For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
Parallel Translations
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For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
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For yf they which are of the lawe be heyres then is fayth but vayne and the promes of none effecte.
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For if they which are of the Lawe, be heires, faith is made voide, and the promise is made of none effect.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Romans 4:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Galatians 3:18-24 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise. Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- Philippians 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith,
- Hebrews 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
- Isaiah 55:11 so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
- Romans 3:31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
- Romans 4:16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, 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.
- Galatians 2:21 I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
- Hebrews 7:28 For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.
- Numbers 30:12 But if her husband made them null and void in the day that he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand. Her husband has made them void. Yahweh will forgive her.
- Numbers 30:15 But if he makes them null and void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.”
- Psalms 119:126 It is time to act, Yahweh, for they break your law.
- Jeremiah 19:7 “ ‘ “I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.
- Galatians 5:4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 14. For if they who are of the law,…
14. For if they who are of the law, etc. He takes his argument from what is impossible or absurd, that the favor which Abraham obtained from God, was not promised to him through any legal agreement, or through any regard to works; for if this condition had been interposed — that God would favor those only with adoption who deserved, or who performed the law, no one could have dared to feel confident that it belonged to him: for who is there so conscious of so much perfection that he can feel assured that the inheritance is due to him through the righteousness of the law? Void then would faith be made; for an impossible condition would not only hold the minds of men in suspense and anxiety, but fill them also with fear and trembling: and thus the fulfillment of the promises would be rendered void; for they avail nothing but when received by faith. If our adversaries had ears to hear this one reason, the contest between us might easily be settled.
The Apostle assumes it as a thing indubitable, that the promises would by no means be effectual except they were received with full assurance of mind. But what would be the case if the salvation of men was based on the keeping of the law? consciences would have no certainty, but would be harassed with perpetual inquietude, and at length sink in despair; and the promise itself, the fulfillment of which depended on what is impossible, would also vanish away without producing any fruit. Away then with those who teach the common people to seek salvation for themselves by works, seeing that Paul declares expressly, that the promise is abolished if we depend on works. But it is especially necessary that this should be known, — that when there is a reliance on works, faith is reduced to nothing. And hence we also learn what faith is, and what sort of righteousness ought that of works to be, in which men may safely trust.
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The Apostle teaches us, that faith perishes, except the soul rests on the goodness of God. Faith then is not a naked knowledge either of God or of his truth; nor is it a simple persuasion that God is, that his word is the truth; but a sure knowledge of God’s mercy, which is received from the gospel, and brings peace of conscience with regard to God, and rest to the mind. The sum of the matter then is this, — that if salvation depends on the keeping of the law, the soul can entertain no confidence respecting it, yea, that all the promises offered to us by God will become void: we must thus become wretched and lost, if we are sent back to works to find out the cause or the certainty of salvation.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain A double confirmation of that reason: the one is,…
A double confirmation of that reason: the one is, that the promise cannot be apprehended by the Law, and therefore it should be frustrated: the other, that the condition of faith should be joined in vain to that promise which should be apprehended by works.
If they be heirs which have fulfilled the Law.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 14 For if they which are of the law…
14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Ver. 14. Faith is made void] {See Trapp on "Gal 3:12"} {See Trapp on "Gal 5:2"} That Epistle to the Galatians is an epitome of this to the Romans, and lends light to it. It is compendium, sed non dispendium.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. If they that trust to the fulfilling of…
i.e. If they that trust to the fulfilling of the law, be heirs of the promise of God, and so the inheritance come by works; then faith is to no purpose, neither is there any use of it; and so also the promises which are made to believers are vain and useless. This is the sun, of this verse; a more particular explication follows.
If they which are of the law: compare this with Gal 3:9,10. There the apostle sorts them that seek righteousness and salvation into two kinds. First, some are of faith, and they are such as seek salvation in that way. Again, others are of the works of the law, and they are such as seek salvation by means thereof. These phrases, of the law, and of the works of the law, are all one.
