TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 27: 45, Specific NT Verse misteachings, mistranslations or corruptions in the epistles of Paul, the word χριστός, Galatians

TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 27

Here we shall continue to discuss particular passages in the epistles of Paul where certain terms are mistranslated or misunderstood, and adversely affect the interpretation of the Scriptures throughout the New Testament. As we have already explained, because of the nature and purpose of Paul’s epistles there are many more of these than there are in all of the other New Testament writings. Once again, while there are many more mistranslations in Paul than what we shall present here, we will only focus on those which concern nation, race and the scope and purpose of the Gospel.

45 continued) Specific NT Verse misteachings, mistranslations or corruptions in the epistles of Paul

When we discussed words which were generally mistranslated or misinterpreted throughout the Gospels or New Testament as a whole, there were a few that we did not list immediately, probably because they are not an issue until we get to the epistles of Paul or the other apostles. So in our last presentation we discussed the word saint, and here I believe it is necessary to discuss another word, which is anointed, or Christ where it refers to Yahshua, as the word χριστός is an adjective and it does not always refer to Christ even where it appears in Scripture. There is actually a 3,300-word essay explaining this at Christogenea, however I will attempt a summary here, as it is important to understanding passages in Galatians and elsewhere in Paul’s epistles.

In part, Liddell & Scott define the word χριστός as a “verbal Adjective of χρίω, to be rubbed on ... of persons, anointed: ΧΡΙΣΤΟ´Σ, ὁ, the Anointed One, the CHRIST, as a translation of the Hebrew Messiah…” The root verb, χρίω is “... to rub or anoint with scented unguents ... to anoint ….” So we see that when it is used of persons the adjective χριστός simply means anointed.

Yet wherever the King James Version and later English translators encountered the word, whether they did it by habitual repetition or through plain ignorance, they translated the word as Christ whether it is an adjective or used as a Substantive, as a noun, where it is usually accompanied by a Definite Article. Therefore Christians have been led to believe that the word always refers to Yahshua Christ Himself. Most later translations simply follow the King James Version in this respect, and also the Bible dictionaries.

The verb χρίω, to anoint, is found at Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38 and Hebrews 1:9, all pertaining to Christ. But elsewhere in the New Testament we see this same verb used in that same manner of the children of Israel, at 2 Corinthians 1:21. There we read, from the King James Version: “ 21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God.” So there Paul clearly expressed the concept that Christians are anointed. But as we have often noted in this series of presentations, the Corinthians were descendants of the ancient Israelites

Likewise, the apostle John used a related noun, χρῖσμα, where he was also speaking of Christians. But rather than writing anointing, the King James Version translated the word as unction in 1 John 2:20 where we read “20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” However a little further on in that epistle, in 2:27, it is translated as we would have it, as anointing, and it says “27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

The use of these words in this same manner, pertaining to the ancient children of Israel, are found in the Greek Septuagint, as their Hebrew counterparts are also in the Masoretic Text, and therefore the meaning is evident in the King James Version, in 1 Samuel 2:10, 35; 1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalms 2:2; 19 (20):6; 27 (28):8; 83 (84):9; 88 (89):38; 104 (105):15; 131 (132):17 and at Habakkuk 3:13. In the King James Version we may add Lamentations 4:20, although this verse differs from the Septuagint. I will cite some of those examples here:

1 Samuel 2: “35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.”

Psalm 20: “6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.”

Psalm 28: “8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.”

Psalm 84: “9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.”

Psalm 89: “38 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.”

Psalm 105, concerning the promises to Isaac and Jacob: “13 When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.”

Psalm 132: “17 There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.”

Finally, Habakkuk 3:13, from a prayer to Yahweh: “13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck.” The first two phrases are a parallelism, as the people are collectively the anointed, and that is also clear in the other examples which we have cited.

So while Ἰησοῦς χριστός is literally anointed Yahshua, it is usually written Yahshua Christ, and in that manner Christ becomes a title for Yahshua. Therefore ὁ χριστός is always “the Christ” in the King James Version, as it usually refers to Yahshua Christ. But the primary assertion here is that ὁ χριστός also often refers to the children of Israel as a group, and this is especially apparent in certain contexts in these letters of Paul. That the children of Israel, with Yahshua Christ as their Head, are the Anointed as a group is explained by Paul at 1 Corinthians 11:3; 12:12-31; Ephesians 4:11-16, and it is alluded to elsewhere. In those passages, Paul uses the term χριστός in reference to the people of Christ as the collective body of Christ, so χριστός refers to the people of Christ and not to Yahshua Christ alone.

