Romans 4:13-17 – Our Promise Without the Law

This is shocking for Israel, because Abraham is their father. Their whole identity comes from promises God gave him: a great nation, circumcision, the law, blessings to the world through them. But Paul’s going back before all that and saying: God justified Abraham by faith with none of those things in place. So Abraham is not just the father of Israel in the flesh, but also the father of all who believe like he believed, Jew or Gentile.

 

In Romans 4:13 Paul says,

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

 

He uses the word “promise.” We spent time looking at those promises in Genesis 12 and 15 where God promised Abraham a seed and a great nation, and that in him all families of the earth would be blessed.

When Abraham believed that promise, God counted his faith for righteousness. But notice: God did not promise Abraham, “I will give you imputed righteousness by faith.”

He simply promised him a seed and a nation, and Abraham believed. The imputed righteousness is God’s response to that faith, not the content of the promise itself.

 

Israel gets their special standing in the world from those promises: the nation, the circumcision, the law, the blessings flowing to the world through them and Paul is in no way turning the church into “spiritual Israel” here. He’s actually showing that justification by faith stands apart from Israel’s national things.

He’s pulling down Israel’s boast that salvation only comes through their covenants, their law, and their works.

 

So Paul’s big point in Romans 4 is this: salvation in this present dispensation of grace is without works, without circumcision, without the law, and even without needing Israel’s covenants.

It’s offered to all on the basis of faith, using Abraham as the example, and with the full revelation of this “mystery” gospel given to Paul and explained at the end of Romans 4.

 

In Genesis 17:4 God told Abraham this,

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 

 

God even changed his name from Abram to Abraham. This promise goes back earlier to Genesis 15:5 which reads,

And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 

 

And in Genesis 12:2–3

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 

 

God promised to make Abraham a great nation, to bless him, make his name great, and that in him all families of the earth would be blessed. All these promises together show Abraham would be “heir of the world,” as Paul says in Romans 4:13.

 

It’s vital that we don’t mix up the content of the promise with Abraham’s belief of the promise.

The promise itself was about a seed, a great nation, many nations, and blessing to all the earth. But when Abraham believed that promise, that belief, his faith is what God counted for righteousness and that’s in Genesis 15:6.

Paul’s whole point in Romans 4 is that Abraham was counted righteous without works, simply by believing.

 

So when Romans 4:13 says the promise that Abraham should be heir of the world was not through the law, Paul’s explaining how Israel receives their inheritance.

This promise was not given to you and me today, it was given to Abraham and his seed. Paul’s dealing with Israel’s promise, the one they boast in.

How does Israel claim that promise? Is it by the law? Or by faith? Paul’s removing Israel’s pride by showing the promise came long before the law.

 

The promise to be “heir of the world” is about earthly dominion, the rule, the land, the blessing of all families of the earth. That’s Israel’s hope.

But the body of Christ has a different hope.

In Ephesians, Paul says four times that we’re blessed “in heavenly places.” So there’s a heaven and earth distinction. They’re different promises. Israel gets the earth. The new creature, the Body of Christ, gets the heavens.

 

When Paul talks about Abraham being heir of the world, he’s talking about Israel’s future earthly kingdom, not the body of Christ.

Jesus told the twelve apostles this in Matthew 19:28,

And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

 

They would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel—on the earth.

But in Galatians 3:28 Paul, speaking of the Body of Christ, says this,

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 

 

In the body of Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. So, we see that the apostles sitting upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel and that the Body of Christ, all are one in Christ, are two different things.

 

Paul also points out that the promise was to Abraham and his seed, and that neither Abraham nor Isaac were under the law.

Isaac, the promised seed, was not Israel either. Only Jacob, who had his name changed to Israel, could become Israel through his twelve sons.

The word “seed” can be singular as in Isaac being a picture of Christ or plural as in many nations.

The Bible teaches both. God was doing more than one thing through Abraham—just like He does more than one thing through Christ.

 

Galatians 3:17 says the law came 430 years after the promise and the  cannot cancel the promise. God gave it unconditionally and nothing can stop him fulfilling it.

Circumcision, works, and the law were added later, but the promise stands on faith. That’s why Romans 4:14 says if it’s the law that makes you an heir, then faith is void and the promise is useless, because the law works wrath.

