Commentary - Romans 4:13-17

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Romans, Paul continues his masterful argument that justification is by faith alone, and he does so by returning to the foundational story of Abraham. The central point here is to demonstrate that the great promise given to Abraham, the promise of cosmic inheritance, to be "heir of the world", was not, and could never have been, based on law-keeping. Paul sets up a stark antithesis: the promise is either through law or through faith. It cannot be both. If it were through law, the entire system of grace would collapse. Faith would be rendered meaningless, the promise would be nullified, and all the law could produce on its own is wrath. Therefore, Paul concludes, the promise had to be grounded in grace, received by faith, precisely so that it could be absolutely certain and guaranteed for all of Abraham's seed, both Jew and Gentile. This establishes Abraham not merely as the father of a single nation, but as the father of a global family of faith, a family brought into being by the same God who creates life out of death and calls new realities into existence out of nothing.

This passage is a theological sledgehammer against any and all attempts to mix works with grace. Paul is showing us that the very structure of God's promise demands a faith-based reception. The law is good, but it has a different job description: to reveal sin and demonstrate God's wrath against it. The promise, on the other hand, is a gift. And a gift must be received, not earned. By grounding this in the Old Testament narrative of Abraham and quoting Genesis, Paul shows that this is not a new invention but has been God's plan from the beginning. The gospel of grace is as old as the promise to Abraham.

Outline

Context In Romans

This passage sits squarely in the middle of Paul's great doctrinal exposition on justification by faith. In chapters 1-3, he established the universal sinfulness of all humanity, Jew and Gentile alike, concluding that no one can be justified by works of the law. In the first part of chapter 4, he introduced Abraham as the premier exhibit, Exhibit A, of justification by faith. Paul demonstrated from Genesis 15 that Abraham was declared righteous because he believed God, and that this happened long before he was circumcised. Now, in verses 13-17, Paul expands the argument. He moves from the personal justification of Abraham to the nature of the promise given to him and his descendants. He is showing that not only is personal righteousness by faith, but the entire inheritance, the whole program of God's redemptive history, runs on the rails of faith, not law. This section serves as a crucial link, explaining why the promise must be by faith, thereby setting the stage for chapter 5, where he will contrast the reign of death through Adam with the reign of life through Jesus Christ.

Key Issues

The Unmixable Categories

Paul, in this section, is a master logician. He is setting two principles before us, law and promise, and showing that they are as unmixable as oil and water. You cannot have a little bit of law and a little bit of promise as the basis for your inheritance. You have to choose. The modern evangelical impulse is often to say, "Well, can't we have both?" Paul's answer is a resounding no. To attempt to mix them is to misunderstand both and to corrupt the gospel completely.

The law operates on the principle of doing. It says, "Do this, and you will live." The promise operates on the principle of believing what has been done. It says, "Christ has done this, so that you might live." The law demands righteousness from man. The promise bestows the righteousness of God upon man. The law, when it encounters sinful men, can only condemn and bring wrath. The promise, because it is based on God's grace, brings life and peace. Paul's argument is that if the inheritance God promised to Abraham depended in any way on our law-keeping, it would be the most precarious, uncertain thing in the world. But because it depends entirely on God's grace, received by faith, it is the most guaranteed, certain thing in the universe.

Verse by Verse Commentary

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Paul begins by defining the scope of the promise, and it is breathtaking. The promise was that Abraham and his seed would be heir of the world. This is not some small-time real estate deal in Canaan. This is cosmic. This is postmillennial. God promised Abraham the planet. And who is his seed? As Paul has already argued, it is all those who share the faith of Abraham, culminating in the ultimate seed, Jesus Christ. So, the promise is that through Christ and His people, the whole world will be brought under the blessing of Abraham. Then Paul immediately states the central thesis of this section: this world-encompassing promise did not come through the mechanism of the Law. The Mosaic Law was given 430 years after the promise; it couldn't have been the basis for it. Rather, the promise was apprehended through the righteousness of faith. This is the same principle from verse 3: Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. That standing, that right relationship with God, was the channel through which the promise flowed.