Although the phrase ὁ χριστός is singular, such singular nouns are often used to describe such a collection of individuals in Hebrew or Greek. Examples are found in words such as σπέρμα, which is seed or offspring, and in the singular it describes all of one’s descendants as a group. But examples are also found in most of the places which we have just cited where the term anointed is used in the Old Testament. An exception is Psalm 105:15, where χριστός actually appears in the plural in both Greek and in the corresponding Hebrew. In Habakkuk chapter 3 it is plural in Greek, and singular in Hebrew.

With this background, here is a short list of passages from the New Testament where we would assert that χριστός refers to the body of the children of Israel, Christian or not, and not to Christ alone. For that reason, these citations are from the Christogenea New Testament, rather than the King James Version:

• 1 Corinthians 11:3: “But I wish for you to acknowledge that of every man the head is the Anointed, but the head of the woman is the man, and the head of the Anointed, Yahweh.”
• 1 Corinthians 12:12: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also the Anointed.”
• Ephesians 4:11-16: “And He has given the ambassadors, and the interpreters of prophesy, and those who deliver the good message, and the shepherds - teachers, towards the restoration of the saints [Old Testament saints], for the work of ministering for building of the body of the Anointed, until we all would attain to the unity of the faith and of the acknowledgment of the Son of Yahweh, at man perfected, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Anointed; in order that we would be infants no longer - being tossed as waves and carried about in every wind of teaching by the trickery of men, in villainy for the sake of the systematizing of deception. But speaking the truth with love, we may increase all things for He who is the head, the Christ, from whom all the body is being joined together and is being reconciled through every stroke of assistance according to the operation of each single part in proportion; the growth of the body creates itself into a building in love.”

Examining 1 Corinthians 11:3 in light of 12:12 and Ephesians 4:11-16, we see that the phrase ὁ χριστός at 1 Corinthians 11:3 should indeed be the Anointed as a reference to the children of Israel as a group. For Yahshua Christ, being the same as Yahweh God, is not described by Paul here as being merely the Head of Himself. Rather, Paul was describing Yahweh God as head of His anointed people.

A walk through Paul’s epistles, examining certain places where the phrase ὁ χριστός appears, shall certainly make manifest the veracity of the assertion made above. Here we shall examine some others places in Romans and 1 Corinthians where this is more readily evident, as we have already discussed other mistranslations and misinterpretations in those epistles.

• Romans 9:1-5: “I speak the truth among the Anointed, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, that grief for me is great, and distress incessant in my heart, for I have prayed that I myself would be accursed from the Anointed for the brethren, my kinsmen in regards to the flesh; those who are Israelites, whose is the position of sons, and the honor, and the covenants, and the legislation, and the service, and the promises; whose are the fathers; and of whom are the Anointed in regards to the flesh, being over all blessed of Yahweh for the ages. Truly.” At verse 9:1 Paul explained that he speaks the truth “among the Anointed”: his mission was to the nations of Israel, those nations actually descended from the ancient Israelites, as he explained in various places throughout his letters. At Romans 8:39, a couple of lines prior to 9:2, Paul explained that nothing could “separate us from the love of Yahweh, which is in Christ Yahshua our Prince”, and therefore here where he wished himself “accursed from the Anointed” he must have referred to the people of Israel, and not to Christ Himself. Paul is offering himself in place of his brethren, if he could do such a thing, to be cursed in their place. At verses 9:4-5 Paul explains that the Anointed are Israelites, and are of “the fathers”, i.e. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to which people alone belong all of the covenants and promises of Israel.
• 1 Corinthians 1:10-13: “Now I encourage you, brethren , by the name of our Prince Yahshua Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and there may not be divisions among you; but that you are disciplined in the same mind and in the same purpose. It has been disclosed to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe, that there is contention among you. Now I say this: that each of you say, ‘so I am of Paul’, ‘but I am of Apollos’, ‘but I am of Kephas’, ‘and I of Christ’. Have the Anointed been divided? Has Paul been crucified on your behalf? Or have you been immersed in the name of Paul?” Paul is not asking whether Yahshua Christ had somehow been divided. In verse 10 Paul tells the assembly that there should not be divisions among them. In verse 12 he states that they have each chosen favorites from among the apostles and in turn claim to be followers of those favorites. Then in verse 13 he asks “Have the Anointed been divided?” The Anointed referring to the body of the children of Israel, the Anointed people. Warning against such disunity is subsequently a major theme of this letter to the Corinthians, for which see chapters 3, 4, and 12 especially.

