Thomas Aquinas

After the Apostle proved by authorities that the law does not justify, nor is necessary for justification, which is through faith, here he consequently shows the same thing by human reasons. And concerning this he does four things. First, he sets down a human custom; second, he takes up the divine promise, at the words "The promises were made to Abraham," etc.; third, he draws the conclusion, at "Now this I say," etc.; fourth, he shows that the conclusion follows from the premises, at "For if of the law," etc.

He says therefore: I indeed spoke openly before according to the authority of Scripture, which was brought forth not by human will, but by the Holy Spirit, as it is said in 2 Peter 1:21; but now I speak according to man, and according to what human reason and custom hold. From this, indeed, we have an argument that for discoursing about the things of faith, we may use any truth of any science whatsoever. Deuteronomy 21:11: "If thou seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou lovest her, and wilt have her to wife, thou shalt bring her into thy house" — that is, if secular wisdom and knowledge should please you, you shall bring it within your borders — "who shall shave her hair," etc., that is, it will cut away all erroneous senses. And hence it is that the Apostle in many places in his epistles uses the authorities of the gentiles, as that in 1 Corinthians 15:33: "Evil communications corrupt good manners," etc., and that in Titus 1:11: "The Cretans, evil beasts," etc. Or, although reasons of this kind are empty and weak — because, as it is said in Psalm 93:11, "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain" — nevertheless no one despises or overrides a man's confirmed testament, because nothing human has such firmness as a man's last will; but someone would despise it, if he said that a man's testament, confirmed by the death of the testator and by witnesses, were not valid. If, then, no one despises a testament of this kind, saying that it need not be kept, or despises it by altering something in it, much more should no one despise or override the testament of God, by infringing it, or by adding to it or taking away from it. Apocalypse, last chapter: "If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of this prophecy, God shall take away his part," etc. Deuteronomy 4:2: "You shall not add to the word which I speak to you, nor shall you take away from it," etc.

Consequently, when he says "The promises were made to Abraham," etc., he takes up the divine promise made to Abraham, which is as it were a certain testament of God. And first he expounds this promise or testament; second, he discloses the truth of the testament, at "He does not say: And to seeds," etc. He says therefore first, "The promises were made to Abraham," as if to say: just as a man's testament is firm, so the divine promises are firm. But did God make any promises before the law? Certainly, because to Abraham, who was before the law — namely, that God would not deceive — the promises were spoken, that is, made, both to him and to his seed, by God. But they were made to Abraham, as to the one to whom they were to be fulfilled; and to his seed, as that through which they were to be fulfilled. Now he says "promises" in the plural, because the promise concerning the blessing of the seed contained many things. Or because the same thing — that is, eternal blessedness — was frequently promised to him, as in Genesis 12:3, "In thee shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed"; likewise 15:5, "Look up to heaven, and number the stars," etc.; likewise in the same place: "To thy seed I will give this land," etc.; likewise 22:18: "I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven." These promises, therefore, are as it were the testament of God, because there is a certain ordinance concerning the inheritance to be given to Abraham and to his seed.

But he discloses the truth of the testament when he says: "He does not say: And to seeds," etc. And indeed he discloses it by the same spirit by which the testament was drawn up. And this is clear from the words of the testament. "He does not say," he says, "and to seeds," as if referring to many — that is, as he would speak if it held true of many — "but as of one, who is Christ," because he alone is the one through whom and in whom all can be blessed. For he alone and singularly is the one who is not subject to the curse of guilt, even though he deigned to become a curse for us. Hence it is said in Psalm 140:10: "I am alone," etc. Likewise: "There is none that doth good," etc. Ecclesiastes 7:29: "One man among a thousand I have found" — namely, Christ, who would be without all sin — "but a woman among them all I have not found" — who would be wholly free of sin, at least original, or venial.