 

Paul’s whole argument is simple: the promise to Abraham came by faith, not by the law. And that same truth—righteousness by faith without works—is the foundation of the gospel Paul preaches which is as valid today as the day Jesus revealed it to Paul.

 

We can see why Paul’s writing is so thick and hard. He’s often called him the first and greatest theologian of the church, and the logician. He doesn’t tell stories he builds arguments. He connects doctrine to doctrine, scripture to scripture. And that’s why people who study Paul’s teaching get the same way.

We try to see God’s purpose, what was in God’s mind, not just the human stories. God revealed His wisdom for the church today through our apostle, Paul.

 

Romans 4:14 says,

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 

 

Who are “they of the law”? That’s Israel.

Paul’s not talking about the body of Christ in this verse. He’s talking about Israel under Moses’ law.

Every Israelite born after Moses was born under the law. If simply being born a Jew made you an heir of the promises to Abraham—the kingdom, the great nation—then faith wouldn’t matter at all. Babies don’t have faith. Fleshly birth doesn’t give faith.

 

Even today Judaism says Christianity is about belief, but Judaism is about life—who you are, not what you believe. But Paul’s arguing against that.

He says being born in Israel never removed the need for faith. Jesus said the same. John the Baptist said the same. And the Old Testament prophets also said the same.

God told Israel many times, “You’re doing the works, but not with the right heart, not in faith.” That’s why judgment came and why the kingdom program was temporarily put on hold and replaced by the dispensation of Grace.

 

These arguments also help Christians who think they’re Israel, that they’ve replaced Israel, because Paul’s removing the idea that law, works, or circumcision ever made anyone righteous.

 

The law in Exodus and Deuteronomy promised Israel glory, land, blessing, protection, good crops etc., if they kept it.

Those blessings sound like the promise to Abraham about a great nation. But God added conditions later. Now, we might think, “But He already promised so how can He add conditions later?”

That’s exactly Paul’s point. The promise came first. The law came later. The law cannot cancel the promise.

 

Israel did not keep the law.

That’s clear in Romans chapters 1–3 and all through the Old Testament. So, if they didn’t keep it, the only way they could ever get the blessing was by grace.

The prophets said this long before Paul.

Hosea 14:2 shows Israel begging God to “receive us graciously.”

Ezra 9:6–8 shows Ezra confessing Israel’s sins, saying their trespasses “are grown up into the heavens,” and that God gave them “a little space” of grace to return to the land. Ezra didn’t blame God—he said, “We sinned.” That’s the type of heart that God saves.

 

Jesus told the Pharisees they were bound in sin, and they argued, “We’re sons of Abraham.” But their own scriptures—Ezra, the Psalms, the prophets—told them they needed grace.

 

So when Paul says in Romans 4 that if those of the law are heirs, then faith is void, and if faith is void and so is grace because grace can only be received by faith.

He’s showing from Israel’s own scriptures that they were never saved by their works.

Some say, “We’re saved by grace today, but Israel was saved by works,” but that’s definitely not Paul’s teaching. Paul’s saying the prophets knew they needed grace. They knew they couldn’t keep the covenant by their works. They just didn’t yet know how God would bring the better covenant.

 

Israel needing promises—not just being born under the law—was not new information.

John the Baptist preached this in Matthew 3:9. When he baptized Israel with the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, nobody knew yet how God could later give forgiveness freely by grace, without water, without the law, without circumcision, and without Israel’s covenant position.

That truth was revealed later through Paul.

 

In Matthew 3:9 John sees Pharisees and Sadducees coming and says,

And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 

 

That was their boast.

They said, “Abraham is our father, so we are the great nation, the blessed people.” But John says God can raise up children to Abraham from stones. In other words: being born in Israel does not guarantee anything. That’s the same point Paul makes in Romans 4.

Jesus taught the same thing in John 8:33–58.

The Pharisees said, “We are Abraham’s seed… we were never in bondage.” Jesus answered, “Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin… If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

He tells them plainly: “I know you are Abraham’s seed, but you seek to kill me.” Meaning you’re not the promised seed, because Abraham did not do that. The Lord proceeded to give a very clear example of the difference between them and Abraham. Jesus had come into the world, speaking to them nothing but the truth. They were offended and stumbled over His teaching, and so they tried to kill Him. Abraham did not do this. He took his place on the side of truth and righteousness.

