Galatians 3:15-20

God's promise to Abraham still has authority

15 My Christian friends, I will use an example from our lives. Two people may make an agreement together and they both agree to it properly. If they do that, nobody else can change that agreement. Nobody can take away its authority. 16 In the same way, God promised to bless Abraham and Abraham's descendant. The Bible does not say ‘descendants’. It does not speak about ‘many people’. No, God promised to bless Abraham's descendant. He speaks about one person, and that person is Christ.

17 What I mean is this: God made an agreement with Abraham. He promised to bless him. Then, 430 years later, God gave his Law to Moses for his people. But that Law could not take away the authority of God's covenant with Abraham. It could not stop what God had already promised. 18 God has promised to give good things to his children. But that does not happen as a result of God's Law. If that were true, then we would not receive God's good things as a result of his promise. But God gave those good things to Abraham as a gift, because he had promised to bless Abraham.

3:17Moses was a great leader of the Israelites, who gave God's laws to the people.

Paul explains the purpose of God's Law

19 So why did God give his Law to his people after his promise to Abraham? He gave his Law to show them which things are wrong. It would have authority until Abraham's special descendant would come. This was the descendant that God had promised to bless. God used angels to give his Law to his people. It was Moses who received the Law from God. Moses then took it to God's people. 20 But God himself gave his promise to Abraham. It was not necessary to have somebody between them, like Moses.

3:19The Jews believed that God sent angels to Moses on Mount Sinai. See Exodus 19-20, and Acts 7:38, 53.