He draws the conclusion, then, consequently, when he says "Now this I say: the testament," etc., where let us see in order what it is that he says. He says therefore that this is what God promised to Abraham, but this is the testament, namely, this promise concerning obtaining the inheritance. Jeremiah 31:31: "I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant," etc. "Confirmed" — this he puts down so that it might agree with what was said before. For above he had said, "a man's testament, confirmed," etc. "By God" — namely, who promised. And I say it was confirmed by an oath. Genesis 22:16: "By my own self have I sworn," etc.; Hebrews 6:18: "That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie," etc. This testament, I say, the law does not make void — the law which indeed was made, and given by God through Moses. John 1:17: "The law was given by Moses," etc. "After four hundred and thirty," etc. And, as if expounding what he had said, he adds, "does not make void, so as to make the promise of no effect." For thus would the aforesaid testament become void, if the promise made to Abraham were made of no effect, that is, made in vain, as though the seed promised to Abraham were not sufficient for the blessing of the gentiles. But through Christ the promises made to the fathers were not made void, but confirmed. Romans 15:8: "I say that Jesus Christ was minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promises made to the fathers." And 2 Corinthians 1:20: "For all the promises of God are in him," etc.

Now, what is said, "after four hundred and thirty years," agrees with what is found in Exodus 12:40: "The abode of the children of Israel, during which they remained in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." And Acts 7:6: "The Lord spoke" — namely, to Abraham — "that his seed would be a sojourner in a foreign land, and they would subject them to servitude for four hundred and thirty years." But against this is what is said in Genesis 15:13: "Know for certain that thy seed shall be a stranger, and they will subject them to servitude, and afflict them, for four hundred years."

I respond. It must be said that if the computation of years is made from the first promise made to Abraham, which is read in Genesis 12, up to the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, when the law was given, then there are four hundred and thirty years, as is written here, and in Exodus 12, and Acts 7. But if the computation begins from the birth of Isaac, of which we read in Genesis 21, then there are only four hundred and five years. For twenty-five years passed from the promise made to Abraham until the birth of Isaac. For Abraham was seventy-five years old when he went out from his land, and the first promise was made to him, as is found in Genesis 12. But he was a hundred years old when Isaac was born, as is found in the same place, chapter 21. That there were, from the birth of Isaac until the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, four hundred and five years, is proved by this: that Isaac was sixty years old when he begot Jacob, as is found in Genesis 25; and Jacob was a hundred and thirty years old when he entered Egypt, as is found in Genesis 27. And thus, from the birth of Isaac until Jacob's entry into Egypt, there were a hundred and ninety years. But Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, as is found in Genesis 41. And afterward there passed seven years of fruitfulness and two of barrenness, until Jacob's entry into Egypt, as is found in chapter 45. Now Joseph lived a hundred and ten years, as is found in the last chapter of Genesis. From which, if thirty-nine years are subtracted, seventy-one years remain. There were, therefore, from the birth of Isaac until the death of Joseph, two hundred and sixty-one years. Now the children of Israel were in Egypt after the death of Joseph for a hundred and forty-four years, as Rabanus says in the Gloss. There were, therefore, from the birth of Isaac until the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt and the giving of the law, four hundred and five years; but Scripture did not concern itself with the minute details. Or it can be said that in the fifth year of Isaac, Ishmael was expelled, and Isaac alone remained as Abraham's heir, and from that time there were four hundred years.

Then, when he says "For if of the law," etc., he shows how it follows from the premises that the law would make the promises void, if the law were necessary for justification, or for the blessing of the gentiles. He says therefore: truly the promise would be made void if the law were necessary. For if the inheritance — namely, of Abraham's blessing — were from the law, it would then no longer be from the promise, that is, from the seed promised to Abraham. For if the promised seed were sufficient for obtaining the inheritance of the blessing, justification would not come about through the law. But he destroys the consequent, when he says, "But God gave to Abraham," etc., that is, he promised that he would give — which was as certain as if he were giving it at once — through the promise, that is, through the promised seed. The inheritance, therefore — that is, the blessing — is not from the law; concerning which it is said in 1 Peter 3:9: "Unto this you are called, that you may inherit a blessing."