Then Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am.”

He’s asking them, “Who is greater—Abraham or Me?” If Jesus is greater, then Israel cannot claim the promises while rejecting Him.

 

So Israel already knew they needed a Savior, not more laws. The prophets said this. John the Baptist said it and Jesus said it. The law condemned them; it didn’t save them. None of this was a mystery because it was spoken of throughout Israel’s history.

What was a mystery is what Paul teaches which is salvation without Israel. Salvation offered to all with no difference between Jew or Gentile.

 

Paul’s point in the passage we’re studying in Romans 4:13-17 is this:

If Israel receives the inheritance through the law, then faith is made void because if the law gives the blessing, then you must do the works of the law to get it.

That is exactly what James teaches under Israel’s New Covenant: “Faith without works is dead.” James, Jesus, Peter—all were under the law. Most of the Bible is Israel under the law.

 

But Paul’s talking about imputed righteousness or righteousness counted to you without works, like Abraham in Genesis 15.

See, if the promise comes through the law, then Abraham could not have received it, because the law came hundreds of years later 430 years after as Galatians 3:17 says. So how did Abraham get righteousness? By faith alone.

 

That’s Paul’s whole argument:

– If the inheritance comes by the law, faith is empty, meaningless.

– If the inheritance comes by faith, the law is not the channel.

– And if the law is not the channel, then Israel is not required for God to bless people with imputed righteousness.

 

That’s the mystery: salvation offered to all, Jew and Gentile, without Israel, without the law, without circumcision—just like Abraham received righteousness before any of those things existed.

 

What Paul said in Romans 3:31 (which remember was,

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.), is proved true in Romans 4.

Paul said,

How does faith establish the law? Because the law promised blessings, but nobody could ever receive those blessings by the law itself because nobody could ever keep that law.

So, if the blessing of imputed righteousness came by the law, then nobody would get it at all unless, of course, God gave them the Spirit to cause them to obey and that is exactly what the New Covenant will do in the remnant of Israel after this dispensation of grace has ended.

So yes, Paul is showing that the old covenant is not enough. Israel needed something better.

 

In Romans 4 Paul’s not explaining the New Covenant directly, but he’s proving why Israel needed it. He shows the law is worthless to sinners unless faith comes first. If blessing comes by the law, then the promise to Abraham becomes useless, because Israel broke the law. If the promise depends on law‑keeping, then the promise is made void and that’s the problem Paul’s exposing.

 

Galatians 3:17 explains this too. The law came 430 years after the promise and cannot cancel it.

If God added conditions later and then refused the promise because Israel failed, that would make God a liar especially to Abraham and Isaac. But God cannot lie. So the promise must stand apart from the law.

 

This is the wisdom of God:

– If inheritance comes by the law, Abraham’s promise means nothing.

– If inheritance comes by the promise, then Israel is not heirs by the law, and their deeds are not what brings blessing.

 

So Paul forces Israel to choose: Abraham or the law.

They always thought both went together, but Paul shows Abraham was counted righteous before circumcision, before the law and before Israel even existed. And Israel never kept the law anyway. So if God keeps His promise, it must be by grace through faith, like Abraham.

 

Choosing Abraham removes Israel’s national boast. That’s exactly how Paul teaches the dispensation of grace.

In Romans 4 he strips away Israel’s pride, leaving only what God’s doing today: blessing without Israel, without covenants, without works, without the law—just like Abraham received righteousness without any of those things. That’s the mystery truth hidden before the world began but is now revealed by Jesus Christ through the apostle to the church, Paul.

 

Paul uses the scriptures as witnesses. The scriptures themselves did not teach the mystery, but they testify that Paul’s gospel is true. This is not Paul inventing doctrine. This’s God’s purpose from before the world began.

 

Romans 4:14–15 says this,

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 

 

The law does not bless sinners. It condemns them. So if Israel thinks they will bless the world through the law, they’re in trouble. They must claim Abraham, not Moses.

