King James Bible
"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."
Paul emphasizes his authoritative teaching about God's covenant with Abraham, which was ratified centuries before the Mosaic Law. This covenant, ultimately fulfilled in Christ, represents God's unchangeable promise of blessing through faith. The Mosaic Law came 430 years after God's promise to Abraham, a timeframe Paul uses to establish chronological priority. This historical gap underscores that the Abrahamic covenant existed independently of and prior to the law's requirements. Paul argues that a later legal code cannot invalidate an earlier divine promise, applying the principle that subsequent agreements don't nullify prior ones. This preserves the integrity of God's grace-based promise against any notion that law-keeping replaced or canceled it.