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Be heirs; that is, of the promises of God; of the heavenly rest, of which, as before, Canaan was a type.
Faith is made void; i.e. if they which seek the inheritance of the law can by the law obtain it, then there is no use of faith: to what end should we by faith go out of ourselves to seek righteousness and salvation in Christ, if we could obtain it by the legal obedience? See the like, Gal 5:4.
And the promise made of none effect; i.e. the promise itself, which was made to Abraham and his seed, that also is ineffectual, and brought to nought; no man shall be saved by it; forasmuch as the law can bring no man to the obtaining of what is promised.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain That is, If they which seem to be justified…
That is, If they which seem to be justified by the works of the law be heirs of this promised inheritance; then faith, that is, the way of justification by faith, prescribed by God, is to no purpose, for to what end should we by faith seek righteousness in another, if by our legal obedience we can find ourselves?
Here then lies couched another argument, to confirm the apostle’s doctrine of justification by faith: Thus, that only justifies, unto which gracious promise of justification is made; but no such promise is made to any man for his weak and imperfect keeping of the law, but for his believing there is; therefore, by the law there can be no justification, but by faith only.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Because the law worketh wrath,.... Not the wrath of…
Because the law worketh wrath,.... Not the wrath of man, though that is sometimes stirred up through the prohibitions of the law, to which the carnal mind of man is enmity, but the wrath of God the law is so far from justifying sinners, that it curses and condemns them; and when it comes into the heart and is let into the conscience of a sinner, it fills with terrible apprehensions of the wrath of God, and a fearful looking for of his judgment and fiery indignation:
for where no law is, there is no transgression; (r); a sort of a proverbial expression: had the law of Moses not been given, there was the law of nature which sin is a transgression of; but the law of Moses was added for the better discovery and detection of sin, which would not have been so manifest without it, and which may be the apostle's sense; that where there is no law, there is no knowledge of any transgression; and so the Ethiopic version reads the words, "if the law had not come, there would have been none who would have known sin"; but the law is come, and there is a law by which is the knowledge of sin, and therefore no man can be justified by it; since that convinces him of sin, and fills him with a sense of divine wrath on account of it.
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(r) Caphtor, fol. 10. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain If they only who are of the law -…
If they only who are of the law - Who have kept the whole law. Are heirs, faith is made void - No blessing being to be obtained by it; and so the promise is of no effect.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. For, if they which are of the…
Verse 14. For, if they which are of the law be heirs] If the Jews only be heirs of the promise made to Abraham, and that on the ground of prior obedience to the law, then faith is made void-is entirely useless; and the promise, which was made to faith, is made of none effect.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For if they which are of the law -…
For if they which are of the law - Who seek for justification and acceptance by the Law.
Faith is made void - Faith would have no place in the scheme; and consequently the strong commendations bestowed on the faith of Abraham, would be bestowed without any just cause. If people are justified by the Law, they cannot be by faith, and faith would be useless in this work.
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And the promise ... - A promise looks to the future. Its design and tendency is to excite trust and confidence in him who makes it. All the promises of God have this design and tendency; and consequently, as God has given many promises, the object is to call forth the lively and constant faith of people, all going to show that in the divine estimation, faith is of inestimable value. But if people are justified by the Law; if they are rendered “acceptable” by conformity to the institutions of Moses; then they cannot depend for acceptance on any promise made to Abraham, or his seed. They cut themselves off from that promise, and stand independent of it. That promise, like all other promises, was made to excite faith. If, therefore, the Jews depended on the Law for justification, they were cut off from all the promises made to Abraham; and if they could be justified by the Law, the promise was useless. This is as true now as it was then. If people seek to be justified by their morality or their forms of religion, they cannot depend on any promise of God; for he has made no promise to any such attempt. They stand independently of any promise, covenant, or compact, and are depending on a scheme of their own; a scheme which would render his plan vain and useless; which would render his promises, and the atonement of Christ, and the work of the Spirit of no value. It is clear, therefore, that such an attempt at salvation cannot be successful.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain For if they, who are of the law, be…
For if they, who are of the law, be heirs: faith is made void, the promise is made of no effect. That is, if the Jews, who are under the law, are the only heirs of the blessings promised, it will follow that the faith which Abraham had before the circumcision, and before the law, was of no value, which I have shewn to be false. And, secondly it will follow that the promise made to him, that in him all nations should be blessed, is also null. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain For if they which are of the law be…
For if they which are of the law be heirs--If the blessing is to be earned by obedience to the law.
