The Promise

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure 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.

How Abraham — and every believer after him — secures the promise of God not by works, but by faith in the God who raises the dead.

The Objection Paul Must Answer

We have seen, as Paul has masterfully shown, that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:10 says, "there is none righteous, no, not one." In chapter 1, Paul made it clear that the hedonist is lost — the person who openly practices sin in rebellion against God's commands, both those written and those written on the heart in the form of the conscience. In chapter 2, the moralist is also guilty, because although he looks at the hedonist and condemns him, he practices the same sin. And the religionist, who follows a codified set of rules, is likewise guilty. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" — that is Paul's concluding remark.

But Paul, because of his heritage as a Pharisee, a Jewish lawyer, knows the objection coming: "What about Abraham? The Bible says Abraham is righteous." The nation of Israel counted themselves righteous because they descended from Abraham, possessed the Law of Moses, the Temple, and the priesthood. So in chapter 4, Paul addresses this directly. In the first twelve verses he showed that Abraham was not justified by anything he did — "not of works, lest anyone should boast." There is no boasting, even for Abraham.

The Promise in View

Now Paul zeroes in on the promise in verses 13 through 25. This whole section could be summed up in that one word: the promise. God gave a promise to Abraham and reiterated it many times in Genesis — at his first calling in chapter 12, again in chapter 15, in chapter 17, and again in chapter 22. Part of that promise was that Abraham would become a great nation, the father of many nations, and a blessing to the whole world. So the descendants of Abraham looked back and said, "We have inherited this promise because Abraham was righteous."

Paul's argument unfolds in stages. In verses 13-15 he shows that the promise is secured not by works of righteousness but by faith. In verses 16-17 he shows that because the promise was secured by faith, it is therefore available to all who believe. In verses 18-21 he describes the nature of promise-securing faith. In verse 22 we see the result of faith, and finally an application follows.

Who Abraham Was

When we talk about Abraham, we are not talking about Lincoln — although Lincoln has been in the news with the movie. This Abraham lived about 4,000 years ago, was called of God, and was the first to follow God by faith. When he was 75 years old, he went out from everything he had previously known and laid hold of a promise spoken to him by God — not because he did anything great, but because he believed the God who promised.

His departure was an act of faith. God said, "Follow Me, and I will make you…" and then gave him a great promise. Abraham had no assurance other than God's word, and he put all his confidence upon it. That is remarkable — if you or I heard a voice calling us to go and do something, we might be a little concerned. Yet God revealed Himself to Abraham, and Abraham, and his wife Sarah, trusted in the faithfulness of God. Hebrews 11:11 tells us they trusted that God was faithful, that He would make good on what He said.

That promise was rehearsed many times. In Genesis 12: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." In Genesis 15:5, God brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, count the stars… So shall your descendants be." In Genesis 17 He promised to multiply him exceedingly, to make nations and kings come from him, and to give him the land.

The Testing of Abraham's Faith

Along the way, God tested Abraham's faith. Have you ever been tested in your faith? God had promised this childless man, with a barren wife, a son — Isaac. And about twenty years after Isaac was born, God came and said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love… and offer him as a sacrifice on one of the mountains that I will tell you of." Everything God had promised was bound up in that son.

Abraham rose early, prepared wood for a burnt offering, took Isaac and two servants, and traveled three days to Mount Moriah — which is ultimately Jerusalem, sitting 777 meters above sea level. No coincidence there. As he was ready to put his only son to death because God commanded it, God said, "Withhold your hand. Now I know that you withhold nothing from Me." And God provided a ram as a sacrifice.

It is awesomely interesting that this is the exact place where Jesus, the true sacrifice, was crucified. Abraham is a type, and his son Isaac a foreshadowing of "the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," crucified on that same mountaintop. Through Abraham would come the Messiah, Jesus — the One we worship today.

The Righteousness of Faith

Paul interprets these promises in verse 13 as a promise that Abraham would inherit the world. God never explicitly says that in Genesis, but this is how Paul interprets it. Did this promise come through the law? No, Paul says — "through the righteousness of faith."

What is meant by the righteousness of faith? Righteousness is best defined as a right standing with God, and that right standing is key to receiving the inheritance. You must be in right standing with God to receive the promise. Abraham had that right standing, as Genesis 15:6 says: "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness." God, who alone is in the position to say whether a person stands rightly before Him, declared that Abraham — a sinner like us all — had a right standing with Him.

So when Paul says, "There is none righteous," and the objection comes, "But Abraham was righteous," Paul agrees — but that was not according to his works. Romans 3:20 says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in God's sight." The New Living Translation puts it: "No one can ever be made right with God by the doing of what the law commands. The law simply shows us that we're sinful." The law reveals righteousness, and when we see what righteousness is, we quickly deduce that we are not that. Abraham's faith brought him into a right standing with God, and this qualified him to inherit the promise.

