15 Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.

17 What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Merry Chau

When I turned 18 and got a job working at an ice cream store, I was pretty excited to sign myself up to my first phone contract. When I told my parents, they weren’t so impressed. I think part of this was because of the abiding nature of contracts – they cannot be cancelled or amended. Once I had signed those papers, they knew it could not be taken back. This passage tells us that God made a covenant with Abraham that cannot be cancelled or amended. But in this case, that is very good news, because this covenant was a promise to bring everlasting blessing to the Gentiles (back in verse 14).

Human contracts usually have some sort of expiry date – maybe when someone is deceased, or when enough time has passed that the contract becomes void. In verse 17, we see that neither time nor the law are a factor when it comes to God’s covenant – it cannot be nullified.

Verse 16 tells us that the promise was made to Abraham, and through him to Christ. It was received in faith and not by law.  It is not dependent on us for the promise to be kept – even in our sin, even when 430 years and beyond passes, God remains faithful and true to his everlasting promise, through his mercy and grace.

Sometimes when I read the Bible, especially the Old Testament, I’m tempted to think that the stories no longer apply to me. But I’m reminded here that God’s everlasting covenant to Abraham at the start of the Bible still has significance for me now. It gives me great assurance that whether we are Jew or Gentile, even in our sin, and at whatever time has passed, when we are united with Christ through faith we have become heirs of this promise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Merry is part of our Fairfield Morning congregation.