Galatians 3:16
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
The singular form seed means one person, Christ, not many descendants considered collectively. The promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham's seed points to the coming of the Saviour of the world. Abraham understood that the promise pointed to Christ, trusted in Christ for forgiveness of sins, and by that faith was counted righteous.
Four hundred and thirty years passed from the making of the covenant with Abraham to the giving of the law at Sinai. This shows the Israelites were in Egypt only about two hundred and fifteen years, not four hundred years. The four hundred and thirty years of sojourning began with the promise given when Abraham was commanded to leave Ur of the Chaldees and includes the time Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived as strangers in Canaan. The four hundred years of affliction began thirty years later about the time Ishmael persecuted Isaac.
The promise to Abraham that in his seed all nations would be blessed is the same covenant of grace first made in Eden. That covenant offers to all people pardon and assisting grace for future obedience through faith in Christ, with eternal life on condition of fidelity to God's law, and it upholds the authority of God's law. The covenant of grace made to Abraham and his Seed is not limited by circumcision or Jewish nationality. The blessings given under that covenant to the Jewish nation are given equally to the Gentiles, so Gentiles who knew nothing of circumcision and were once without Christ and strangers from the covenants of promise are brought under that same covenant and made near by the blood of Christ when they accept Him as Saviour.
The promises to Abraham are to be fulfilled through Christ, so all who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise, heirs to an incorruptible inheritance. The word to Abraham and his seed did not fail and did not meet its final accomplishment in the occupation of Canaan by the Jewish people. Abraham himself is to share the inheritance, which includes not merely the land of Canaan but the whole earth freed from the curse of sin, the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven given to the saints where the meek inherit the earth in peace. The fulfillment of the promises may seem long delayed, but at the appointed time it will surely come and will not tarry.
Christ as the promised seed was to come through Israel to preserve the knowledge of the living God and to conquer Satan. At Sinai Satan tried to extinguish that seed by leading Israel into worship of the golden calf, hoping their insult and blasphemy would cause God to cut them off and devote them to destruction and so thwart God's purposes. But sinful Israel was not destroyed; those who stubbornly sided with Satan were cut off while the humbled and repentant people were mercifully pardoned, defeating Satan again.
The passage gives clear and convincing plain light on the covenants that every candid, unprejudiced mind would receive. Its teaching on the covenants and on the law must be accepted rather than turned from for fear of having to accept what it teaches about the law. To change its meaning twists Scripture and creates false issues to cloud and mislead minds. The passage belongs to the disputed question of the law in Galatians, which many had not fully understood before taking a wrong position. Taking such a position while failing to cherish the Spirit of Christ brought loss to the church, and no one can rightly establish or refute its position until truly converted before God.