:chuckle:
I will make of thee a great nation, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed
You might disagree with some of the following, but - Yep, as to your above.
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. 3:17 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. 3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
As IP's pet prooftext - Galatians 3:17 proves against his assertions - "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."
Thus, the sense of Malachi 3:6's "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" at a time when the Law had once more found much of Israel worthy only of God's wrath.
Israel's was/is a Grace Covenant - that is the reminder in a passage like Malachi 3:6.
And tthis was reiterated as being the case way after Abraham - way back when the Law was first given...
Exodus 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 32:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 32:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 32:12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Fact is, concerning "ye sons of Jacob... 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's point being that if Israel's UnConditional Covenant even in the face of their Uncircumcised hearts throughout their history, the Law which was 430 years after could not disannul, such was now the case in the case of UnCircumcised Gentiles being accepted before God, neither circumcised, nor keeping the Law.
Paul is basically arguing Romans 4, once more.
Romans 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 4:12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. 4:13 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. 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 4:16 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,
Look at verse Romans 4:15 again - "Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression."
Such had also been the case not only in Paul's day now as to UnCircumcised Gentiles, but many centuries earlier as to "ye sons of Jacob" way back BEFORE the Law some 430 years earlier, when God first gave Abraham an UnConditional Covenant as to said "sons of Jacob."
In short, God is NOT through with "ye sons of Jacob."
