Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 3:18

εἰ γὰρ ἐκ νόμου κ.τ.λ. I say καταργ. τ. ἐπαγ. for the Law and the promise are so fundamentally different in their nature that if the inheritance promised in the διαθήκη after all springs from the Law (or perhaps “from law”), it no longer springs from promise. The anarthrous ἐπαγγελίας (contrast Galatians 3:17), i.e. promise as such, probably determines in this verse the meaning of νόμου, i.e. law as such.

ἡ κληρονομία. While we must keep “inheritance” as a translation (rather than any such word as “apportionment”) because of its connexion with “heirs,” Galatians 3:29; Galatians 4:1; Galatians 4:7, it must be remembered that according to Hort (see his important note on 1 Peter 1:4) it “apparently contains no implication of hereditary succession, as it does usually in classical Greek. The sense is rather ‘sanctioned and settled possession.’ ” The κληρονομία of Israel was originally the land of Canaan, as is implied in Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 13:17; Genesis 17:8; Genesis 24:7, but the word readily lent itself to include, as here, all spiritual privileges present and future, which are “the fulfilment of ancient longings of men and ancient promises of God.” See also Westcott, Hebrews, pp. 167 sqq.

τῷ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ διʼ ἐπαγγελίας. The fact is certain. It was by promise not law.

κεχάρισται ὁ θεός. God not only promised the inheritance, but He has given it freely by promise and the gift abides. St Paul’s fresh word emphasises the freeness of the gift and the tense its permanence. So Acts 27:24; Romans 8:32 : Philemon 1:22. The fact that God’s disposition has been given once for all by promise forbids any essential alteration of it. “A διαθήκη,” says Philo, “is a symbol of grace, which God has placed between Himself who proffers it and man who receives it; and this is the very extravagance of beneficence, that there is nothing between God and the soul except His own virgin grace” (De Mut. Nom., 6 §§ 52 sq., Young’s translation).

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 3:18

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