 

The law is holy, just, and good as we see in Romans 7:12, but Israel was not.

The law was added “because of transgressions” as Galatians 3:19 says, It wasn’t given to stop sin but to show sin, to give the knowledge of sin as Romans 3:20 says.

God added the law so Israel would know they were sinners and they’d know they needed a Savior—Christ, the promised Seed.

Romans 10 says,

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. 

 

So Paul’s point is simple:

Israel needed the promise, not the law.

Israel needed Christ, not their own works.

And now God saves all—Jew and Gentile—by the same faith Abraham had, without the law.

 

God gave Israel the law—even though they were the nation promised to bring the Savior—not so they could boast, but so they could show the world the knowledge of sin.

Israel bragged, “We have the law, we’re the holy nation.” But Paul says the law was added because of transgressions as we just saw in Galatians 3:19.

That means the law didn’t prove they were holy. It proved they were sinners who needed God’s grace.

Romans 4 fits this perfectly. Any religious person today who thinks laws make them holy is making the same mistake. The law only exposes our unholiness and this in turn makes us see our need for salvation by means other than our own good works, by God’s grace through faith.

 

Paul will explain this more in Romans chapters 5–8, how Christians relate to the law. But he says plainly in Galatians 3:10 that the law is a curse. And we’ll read it.

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 

 

The law had blessings and curses. The blessings lined up with Abraham’s promises, but the curses did not. The law didn’t add blessings it added curses. People try to claim Israel’s blessings today without Israel’s curses, but that’s impossible. We’re not Israel. We’re not part of the mighty nation God promised Abraham. We Gentiles were sinners who need a Saviour.

 

So when Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them,” we need to understand that all the law had to be kept all of the time and absolutely nobody did and nobody could.

That’s why the law taught mercy. If we read the law honestly, we see how holy it is and how nobody keeps it and we cry out for mercy.

But Israel became self‑righteous, condemning others while ignoring their own sin and Jesus rebuked them for that.

 

Paul says it’s “evident” no man is justified by the law, because “the just shall live by faith.” as we’re told in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38.

The law is not of faith. Doing the law and believing God are not the same thing. That’s why the law makes faith void. Christ had to redeem us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us as Galatians 3:13 states, so the blessing of Abraham, which Paul defines as righteousness by faith, could come on the Gentiles.

 

In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul calls the law a ministry of death and condemnation.

The law is holy, but it cannot save, it cannot give life and it cannot give righteousness.

Galatians 3:21 says this,

Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 

 

If a law could give life, righteousness would have been by the law, but no law can give life to sinners. There had to be another way.

 

Romans 4:15 says,

Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 

 

That should be obvious to us all when we read the law and see how people fail and how many sacrifices were needed.

“Where no law is, there is no transgression,” is Paul proving logically that the law brings wrath because the law itself creates transgression. If there’s no law, you can’t break it. But Israel had the law, all 613 points of it, so they had 613 ways to sin.

 

Gentiles sinned too, even without the law, and Paul already proved that in Romans chapters 1–2. But Israel’s “advantage” of having the law also meant they had greater responsibility and greater guilt. The law gave them God’s words, yes—but it also exposed their sin more clearly and Romans 3:2 pointed that out to us.

 

So, again, Paul’s point is simple:

The law doesn’t make you holy.

The law doesn’t give blessing.

The law brings wrath.

Only faith—like Abraham—brings righteousness.

 

Paul says in Galatians 2:18,

For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 

 

In other words, why rebuild the law when the law only makes sinners look even more sinful?

Paul knows he’s a sinner and we should know we’re sinners too. When you put a law on a sinner, it doesn’t make him holy—it exposes him.

That’s why laws exist. Laws work wrath. In society, laws are made because people do wrong and must be punished. A speed‑limit sign doesn’t stop speeding; it just gives authority to punish the ones who break it.

And even if the ones who don’t break it but still want to go faster than the speed limit are transgressors at heart. That’s what God’s law does. It shows the heart.

 

Romans 2 already proved Israel’s transgressions. They boasted in the law but didn’t keep it. So the law cannot make Israel heirs of the promise. That’s Paul’s point in Romans 4. These aren’t just old arguments for first‑century Jews. People today still struggle with faith vs. works, and Romans 4 answers it.

