Verse 15
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: though it be but a man's covenant, yet when it hath been confirmed, no man maketh it void, or addeth thereto.
Paul is here still exposing the sinful arguments of the Judaizers, who despite the fact of Abraham's being accounted righteous by God, long before the giving of the Law, were insisting that God, in a sense, had amended the requirements of righteousness by the addition of the Mosaic Law. This Paul denied on the basis that, even in the case of a human covenant, it could not be altered by one of the parties after it had been ratified and confirmed, thus demonstrating the proof that God's covenant with Abraham was founded, not upon his keeping the Law (which never existed until centuries afterward), but upon God's promise made long before the Law came into being. The application of this is the same as that Paul pointed out in verses 6ff, namely, that if the ancestor of all Jews was redeemed without the Law, there could be no earthly use of anyone's keeping it.
Covenant ... For extended remarks on the use of this word in the New Testament, see my Commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews 9:16-17.
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