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Gal_3:18. “I am right in denying, that through the law the διαθήκη passes out of force and the promise is to cease.” The proof depends on the relation of contrast between law and promise, whereby the working of the one excludes the like working of the other. For if the possession of the Messianic salvation proceeds from the law, which must have been the case if God’s covenant with Abraham had lost its validity by means of the law, then this possession comes no longer from promise,—a case which, although necessary on that supposition, cannot occur, as is evident from the precedent of Abraham, to whom salvation was given by God through promise. The mode of conclusion adopted in Rom_4:14 is similar.
ἐκ νόμου ] so that the law is the institution which causes this result (in the way of following its commandments). Comp. on ἐν νόμῳ , Gal_3:11.
ἡ κληρονομία ] the possession, ðÇçÂìÈä , refers in the theocratic-historical sense of the O.T. to the land of Canaan and its several portions (Deu_4:21; Jos_13:23); but in its N.T. sense, the conception of the κληρονομία is elevated to the idea of its Messianic fulfilment (Mat_5:5), so that the kingdom of the Messiah and the whole of its fulness of salvation and glory are understood thereby (1Co_6:9; Gal_5:21; Eph_5:5; Act_20:32, et al.). Comp. on Rom_4:13; Eph_1:11. So also here; and Paul uses this word (not ἡ σωτηρία , ἡ ζωή , or the like) because he has previously (see on Gal_3:16) referred to passages in which the κληρονομία (that is, according to this Christian idealizing of the O.T. historical sense: the kingdom of the Messiah) is promised.
οὐκέτι ] The one relation, if it exists, cancels the other. It is (in opposition to Koppe) the logical (not historical) no longer. Comp. Rom_7:17; Rom_11:6.
διʼ ἐπαγγελίας ] by means of promise, so that in his case the possession of the Messianic salvation is the fulfilment (by way of grace) of a promise, and not the possible result (by way of reward) of rendering prescribed services, and the like, which fall under the idea of the νόμος .
κεχάρισται ] sc. τὴν κληρονομίαν donavit (Vulgate), bestowed by way of gift (the contrast to ὀφείλημα , Rom_4:4; Rom_4:16), namely, as a future possession to be realized at the time of the παρουσία (Mat_8:11). On χαρίζεσθαι τινί τι , comp. Rom_8:32; 1Co_2:12; Php_1:29; Php_2:9; Act_27:24; Xen. Cyrop. 8:6. 22; Polyb. xvi. 24. 9. Without supplying anything, Schott and Matthias render: to Abraham God has, through promise, been gracious. Comp. Holsten: He has bestowed a favour on him. But the supplying of τὴν κληρονομίαν harmonizes best with the immediate context and the logical relation of the two divisions of the verse, the second of which forms the propositio minor, and therefore, like the major, must speak of the κληρονομία .[139] Caspari (in d. Strassb. Beitr. 1854, p. 206 ff.), following classical usage, but not that of the N.T., has wrongly taken κεχάρισται in a passive sense, so that God is conceived as the inheritance. This is in opposition to the context, and also against the view of the N.T. generally, according to which the κληρονομία proceeds from God (Rom_8:17), and is not God Himself, but eternal life (Gal_3:21; Tit_3:7; Mat_19:29, et al.), the kingdom of the Messiah (Gal_5:21; 1Co_6:9; 1Co_15:50; Jam_2:5), and its salvation (Rom_1:16) and dominion (Rom_4:13 f.; Mat_5:5; 2Ti_2:12).
[139] Ver. 18 is a syllogismus conditionalis of the nature of a dilemma, the conclusion of which, because self-obvious, is not expressed.