B.--Let us consider adoption first. In Rom. 9: 3-5 we find it included in the list of

Israel's privileges. If we notice the arrangement of the items it may help us. You will

observe that Israel's privileges are bounded by "the flesh":--

Here you will see that adoption finds its complement in the promises. This we will

keep in mind. For the moment we must turn to Gal. 3: and 4: In Gal. 3: 15 we have

the word "covenant", which is the rendering of the Greek word diatheke. In most

passages "covenant" is the true translation of the word, for it generally refers either to the

old or new covenant. In Gal. 3: 15 however there are these qualifications:--

Here the word diatheke should be translated "testament", in the sense of a man's "last

will and testament". Let us call it for the time being "A man's will".

A.--Pardon my interruption, but I think you are mistaken, for the passage goes on to

This is not true of a man's will, for he is at liberty to alter, annul or add to his will as

many times as he chooses.

B.--You are making the mistake of interpreting the past by the light of the present. The

law governing the making of a will here in England is very different from that which

obtain in Galatia in the first century. I am indebted to the researches of Sir W. Ramsay

for light upon this subject, and in his Historical Commentary on Galatians he shows that

then a man had to think seriously before he made his will and appointed his heir, for

when once it had been "confirmed" and the heir adopted the man was powerless to alter

it. Sir W. Ramsay cites a case where the "adopted" son had greater claims than the

testator's own children. Behind all this of course was the policy of the state, and the

guarding of the worship of the gods, but it supplied the apostle with a wonderful

illustration both of the unalterable character of the will of God, and the fact that the word

"adoption" is practically the same as appointing an "heir". Gal. 4: takes up the theme of