The Crucial Word "If"

Paul continues in verse 14: "For if…" Growing up I struggled with dyslexia, and one thing I still deal with is simply missing words when I read. I skipped this little word "if" about a dozen times this week, and the verse made no sense theologically until I read it word by word. So circle it in your Bible in a big way — circle "if."

"For if those who are of the law are heirs, then faith is made void and the promise is made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath." A better translation would replace "because" with "for" (the Greek gar): "for the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression."

If it were true that Abraham and his descendants received the promise by keeping the law, then righteousness by faith — as described in Genesis 15:6 — would be nullified. As the New Living Translation says, "If God's promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless." If salvation is by works, there is no purpose for God to promise it, because then you receive it as payment: "I did the works You listed; therefore You owe me this righteousness."

The Law Reveals Sin

There were people in Paul's day who counted themselves blameless before God because of their law-keeping. Paul himself, before following Christ, was a Pharisee who believed himself blameless. In Philippians 3 he says, "According to the law, I was blameless." But he came to recognize that the law speaks to more than physical actions — it deals with internal heart motives. As he writes in Romans 7, "I would not have known covetousness had the law not said, 'Thou shall not covet.'"

We meet many people who say, "If I died tonight, I'd go to heaven — I'm a pretty good person. I've never murdered anybody; I've never committed adultery." Those are the easy ones. But Jesus said, "If you look upon a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery in your heart," and, "if you're angry at someone without cause, you are guilty of murder." Anybody guilty of that this last week? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

So in verse 13 Paul shows the promise is by faith and not by law. In verse 14, if it were by law, it would not be a promise of grace but a payment rendered for service. In verse 15 he shows the law brings about nothing but wrath. The law is not bad — Romans 7 says it is holy, just, and good. It is exceedingly good, and it reveals how exceedingly not good we are. By the law comes the knowledge of sin.

The law is not a way to make yourself righteous; it shows you what is righteous and shows you that you are not. It exposes your lostness and prepares you for grace. If you are trying to live by the law to make God happy, you are missing the point. The law shows you that you cannot do it, that you are completely fallen and desperately in need of His grace. You will never keep the law. That does not mean we should not seek to glorify God in righteousness — but we walk in righteousness because He has clothed us in His righteousness and gives us grace to glorify Him. You are not made right with God by your lineage or your law-keeping.

Transgression and Trespass

"Where there is no law there is no transgression." Notice it does not say there is no sin. While all transgression is sin, not all sin is transgression. A transgression is a conscious, willful violation of God's posted law. If His law has not been given, you cannot willfully disregard it — but you can still trespass and sin.

Consider it this way. If you drive down the 15 Freeway at 90 mph and the CHP pulls you over, and you say, "I didn't know the limit was 65," the officer points to the giant sign. You willfully disregarded the posted law. But if you are hiking and come around a bend onto private property with no posted sign, and a man with a shotgun tells you to leave, you didn't know — yet you are still where you ought not to be. You trespassed. There is a difference between transgression and trespass. And here is the awesome thing about our God: in Exodus 34, when God reveals His nature, He says, "I forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin." God forgives all.

Galatians 3:17 tells us Abraham was counted righteous through faith 430 years before the law came. The law was not given until Israel came before Mount Sinai. Moses went up the mountain, received the law, and brought it down — and they had already broken it. They were in sin, though perhaps not yet transgression, because the law had not yet been posted. But once Moses descended, they could see clearly that what they had done was at odds with God's law.

Romans 5:20 says "the law causes trespass to abound." The law reveals righteousness, exposing how much sin there is. Every believer comes to this realization: as you read God's word, you come upon a passage and think, "I didn't know that was sin! I've been doing that!" Well, it's there — now you know. The law reveals the abundance of sin and shows us how lost we are. That is why the law is so effective with someone convinced of their own righteousness. The best thing you can do for such a friend is read them a passage from Deuteronomy.

There is even a way the law excites us to transgress it. The sign says WET PAINT, DON'T TOUCH, and in our fallen nature we are instantly excited to touch it. The law doesn't cause sin, but because we are so sinful, its righteous standard sometimes provokes us. "I wonder what He's keeping us back from?" But the soul that sins shall die. The wages of sin is death. God is not the cosmic killjoy — sin itself brings death.

The Promise Available to All

Verse 16: "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed." It is not earned by works; it is a free gift of grace. Because it comes by faith and not by law, the promise is available to all who believe. It is sure, steadfast, and assured "to all the seed" — not only the Jewish descendants of Abraham, but also "those who are of the faith of Abraham," who therefore becomes the father of us all. As Paul quotes from Genesis 17:5: "I have made you a father of many nations," in the presence of "God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did."

