A Promise Simply Has to be Believed
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Romans 4:13-15
Leading up to our passage, Paul has shown that justification is neither by works nor by circumcision. He will now show that it doesn’t come by law either. ‘It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith’ (4:13). The ‘promise’ is Genesis 15:5, that Abraham’s future family would be as numerous as the stars. It was a promise without conditions. It came as a promise and not as a law. Abraham believed God and was justified.
Paul boldly portrays God’s promise: Abraham ‘would be heir of the world’ (4:13). But in the book of Genesis, Abraham was promised Canaan, north, south, east and west of where he was standing (Genesis 13:12,14,17). How did ‘the land’ become ‘the world’? There are at least three answers. First, the fulfilment of biblical prophecy tends to transcend the categories in which it was originally given. Secondly, God made the subsidiary promise that through Abraham’s family, ‘all nations on earth’ would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18) and thirdly, Abraham’s seed was identified with the Messiah (Galatians 3:16) who would rule the earth (Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 9:7).
Having clarified what the promise is, Paul asserts very strongly ‘It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise’ (4:13). He will give two reasons. First, Abraham was given God’s promise 430 years before the law was even given (Galatians 3:17). This is implicit in Romans 4 but not developed. The promise did not come because people obeyed the law ‘but through the righteousness that comes by faith’ (4:13). Secondly, ‘if those who live by law are heirs’ (if the inheritance depends on our obedience) then ‘faith has no value’
(literally: has been emptied [of its validity]) ‘and the promise is worthless’ (literally: has been destroyed, rendered ineffective). Abraham and those who came after him could never have inherited God’s promised blessings through the law. The phrase ‘those who live by law’ (4:14) describes people who would base their hope of blessing on doing what the Mosaic law commanded. If they were to inherit the blessing ‘faith has no value and the promise is worthless’ (4:14). How can the blessing be from God’s side a promise and from the human side be a matter of faith if people can earn it through obedience to the law? Beyond this is the obvious: if the fulfilment of the promise depends on obedience to the law, it will never happen because no one can obey the law adequately
Something can be given to us either by law or by promise but not by both at the same time. As Paul writes in Galatians 3:18, ‘if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise.’ Law and promise belong to different categories and are incompatible. Law language (“You will”) demands our obedience but promise language (“I will”) demands our faith. God didn’t say to Abraham, ‘Obey this law and I will bless you.’ He said ‘I will bless you; believe My promise’.
Paul continues, showing why law and promise exclude each other. It is ‘because law brings wrath’ (4:15) and because ‘where there is no law, there is no transgression’ (4:15). The words ‘law,’ ‘transgression’ and ‘wrath’ belong together. The law turns sin into transgression (going beyond a known boundary) and transgression brings God’s wrath. Where there is no law there can be no breach of the law and so no wrath.
Paul is not implicitly arguing against any external law or rule. He uses the word ‘transgression,’ which is disobedience to a law or commandment that a person knows they should not break. Anytime we fall short of conformity to God’s image we sin, but only when we directly violate a commandment God has given us do we commit a transgression. Transgression is a more serious form of sin meriting greater judgement.
By setting down in detail His expectation for Israel, God heightened their degree of accountability. Then when Israel sinned, the punishment was greater than it would have otherwise been. So Paul’s point here is that if you introduce law into the equation, you will finish up with no one
inheriting anything. In fact if obedience to the law is to be the defining characteristic of God’s people, God would not have a ‘people’ at all.
The promise is not on the basis of works, circumcision or the law. A promise is a promise. We either believe it or we don’t. Abraham believed it and we are His spiritual children if we believe in the same way.