For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Parallel translations
- WEB For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
- BSB For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,
- NKJV For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,
- NASB For if those who are of the Law are heirs, then faith is made void and the promise is nullified;
- NLT If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If the inheritance depended on the law, faith and the promise would be emptied. Law and promise cannot both be the basis of salvation.
Overview
Paul reasons that if the law's adherents were the heirs, then faith would be pointless and God's promise nullified. A promise rests on God's gracious word, not on human performance. By excluding the law as the ground of inheritance, Paul preserves the freeness of grace that the gospel proclaims.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Gal 3:18–24For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
- Heb 7:19For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
- Phil 3:9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
- Gal 2:21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
- Rom 3:31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
- Rom 4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; 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,
- Isa 55:11So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
- Heb 7:28For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
- Num 30:12But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.
- Ps 119:126It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
- Gal 5:4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
- Num 30:15But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.
- Jer 19:7And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 4:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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