Please read the passage first.
Paul makes makes his third argument, this one from experience, namely, that of making a will. The argument is from minor (a human will) to major (the divine will or testament). His argument does sound strange, for even after “ratification” of a will, human beings can change it or annul it and make a new one. This fact would weaken his argument. However, the general point is clear. The divine will or covenant that God gave to Abraham, one he has shown that rested on faith, came over 400 years before the Law came. The Law cannot nullify the faith that Abraham and that made him right with God. Verse 16 refers to Genesis 15:7, a promise to the descendants of Abraham. Yet, Paul uses the passage to refer to Christ. The argument is a difficult one.
As Luther comments upon this passage, he says that Law has two purposes, one civil, in restraining people from doing harmful things upon threat of punishment, and the other is spiritual, to convince us that we are sinners. The Law must break the power of self-righteousness in order to prepare the way for Christ. The Law brings sin and death, but then the Gospel enlivens.
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