Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 3:18

"For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise: but God hath granted it to Abraham by promise." — Galatians 3:18 (ASV)

This verse adds an objective as well as temporal reason why the giving of the law cannot change the promise. Promise and law are antithetical by nature. They can be neither mingled together nor combined (cf. also v.12). In the last phrase the words “to Abraham” are emphasized, thereby once again driving all discussion of how men and women enter into a right relationship with God to its original source. The word “gave” (GK 5919) is important, because it emphasizes that salvation is both a free gift and is permanent. Whatever may be said about the law, this much is certain: God saved Abraham through promise, not law, and the original way of salvation is still operative.