Abraham had faith — not faith for its own sake. People tell us, "You've got to have faith, just believe." Believe in what? Your faith must be seated in something worthy of your confident trust. Abraham believed in the God "who gives life to the dead and calls those things that do not exist as though they did." God said to a childless, 99-year-old man with a barren wife, "You're going to be a father of many nations. I'm changing your name from Abram, father of many, to Abraham, father of many nations." What kind of cruel joke is that? No — God calls that which does not yet exist as though it already does, because it is going to happen.

This is the surety of God's promise. It is a done deal. This is why Paul can say, "You put your faith in Jesus Christ, you are saved." The surety is not based on you or me but on what God has done for us. You are saved, even on a morning you don't feel so saved — like every Monday. "Abraham, you are a father of many nations," even though he had no children. You are saved, Christian.

The Nature of Promise-Securing Faith

What does Abraham's faith look like? Verse 18: Abraham, "who contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations… according to what was spoken, 'So shall your descendants be.'" Against all odds, contrary to all hope, Abraham had confidence in God. Promise-securing faith still confidently believes when there is no apparent reason to do so. When everything seemed hopelessly lost, Abraham still believed.

Hebrews 11 gives us more insight. When God said, "Take your son Isaac and sacrifice him," why would anyone do such a thing? Abraham stepped out because he believed one thing — that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. He had already seen God bring life from a barren womb when Sarah, at 90, bore Isaac. So Abraham reasoned, "If I take Isaac's life, the one the promise comes through, You will have to raise him from the dead."

What did Abraham believe in? He believed in the resurrection. What does Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 15? The resurrection is the focal point of our faith — if Christ be not raised, we are dead in our sins and our faith is in vain. Abraham, 2,000 years before Jesus, believed in the resurrection. And we, 4,000 years after Abraham, hope in and trust the resurrection of Jesus Christ — the same power that raised Him from the dead will raise us to life.

Verse 19 continues: "And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead… and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was able to perform." This faith does not meditate upon deadness or impossibility. It says, "God, You are able. I trust You." God said, "I will make you a great nation," when Abraham was 75, and Abraham departed Haran and followed, refusing to waver.

Glory to God Alone

By believing, verse 20 says, Abraham "was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God." He gave God the opportunity to be glorified in his dead body. If the promise were secured by anything Abraham did, then Abraham should get the glory — and we would sing songs, "Abraham, Abraham."

In fact, many do honor Abraham. The three monotheistic religions of the world — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — look back to him as their father, accounting for nearly half the world's population. That is a big deal. If it were Abraham's work that secured the promise, we would have every reason to glorify him. But we sing about Jesus, because He is the One who saves. Abraham was fully convinced that God who promised was able to perform it.

The Result and the Application

Verse 22 gives the result: "And therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness." That kind of faith says, "I am completely unable. I am dead. There is nothing I can do — but God, You are able, and I will trust in Your ability and not my own." That faith makes you righteous and grants the promise.

Then the application, verse 23: "Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him." Genesis 15:6 — "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness" — was not written merely for Abraham. Verse 24: "but also for us… because it shall be imputed to us who believe." Not who do the works of the law — no, no, no. "It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses."

"All we like sheep have gone astray… but the Lord has laid on Him our iniquity." "By His stripes we are healed." "He who knew no sin became sin for us." He was delivered up because of our offenses — He died in our place. And He "was raised up for our justification," so that we could be made right in Jesus Christ — not according to our works, but according to the work of the only righteous One.

So Paul shows the impossibility of making ourselves right with God by lineage or law-keeping. "There is none righteous, no, not one." The hedonist, the moralist, and the religionist are all under sin. "But what about Abraham?" Abraham was justified by grace, through faith, not of himself. If you believe with the same faith of Abraham, you become a child of Abraham by faith and a recipient of the promise of salvation in Christ. This, church, is the gospel. This is what secures our hope.

A Trailer of What's Coming

Let me read ahead as a coming attraction. Romans 5:1: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us." There is no disappointment in hope in Christ. You will only be disappointed if you hope in yourself.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your great grace. We are completely undeserving of it. But God, we know that You alone can rescue, that You alone can lift us from the grave. Jesus, we are thankful that You who knew no sin became sin for us, because we need You. Work in us to will and to do those things that please and glorify You. Transform us by the renewing of our minds, that we would reflect Your glory in a lost world. Help us never to fail to recognize that Your grace is greater than our sin, and even if our heart condemns us, You are greater than our heart and You know all things. Work in us, Your church, this week, to be a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. Give us opportunity, even outside our comfort zone, to share the glory of the gospel. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.