Once it is recognized that Paul uses the phrase ὁ χριστός, “the Anointed”, to refer not only to Yahshua Christ, but to the children of Israel as a whole, many difficult and little-understood passages may be looked at in an entirely new light. There are other examples of this which we have omitted, as they are not as consequential to the understanding of our subject. But we will continue to raise this issue as we proceed through Paul’s epistles starting with Galatians.

Epistle to the Galatians

Denominational Christians insist that the seed of the woman at Genesis 3:15 is a reference to Christ Himself, and Christ alone. Then, in spite of the context of the passage and the balance of Scripture, they attempt to corral “whosoever believeth” into the Covenant in spite of the explicit language of the Covenant itself. Few passages of Scripture are misinterpreted and mistranslated in order to support those heresies as these passages which we are about to discuss in Galatians chapters 3 and 4.

But before we begin, we shall see that the seed of the woman is a collective seed, the descendants of the woman, and more specifically the descendants of the forefathers who were assured the covenants and promises of God.

First there is Revelation chapter 12, where the woman with the twelve stars, which evidently represent the twelve tribes of Israel, is depicted as having been taken into the wilderness after the birth of the Christ child. Then we read: “15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” So the seed of the woman is not Christ, but are those of her descendants who obey Christ. We would assert that this is the seed of the woman: those of her race, the White Israelites, which have always had, and which ever since the birth of the Christ child have tried to keep the commandments of God.

Paul also defines the seed of the promises, in Romans chapter 9 where he compared Jacob and Esau as the reason why not all of those in Israel were of Israel and he said: “7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. [Referring to the promise in Isaac, as Paul is about to explain:] 9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. 10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” Now it is not that Jacob was not a child of the flesh. Referring to the children of Abraham, Ishmael, the sons of Keturah, Esau and Jacob were all sons of the flesh. But of them all, only Jacob was the son of the promise, so the children of that promise are counted for the seed.

In that manner, the seed of the woman are the children of Israel who have turned to Christ, and the seed of the promise are the same children of Israel, who came of the promises to Abraham, Sarah and Rebekah. In Romans chapter 4 Paul attested that the promise is sure to all of the seed, speaking of those same nations of the children of Israel. In Luke chapter 1 we see, in part, the purpose of Christ as it was announced by Mary: “54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.” Then later in that chapter, in part, as it was announced by Zacharias: “72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham…” In Hebrews chapter 2 we read in part: that Christ had “…took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren…” In Romans chapter 9 and in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 Paul described his kinsmen and the Israel of which he spoke as being “according to the flesh” and not according to the mere beliefs or professions of men. In Hebrews chapter 11 Paul once again cited the promise which he explained in Romans 9: “That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” The seed of the promise would not be called in Christ. The seed of the promise was already called in Isaac, and it never changed. The saints are the Old Testament saints who therefore need to be restored, the anointed are the Old Testament anointed to therefore need to be reconciled. In truth, Christ only called that seed which was already called, as Paul explained in Romans chapter 8 that it was predestined and foreknown, so that it would return to Him. With that background, we can begin to examine the common mistranslations and misunderstandings which are found in Galatians chapters 3 and 4.

First we shall read from Galatians 3:6-8 from the King James Version. The context pertains to whether Christians should continue to practice the rituals of the law written in the books of Moses: “6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

But where is there ever a promise that God would justify heathens, or any other non-Israel nations? Such a promise is found nowhere in the Old Testament. But in Isaiah chapter 45 we read: “25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” So which nations is Paul referring to? Nations of heathens, or the nations of Israel which descended from Abraham in fulfillment of the promises? Yet here he wrote that “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” So in ordered to find the nations to which Paul had referred, we must first see what Abraham believed.

Paul answers that in Romans chapter 4 where he wrote, in part: “13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith…. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.” God calls those things which are not as though they were, meaning that He spoke of nations that did not yet exist when the promise was made, and they did not yet exist because they would come from Abraham’s seed, which had not yet been born.

