“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” (Romans 4:14-15).
Paul the Apostle was undoubtedly aware of the controversial nature of the spiritual truths he had already put forth throughout this portion of his letter. In light of this, Paul encouraged his audience to join him in considering the implications of those teachings. Much like a contemporary software developer who builds an application that performs various functions when certain conditions are met, Paul presented his readers with an “if-then” statement in this passage: “If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless” (NLT).
One source illustrates this difference with an analogy that most families will likely recognize….
“If, for example, a father promised his son a new bicycle, the boy would look forward to receiving it as a gift. However, if the father added the condition that to get the bike, the boy had to be obedient, he would destroy his son’s confidence that he would get the bike. Now obtaining the bicycle depended on obedience. It was no longer a matter of faith (‘faith is made void’). The second effect, which is also evident in this illustration, is that ‘the promise’ would be ‘nullified’ (i.e., made worthless).” (1)
In a similar manner, God’s pledge to Abraham would lose its validity if those who follow his example could merit God’s approval by their works. The same applies to anyone who seeks to earn God’s favor by adhering to a ceremonial practice, tradition, ritual, family relationship, personal endeavor, or specific code of conduct. In addition to the fact that these approaches are mutually exclusive, the recurring narrative of ancient Israel’s history testifies to the fact that fallible human beings are consistently inconsistent in their ability to keep God’s Law.
This is what invokes God’s wrath, as we saw earlier in Romans chapters one and two . Thus, in the words of another commentary…
“No heir of Abraham, save Jesus Christ, has ever been able to entirely keep the law. If fulfillment of this promise depended on law-keeping, man’s inability to keep the law would insure that the promise would never be fulfilled and thus would be the promise made of none effect.” (2)
(1) Dr. Thomas L. Constable, Notes on Romans 2025 Edition https://soniclight.com/tcon/notes/html/romans/romans.htm
(2) Edward E. Hindson and Woodrow Michael Kroll, eds., KJV Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 2225.