14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith has been made empty and the promise has been abolished;

Here comes the logic. Paul presents a hypothetical: what if the legalists are right? What if inheritance is for those "who are of the Law," meaning those whose identity and hope are rooted in their ability to keep the Law? Paul says the consequences would be catastrophic. First, faith has been made empty. Faith, by its very nature, is a receiving of a gift. It is trust in another. If the inheritance is earned by works, then there is nothing for faith to do. It becomes a useless, vestigial appendage to the religious life. Second, the promise has been abolished. A promise is a declaration of a future gift. But if that future reality is now contingent on our perfect performance, it is no longer a promise. It's a contract of works, and a contract that every single one of us would fail to keep. Therefore, the promise would be effectively cancelled, nullified, and voided.

15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no trespass.

Paul now explains why a law-based system would abolish the promise. It is because the Law has a different function altogether. For sinners, the Law does not bring about righteousness or inheritance; it brings about wrath. The Law is like a perfect straight edge. When you place it next to our crooked, sinful lives, it doesn't make us straight. It simply reveals, with perfect clarity, how crooked we are. It exposes our sin, defines it as trespass, and thereby makes us liable to God's just condemnation, His wrath. The second clause is a maxim that supports the first. Where there is no specific command, there is no specific violation of that command. The Law's arrival on the scene turned sin into a formal, legal "trespass," heightening our guilt. So, if your inheritance depends on the Law, and the Law's primary function is to produce wrath, then your only inheritance is wrath. This is not a good retirement plan.

16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

This verse is the glorious conclusion to the argument. For this reason, because a law system leads to ruin, God designed it another way. The inheritance is received by faith. And why faith? So that the whole arrangement might be according to grace. Grace is the ultimate foundation. It is God's unmerited, free, sovereign favor. Faith is simply the empty hand that receives what grace offers. And what is the result of this grace-based, faith-received system? The promise is guaranteed. It is made certain, firm, and unshakable. If it depended on us, it would be the most fragile thing in the world. Because it depends on God's grace, it is ironclad. And to whom is it guaranteed? To all the seed. This is crucial. It's not just for the Jewish believers (those...of the Law) but for Gentile believers as well (those...of the faith of Abraham). This makes Abraham the father of a vast, international family, united not by blood or ethnicity, but by a shared faith in the promise of God.

17 as it is written, “A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU”, in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

Paul anchors his claim in Scripture, quoting Genesis 17:5. Notice the past tense: "I have made you." God spoke of this future reality as something already accomplished. This promise was made in the presence of Him whom he believed. Abraham's faith was not in a vague principle, but in a specific Person, a specific God. And what kind of God is He? Paul gives us a two-part description that is perfectly suited to the situation. He is the God who gives life to the dead. This looks back to the deadness of Abraham's and Sarah's bodies, and it looks forward to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of the promise. Our God is a God of resurrection. Secondly, He calls into being that which does not exist. He is the Creator God who spoke the universe into existence out of nothing. If God can create a cosmos from nothing and raise the dead to life, then making a barren old man the father of a global multitude is a triviality. This is the God in whom Abraham believed, and this is the God in whom we believe. His creative and resurrecting power is the ultimate guarantee of His promise.

Application

The central application of this text is to get the relationship between law and grace straight in our heads and in our hearts. The temptation to base our standing with God, even just a little bit, on our performance is constant. This passage tells us that such a project is doomed. The law is a mirror that shows us our dirt; it is not the soap and water that cleanses us. The law is the MRI that reveals the cancer; it is not the surgeon who removes it. The law's job is to shut every mouth and drive us in desperation to Christ.

Therefore, we must learn to rest in the guarantee of grace. Our assurance of salvation and our hope for the future do not rest on the steadiness of our grip on God, but on the firmness of His grip on us. The promise is "guaranteed" because it is founded on His grace, not our works. This should produce in us a profound sense of humility and gratitude. We bring nothing to the table but our sin and our need. God, in Christ, brings everything else.

Finally, we must embrace the scope of this promise. We are heirs of the world. This is not a time for the church to be in retreat, cowering in the corner. God has given the planet to His Son, and through Him, to us. Our task is to live by faith, which means living in confident obedience to God's word, applying it to every area of life, and expecting God to keep His promises. The God who raises the dead and creates out of nothing is more than capable of taking our feeble efforts of faith and using them to fulfill His grand, global purposes.