Romans 4:13–15

Righteousness without the law

Paul has clearly indicated that God credited righteousness to Abraham before the rite of circumcision became a requirement for the patriarch. Therefore, circumcision wasn’t something that Abraham did to gain favor with God. But did he perhaps do something else? Did he fulfill any obligation or keep any law? This too the apostle rules out.

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. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Becoming “heir of the world” is simply Paul’s way of saying that God would make Abraham into a great nation through whom all the world would be blessed. The benefit of using the term heir becomes evident when we see how Paul uses that everyday concept to illustrate the spiritual truth he is explaining. The point he’s making is that an heir doesn’t have to do anything for the stipulation of the will to go into effect. The promise of the one making the will is the determinative factor, not the action of the heir. 

It would be a travesty of justice for the courts to say to an heir, “Your uncle died and had stated in his will that you’re to have this piece of property, but you’re going to have to work for it before we let you have it.” In such a case, the will would really be of no value for putting into effect the wishes of the maker of the will who promised the property to his nephew.

So it also was with the understanding between God and Abraham. God repeatedly promised to make a great nation from Abraham. If Abraham would have had to work for his “inheritance,” then his faith would have been of no value, and God’s promise would have been worthless.

Many Jews, of course, felt that having and keeping God’s law were essential for them to be God’s people. Paul points out that the law doesn’t and can’t do that, because it brings wrath rather than blessing. In fact, where there is law, the sinner’s guilt can actually be said to become worse because he is consciously and intentionally overstepping a clearly drawn line. He is transgressing a known command.

In the previous section (verses 11,12), Paul drew the conclusion that Abraham is the “father of all who believe,” circumcised and uncircumcised alike. With his use of “therefore” to lead into the next section, he is drawing a similar conclusion. In the sight of God, Abraham is the father of all believers—regardless of their relationship to the Mosaic Law, or to any other law, for that matter.