Romans 4:13-16

Forgive me for the delay in posting this. I had difficulty logging on from home.

¹³ For the promise to Abraham and to his seed, that he would be heir of the world would not be through the Law but through the righteousness of faithfulness. ¹⁴ For, if the heirs are of the Law, then this faithfulness is made void and the promise is empty. ¹⁵ For the Law brings about wrath, and where there is no Law there is no transgression. ¹⁶ On account of this, the promised inheritance is of faithfulness, in order that it would be on account of grace, so that the promise would be shown true to all the seed, not only to those of the Law but also to those of Abraham’s faith, who is the father of us all.

Paul now grounds his argument from above. The promise to Abraham and his seed was not to come through the Law but through the righteousness of faithfulness. That is, as you mentioned in your last comment on my commentary, the ‘righteousness of faithfulness’, that is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Why did God intend for the promise to be through faithfulness? Because if God intended the promise to be through the Law, then the faithfulness and the promise are void and empty? Why would the faithfulness be void and the promise empty? Because, Paul says, “The Law brings about wrath, and where there is no Law there is neither transgression” (v. 15). As we have read earlier the Law has brought about wrath. This was Paul’s point in 1:18ff, a point he will pick up again. If the Law was the intended means, then the promise is empty, because those who are of the Law stand under God’s wrath, because they did not do the very things of the Law. Because of the Law and the uncircumcised heart, the Law brought about transgression (Transgression here being more technical than sin. Paul is not saying there is no sin without the Law, but that there is no transgression of Law, when there is no Law given).

Rather than the promised inheritance coming through the Law it is of faithfulness. That is, it seems that the faithfulness Paul has in view here is the faithfulness of Jesus. He was the means of the promised inheritance coming to be. He was the means so that it would be on account of grace, and confirmed to all the seed to both those of the Law and also to those who believe like Abraham believed prior to circumcision.