So what Abraham believed, as Paul also explained in Romans, is that his own offspring would become many nations, and that those nations would inherit the world. That is the faith of Abraham of which Paul spoke in Romans, and it is what Abraham believed to which Paul referred here in Galatians. The purpose of God is also expressed in Isaiah chapter 27: “6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”

Therefore we shall read the same passage from the Christogenea New Testament which translates it properly in order to help reflect that understanding, adding a few notes for clarification: “6 Just as ‘Abraham had trusted Yahweh, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’ 7 then you know that they from faith [meaning the faith which Abraham had], they are sons of Abraham. 8 And the writing having foreseen that from faith [that same faith of Abraham] Yahweh would deem the Nations righteous, announced to Abraham beforehand that ‘In you shall all the Nations be blessed.” So Paul understood the promise of Genesis 12:3 to refer to the same nations as the promise to Abraham of the many nations that would come from his seed, and not to any of the so-called heathen nations from out of which Abraham had been called.

Now we shall read Galatians 3:13-14 from the King James Version. “13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” In the Christogenea New Testament we translate that last verse to read: “… 14 in order that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Nations at the hand of Christ Yahshua, that we should receive the promise of the Spirit through the faith.”

It is not that the blessing is being transferred, and neither Paul, the Gospel nor the prophets ever suggested that it would be transferred. It is only saying that through Christ the blessing which Yahweh promised to the seed of Abraham would come upon the nations which came from Abraham’s seed. But only Jacob was accounted worthy, out of all the other descendants of Abraham, as only Jacob inherited the promises. That is consistent with all of the statements concerning seed, Israel, and the purpose of the Gospel which we have already cited here. We read this in Genesis chapter 28: “1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. [For which reason Esau lost his birthright, as Paul explains in Hebrews chapter 12.] 2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. 3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.”

Understanding this, we now have a basis for a proper understanding of Galatians 3:15-18, which we shall read first from the King James Version: “15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. 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. 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”

In Romans chapter 4 Paul was speaking of the same subject, but from a different perspective: that the inheritance was not through the keeping of the law. In Galatians, Paul was addressing Judaizers, men who tried to compel Christians to be circumcised and keep the other rituals of the law of Moses, which Paul had taught were done away with in Christ. But that does not mean that non-Israelites may be Christians. Rather, it only means that the Israelites who had been under the law were now redeemed from the law so that they could be reconciled to Yahweh their God through Christ. Paul explained that same thing in another, different way in Romans chapter 7.

So we shall read Galatians 3:15-18 one verse at a time from the Christogenea New Testament, and offer our own interpretation:

Galatians 3:15 Brethren, (I speak as befits a man,) even a validated covenant of man no one sets aside, or makes additions to for himself.

As Paul wrote in Romans chapter 15, “8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” Here in Galatians 3:15 he explains that the covenant cannot be changed, as even the covenants of men cannot be changed. So when we interpret the provisions of the New Covenant, we must interpret it according to the promises in the Old Covenant, without trying to change any of it. So in relation to that Paul says:

Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham the promises have been spoken, and to his offspring. It does not say “and to offsprings”, as of many; but as of one: “and to your offspring,” which are anointed.

Here in this verse Paul contrasts σπέρματι, the Dative singular of σπέρμα, with its Dative plural, σπέρμασιν. Thayer says of σπέρμα “the singular is used collectively of the grains or kernels sown”, although later in his definition Thayer claims that this is not so here in this passage, perverting Paul’s use of the word and calling it “genius”, in defense of the King James Version translation. We must reject the hyperbole. In the context of this and others of Paul’s epistles, we must read this as a comparison of the several races which sprung from Abraham: Jacob-Israel with Ishmael (Galatians 4:21-31), with Esau-Edom (Romans 9, 10, and 11), and even those from Keturah (Genesis 25). The word “seed”, as in English, also in Greek and Hebrew is a singular noun used collectively, of many of a single type. The Greek plural of σπέρμα appears in the New Testament only at Matthew 13:32 and Mark 4:31, where diverse types are meant. This is true in Old Testament Hebrew also, where zera‛ (2233, “seed”) only occurs in the plural at 1 Samuel 8:15, where it is used of crops and diverse varieties are implied. So our interpretation of this passage is according to the natural use of the word, and not contrary to its natural use. But the King James Version in its translation and understanding defies the natural use of the term. That defiance of grammar cannot justly be attributed to Paul, as Thayer attempted to do, and flattered Paul while so doing.

