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| PentecostalTheology.com
In explaining the Gospel of salvation from faith to the Galatians, Paul states the promise to Abraham was to "the Seed" not "seeds" and the Seed was Christ (cf. Galatians 3:15-18). Then he explains the purpose of the Law:
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made… (Galatians 3:19a NKJV)
τί οὖν ὁ νόμος τῶν παραβάσεων χάριν προσετέθη ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθῃ τὸ σπέρμα ᾧ ἐπήγγελται
As most translations show, Paul states the promise was made to the Seed. Since Abraham was not the Seed, Paul’s explanation becomes a claim of Christ’s existence before His coming of woman and under the Law (cf. Galatians 4:4). Therefore, Paul constructed an argument using the promise, the Seed, and the Law which demands the presence of Christ at the time the promise was made.
Some translations appear to have difficulty with this claim:
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come… (NIV)
This understanding converts Paul’s statement of Christ’s presence when the promise was made to one in which Christ was being referenced when Abraham received the promise.
Does Paul state Christ was present when Abraham received the promise?
Anonymous
First, it was Christ who made this promise to Abraham knowing that he would one day himself fulfill this promise through becoming the seed of Abraham.
Anonymous
Philip Williams SCRIPTURE that it was Christ who made this promise to Abraham
Anonymous
Troy Day “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
John 1:18