faith is made void--the whole divine method is subverted.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14. They… of the law—Those who claim heirship in…
14. They… of the law—Those who claim heirship in virtue of a fulfilment of the law.
Promise… of none effect—The promise is God’s side of the Abrahamic compact by which he is the sun and shield of the faithful, which promise is not only to Abraham, out to his seed, (Rom_4:16.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. of the law] Lit. out of the law.…
14. of the law] Lit. out of the law. On the Gr. construction see on Rom_3:26 (ad finem).—“Law” here is without article, and possibly its reference is general; q. d. “If those who in any sense claim on grounds of a law, &c.” But it is far better to read (in English) “the law.” The lack of the article is quite natural where the thing is conspicuous and well known.
heirs] i.e. of the world, as promised to Abraham.
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faith] Gr. the faith; i.e., probably, “the faith in question;” justifying faith, and Abraham’s in particular.
made void … of none effect] Both verbs in Gr. are in the perfect; and the probable point is q. d., “If the Law becomes the condition of heirship, ipso facto the faith and the promise are void;” they have been cancelled by the mere fact of a legal condition.
the promise] i.e. “that he” (Abraham, in his seed) “should be heir of the world.” In other words, that Messiah, the Son of Abraham, (and thereby His “Israel”), should enjoy a sacred victory and dominion.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) Is made void.—Literally, emptied of its meaning, becomes…
(14) Is made void.—Literally, emptied of its meaning, becomes an empty name, and the promise is rendered nugatory. There is nothing left for either to do, if the votaries of law, simply as such, are to be the inheritors of the Messianic kingdom.
(14-17) This Messianic kingdom cannot have anything to do with law; for if it had, faith and the promise would cease to have any office. Faith and law cannot co-exist. They are the opposites of each other. The proper effect of law is punishment; for law only exposes sin. Faith, on the other hand, is the real key to the inheritance. It sets in motion grace; and grace, unlike law, excludes no one. It is open alike to the legal and to the spiritual descendants of Abraham; in other words (as the Scripture itself testifies), to all mankind, as the representative of whom Abraham stands before God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 14. For if they which are of the law…
14. For if they which are of the law (of law, the article wanting) are heirs. If keeping law makes men heirs, then faith is void. It sets aside God's plan of “counting faith as righteousness,” and destroys the promise which depends on faith.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 14. “For if the heirs were from the law,…
14. “For if the heirs were from the law, faith is made empty and the promise of none effect.” The great promise which God made to Abraham to redeem the world by the gift of His Son, which was utterly unnecessary if they could be saved by legal obedience. The law was here four thousand years before Christ came; there was plenty of water to baptize people, and every other conceivable facility of legal obedience. Therefore if salvation had been possible through the law, the condescension and death of Christ were unnecessary, null and void. The utter incompetency of fallen humanity to be saved in any other way superinduced the absolute necessity for Christ to come and die, thus redeeming us from sin, death and hell. Hence legalism is so abominable in the sight of God; from the ostensible fact that it treats with contempt the vicarious atonement which cost the life of His Son.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain For if they that are of the law are…
For if they that are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect :
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:14 then faith is not necessary (literally faith is…
4:14 then faith is not necessary (literally faith is emptied): If works of obedience can be substituted for faith, then “faith is emptied” of its importance. Believing in God means acknowledging our unworthiness and depending entirely on God’s mercy.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.