Belief and faith is the Covenant that God made with us through Christ Jesus, not rituals, routines, written guidelines etc.

Galatians 3:15-18

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“Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.” Galatians 3:15

Paul was explaining to the Galatians that the Covenant God made with us through Jesus Christ is much like any contract entered into with another person. No one can make a sealed contract void, or add to it, unless legal consequences fall on the person who breached the contract. The contract that God made with every single person is this, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 God’s part of the contract is that He gave His Son to atone for our sin, our part of the contract is to believe in Jesus Christ. The benefit to us is light, life, and eternal Salvation and the benefit to God is that we are reconciled to Him as His children.

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.” Galatians 3:16

As a Pharisee of all Pharisees, Paul scoured the contract like a high-powered lawyer, and he discovered that the covenant God made refers to only one people of God, not two. The word used in the covenant is “Seed” not “seeds” The Jewish people are not the exclusive people of God while everyone else is excluded from the contract God made. Paul makes it clear that the “Seed” spoken about is our Lord Jesus, who makes us all one part of the family of God. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13 “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29

As we see that Paul saw Jesus Christ in the scriptures of the Old Testament. He went from being a Pharisee with strict adherence to the law of Judaism to seeing Jesus as the Christ and Son of God within the same scriptures that he read as a Pharisee. That is what a born-again experience does for us, changes our heart, mind, and soul to see Jesus. Our born-again experience is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.” Galatians 3:17

The law of Judaism [laws of Moses] came 430 years after God made his covenant with Abraham, which is a contract that makes it clear that belief and faith makes us right in the eyes of God, not law, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son.” Romans 8:2-3

The contract God made with Abraham cannot be breached by laws that came many years later. In other words, the laws given 430 years later were not designed to void the contract God made with Abraham. In that light, the covenant made with Abraham was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ, who made us all His children by believing in Him. “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Romans 2:28-29

“For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Galatians 3:18

If our inheritance of being adopted into the family God came through being circumcised, making animal sacrifices, etc. then the covenant is not one of a promise of faith and belief. The promise God made with Abraham based on his belief and faith came 430 years before the law, which is the law of Moses.

“Brothers and sisters, you are holy partners in a heavenly calling. So look carefully at Jesus, the apostle and chief priest about whom we make our declaration of faith. Jesus is faithful to God, who appointed him, in the same way that Moses was faithful when he served in God’s house. Jesus deserves more praise than Moses in the same way that the builder of a house is praised more than the house. After all, every house has a builder, but the builder of everything is God. Moses was a faithful servant in God’s household. He told the people of what would be spoken afterward. But Christ is a faithful son in charge of God’s household. We are His household if we continue to have courage and to be proud of the confidence we have. Hebrews 3:1-6

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11