενην 4300 5772 υπο 5259 του 3588 θεου 2316 εις 1519 χριστον 5547 ο 3588 μετα 3326 ετη 2094 τετρακοσια 5071 και 2532 τριακοντα 5144 γεγονως 1096 5756 νομος 3551 ουκ 3756 ακυροι 208 5719 εις 1519 το 3588 καταργησαι 2673 5658 την 3588 επαγγελιαν 1860
Vincent's NT Word Studies
17. And this I say (touto de legw). Now I mean this. Not strictly the conclusion from vv. 15, 16, since Paul does not use this phrase in drawing a conclusion (comp. 1 Cor. i. 12, and touto de fhmi, 1 Corinthians vii. 29; xv. 50). It is rather the application, for which the way was prepared in verse 16, of the analogy of verse 15 to the inviolable stability of God's covenant.
Four hundred and thirty years after. Bengel remarks: "The greatness of the interval increases the authority of the promise." 63 To make of none effect (katarghsai). See on Rom. iii. 3.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:17 {Now this I say} (touto de legw). Now I mean this . He comes back to his main point and is not carried afield by the special application of sperma to Christ. {Confirmed beforehand by God} (prokekurwmenen hupo tou qeou). Perfect passive participle of prokurow, in Byzantine writers and earliest use here. Nowhere else in N.T. The point is in pro and hupo tou qeou (by God) and in meta (after) as Burton shows. {Four hundred and thirty years after} (meta tetrakosia kai triakonta ete). Literally, "after four hundred and thirty years." this is the date in #Ex 12:40 for the sojourn in Egypt (cf. #Ge 15:13). But the LXX adds words to include the time of the patriarchs in Canaan in this number of years which would cut the time in Egypt in two. Cf. #Ac 7:6. It is immaterial to Paul's argument which chronology is adopted except that "the longer the covenant had been in force the more impressive is his statement" (Burton). {Doth not disannul} (ouk akuroi). Late verb akurow, in N.T. only here and #Mt 15:6; Mr 7:13 (from a privative and kuros, authority). On katargesai see #1Co 1:28; 2:6; 15:24,26.