Since σπέρμα may be translated “race”, as Liddell & Scott explain in their definition of σπέρμα (II. 2.) then in all fairness, we may have done better to translate this verse: “Now to Abraham the promises have been spoken, and to his race. It does not say ‘And to races’ as of many; but as of one: ‘and to your race’, which is Anointed.” Ultimately, Abraham’s other sons did not keep their race pure, but joined themselves to other races. So in our opinion, Galatians 3:16 is an exceptional example of the method of most mainstream Bible translators and commentators, who first make up their minds what the Bible says, and then twist the meanings and grammar of the Greek words to agree with their conclusions.

Here we also see that word, anointed, which is χριστός and here it refers to the one line of Abraham’s offspring which was anointed, as compared to the other lines of Abraham’s offspring. The denominational commentators try to say that this compares all of Abraham’s descendants to Christ alone, but that is not the context of the balance of Paul’s statements. Throughout Paul’s epistles, in Romans chapters 4 and 8, later in Galatians chapter 3, and in Hebrews chapters 1, 6 and 11, the heirs of the promises are always a plurality, and never just Christ Himself, and those who are described as the heirs are always designated heirs “according to the promise”, so Paul said in Romans chapter 4: “14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:” and for the promise to have effect, then it must be for all of the children of Israel who were promised according to the promises, which is what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had believed.

In the historical context of first century Judaea, the reason for this comes to light once it is realized that, according to the testimony of Josephus, Strabo, and Paul himself, many of the Judaeans are actually Edomites and not Israelites, and that the preponderance of the rulers were Edomites. For that same reason, in Romans chapter 9 Paul had said that not all of those in Israel were Israelites, and he went on to label the Edomites as “vessels of destruction” but the Israelites as “vessels of mercy”.

But because the Edomites, along with many Israelites who rejected Christ under their leadership, were baptized and pretending to keep the law, and teaching Christians to keep the law, Paul next wrote:

Galatians 3:17 Now this I say, a covenant validated beforehand by Yahweh, the law which arrived after four hundred and thirty years does not invalidate, by which the promise is left idle.

Yahweh God made the promises to Abraham unconditionally, without the law, so they must be kept without the law, in spite of the fact that the children of Israel were later given the law and did not keep it. So the Old Covenant failed because of the sin of the children of Israel, and a New Covenant was promised which was separate from the old, which was made “not after the manner” of the old, as Yahweh God Himself had attested in Jeremiah chapter 31. The New Covenant was made on the basis of the promises of Abraham, because Yahweh God keeps His promises even though men cannot keep their own. For that reason Paul concludes in verse 18:

Galatians 3:18 For if from law, the inheritance is no longer from promise, but to Abraham through a promise Yahweh has given it freely.

Yahshua Christ may indeed be “Heir of all things”, yet His very purpose is for the children of Israel, for His elect (Isaiah 43, 44, 53). Yahshua Christ is not the only legitimate heir of the promises to the fathers, but rather, He is the God who made those promises to the fathers. In Genesis 35:10-15, for instance, it is evident that the promise was handed down from Abraham through Isaac to Jacob and his descendants. That these are the heirs of the promise is made clear by Paul in Hebrews chapter 6: “13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”

Then in Hebrews chapter 9: “15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” To be redeemed, one must be a transgressor under the first testament, and that can only apply to the Israelites of the Old Covenant. In Romans 4:16 Paul states that from faith, referring to the faith which Abraham had, “the promise is to be certain to all of the offspring”. So we must understand Galatians 3:15-18 in context with these other statements.

So here in Galatians chapter 3 Paul explained that the heirs of the promise are the anointed seed, the children of Israel, and not the children of Abraham’s other offspring: Ishmael, or the sons of Keturah, nor especially those of Esau, just because they may pretend to keep the law. This is a recurring theme in Paul’s letters, as we have seen in Romans chapter 9, and find it again later in Galatians chapter 4 where Paul makes an allegory which recalls the exclusion of Ishmael, the “son of the bondwoman”. Ultimately, Esau and Ishmael were treated in this manner because they both took wives of the Canaanites, having children of mixed race who are void of that Spirit with which the children of Adam alone are endowed.