And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
And ( De (G1161)) - 'However.'
This I say - `this is what I mean' by my illustration from 'man's covenants' х legoo (G3004) is here resumed from Galatians 3:15].
Confirmed before of God - `ratified by God' (Galatians 3:15).
In Christ - rather, 'unto Christ' (cf. Galatians 3:16) х eis (G1519) Christon (G5547)]. So Delta G f g, Vulgate. But 'Aleph (') A B C omit the words.
The law, which was, х Gegonos (G1096)] - 'which came into existence 430 years after.' In Genesis 15:13; Acts 7:6, the round number 400 is given. He does not, as in the case of "the covenant," add 'confirmed by God' (John 1:17). The dispensation of "the promise" began with the call of Abraham from Ur into Canaan, and ended on the last night of his grandson Jacob's sojourn in Canaan, the land of promise. The law dispensation, which 'engenders bondage,' was drawing on from the time of his entrance into Egypt, 'the house of bondage.' It was to Christ in him, as in his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, not to them as persons, the promise was spoken. On the day following the last repetition of the promise at Beersheba, Israel passed into Egypt (Genesis 46:1-6). It is from the end, not the beginning, of the dispensation of promise that the 430 years between it and the law are to be counted. At Beersheba Abraham called on the everlasting God, and the well was confirmed to him and his seed as an everlasting possession. Here God appeared to Isaac. Here the blessing was promised Jacob for the last time. The 430 do not include the 215 years in Canaan, if Genesis 15:13; Exodus 12:40-41; Acts 7:6, be literally true.
Moreover, '600,000 men' (Exodus 12:37) imply, with women and children, a population of 2,000,000: 215 years in Egypt would be too short for the increase from 70 (Genesis 46:27), when Jacob entered Egypt, to 2,000,000 at the exodus. The difficulty as to the great length of life (Ellicott) thus assigned to the generations between Levi and Moses is cleared up by supposing omission of links in the genealogy, as elsewhere in Scripture.
Cannot - Greek, 'doth not disannul.'
Make the promise of none effect - which it would be if the power of conferring the inheritance be transferred from it to the law (Romans 4:14).