Christians fight over the seeming contradictions of Romans 4 and James 2 because they don’t read the whole context or understand the Old Testament timeline and yet when we study it out honestly with a genuine desire to learn, it becomes as plain as the nose on our faces.

 

Romans 4:16 says,

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace;

 

The promise to Abraham—that he and his seed would be heir of the world—comes through faith. If an Israelite doesn’t believe, he doesn’t get the promise. If he does believe, even as a sinner, he can receive it. That’s why it was good news for men like Peter but bad news for the self‑righteous Pharisees.

 

Grace means God does the work. When God told Abraham his seed would be like the stars, Abraham wasn’t told to do anything. God had to do it. Sarah is a picture of grace—she could not produce a child at all. God had to intervene. That’s grace.

 

Romans 11:6 says if it’s by grace, it can’t be by works. Law and works go together; grace and faith go together.

Paul shows from Scripture that salvation has always been by grace through faith and Romans 4 proves everyone who was ever saved was saved that way. We either say the church becomes part of Israel’s covenants, or we say salvation is always by grace through faith and never by covenants or works.

Paul’s argument forces that choice.

 

Romans 4 doesn’t teach Jew vs. Gentile, but grace through faith vs. law and covenants.

How can God save sinners? Paul reveals it: by grace through faith, so the promise is sure. Eternal security is settled here.

Our salvation is sure because it depends on God’s grace, not our performance or heritage. Covenants and circumcision were only signs—tokens of what God had already promised by faith. God made the covenant because He had already purposed to give the blessing by grace, just as He did with Abraham.

Like Abraham, God imputes righteousness by faith the moment a person believes. The covenant and the sign of circumcision were for man’s sake, not God’s. A mark in the flesh, a stamp, a ritual—none of that is the promise. Romans 4 shows salvation and assurance do not come from works of the law, water baptism, confession, or any outward sign. Assurance comes from God’s promise, and our belief that the promise is sure and true, not from what we do.

 

The old and new covenants given to Israel could only be “sure” because God Himself would perform them by His grace. They were received by faith and fulfilled by God’s Spirit. That’s Paul’s point in Romans 4:16-17,

…to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;

 

But “all the seed” does not mean every Israelite, Ishmaelite, or Edomite. Paul defines the seed as those of the law who believe, and those outside the law who believe.

not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

 

Romans 4:11–12 already explained this.

Abraham is the father of the uncircumcision who believe (the Gentiles), and the father of the circumcision who believe (Israelites walking in Abraham’s faith).

Circumcision alone means nothing. Law alone means nothing. Faith is what matters.

So in Romans 4:16 Paul repeats it: the promise is sure to all the seed—not only those under the law, but also those who share Abraham’s faith.

 

Verse 17 says Abraham is “the father of us all,” meaning all who believe. Israel who believe, and Gentiles who believe.

That’s the mystery part: Gentiles were never given anything to believe until now, until the dispensation of grace. But now God gives all men something to believe—the gospel of Christ’s death for sins—so that by faith they can be justified like Abraham.

Abraham is the father of all who believe, not the father of all who keep the law. Israel will inherit the earth one day, but we Gentiles receive righteousness by faith, just like Abraham.

 

In the rest of the Romans chapter 4 Paul will show Abraham’s strong faith and how righteousness was imputed to him, then apply it to us who believe Christ died for our sins.

There’s no more Jewish advantage. If salvation came through Israel’s covenants and laws, Romans 4 would be false.

Anyone who thinks they are “spiritual Israel,” or that they must keep Israel’s laws, has a Romans 4 problem. Romans 5 will go on to show our identity is in Christ, not in Adam and not in Israel.

 

All faith‑plus‑works systems have a Romans 4 problem. All “spiritual Israel” teachings have a Romans 4 problem. Sabbath‑keeping as a requirement has a Romans 4 problem. Paul’s not putting the church into Israel’s promises, he’s removing Israel’s boasting and leaving everyone under sin with the same need: faith in Christ’s finished work.

Paul’s question is simple; Which is greater—Abraham by faith, or Israel by law? Jesus asked the same thing. The answer is Abraham by faith. That’s the pattern for all who believe today.