⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring^[a] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi^[a] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

¹⁶ and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and through your offspring^[a] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[b] because you have obeyed me.”

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵ Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. ¹⁶ The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”^[a] meaning one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷ What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.