Now to Abraham and his descendant were the promises made. He says not, And to descendants, as of many; but as of one,
And to your descendant
, who is Christ.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. Thisrefers to Gen. xxii16. From this we conclude that by his readiness to obey God in sacrificing his son he merited that from his own seed should Christ be born as a blessing to the Gentiles, and to fulfil the promises. The Apostle, therefore, rightly lays it down that these promises were made to Abraham and his seed, i.e, to Christ, who should spring from his loins; although the word of Genesis speaks of these promises being made to Abraham in his seed only, and not to his seed. Yet the very fact that they were to be fulfilled in his seed shows that they were made rather to his seed than to Abraham. Just as if a king should promise one of his nobles to exalt his family in his Song of Solomon , by making him a duke or a prince, and thereby makes a promise to the son rather than to the father, so did God to Abraham. It was in Christ, as the seed of Abraham, that the promise, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," has...
Passing my eyes and memory over all the Scriptures, I nowhere find offsprings written in the plural but everywhere the singular, whether in a good sense or a bad…. If anyone carefully collates the Hebrew Scriptures with the [Greek version of the] Seventy, he will find that where testament is written, what is meant is not “testament” but “covenant.” … Whence it is clear that the apostle has done as he promised, not using deeper meanings but everyday ones, and even trivial ones which (if he had not said beforehand “I speak humanly”) might have displeased the intelligent. .
Thus God made a covenant with Abraham, promising that in his seed the blessing should come upon the heathen; and this blessing the Law cannot turn aside. As this example was not in all respects appropriate to the matter in hand, he introduces it thus, I speak after the manner of men, that nothing might be deduced from it derogatory to the majesty of God. But let us go to the bottom of this illustration. It was promised Abraham that by his seed the heathen should be blessed; and his seed according to the flesh is Christ; four hundred and thirty years after came the Law; now, if the Law bestows the blessings even life and righteousness, that promise is annulled. And so while no one annuls a man's covenant, the covenant of God after four hundred and thirty years is annulled; for if not that covenant but another instead of it bestows what is promised, then is it set aside, which is most unreasonable.
Although we have God Himself as an adequate engager and faithful promiser, in that He promised to Abraham that "in his seed should be blest all nations of the earth; ".
"To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed. He said not `to seeds, 'as of many; but as of one, `to thy seed, 'which is Christ.".
"So faith, illumined by patience, when it was becoming propagated among the nations through "Abraham's seed, which is Christ"
