Galatians 3 versus 15 through 18.

To give a human example, brethren,

no one annuls even a man's will or adds to it once it has been ratified.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.

It does not say and to his offspring. It does not say and to off springs, referring to many, but referring

to one and to your offspring which came

came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void.

For if the inheritance is by the law it is no longer by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Now to see what's going on here

in verses 15 to 18 of Galatians 3,

we need to go back and look at three paragraphs preceding

just very briefly because I think Paul is answering an objection here in these verses

which has risen because of what he had said earlier.

First of all, verses 1 through 5 of chapter 3, you may remember that the point there is you have to put the way you drive. That is if you began

the Christian life through faith in reliance on the Holy Spirit you cannot

complete it or improve it through works in reliance on the flesh.

That's the main point of those verses.

Some church members in Galatia had been bewitched into thinking that you could start

the Christian life by faith, complete it by works.

The spirit, sort of a booster rocket to get you up out of the lower atmosphere and then your rockets

kick in to get you into a nice smooth round orbit.

And Paul says, no, that nullifies grace

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