Romans 4:13
New International Version
It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

New Living Translation
Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

English Standard Version
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Berean Standard Bible
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Berean Literal Bible
For the promise was to Abraham or his descendants that he should be heir of the world, not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
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.

New American Standard Bible
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

NASB 1995
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

NASB 1977
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Legacy Standard Bible
For the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Amplified Bible
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through [observing the requirements of] the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Christian Standard Bible
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

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

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For it was not by The Written Law that The Promise came to Abraham and his seed, that he would be the heir to the universe, but by the righteousness of his faith.

Contemporary English Version
God promised Abraham and his descendants that he would give them the world. This promise wasn't made because Abraham had obeyed a law, but because his faith in God made him acceptable.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For not through the law was the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world; but through the justice of faith.

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

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So it was not by obeying Moses' Teachings that Abraham or his descendants received the promise that he would inherit the world. Rather, it was through God's approval of his faith.

Good News Translation
When God promised Abraham and his descendants that the world would belong to him, he did so, not because Abraham obeyed the Law, but because he believed and was accepted as righteous by God.

International Standard Version
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the Law, but through the righteousness produced by faith.

Literal Standard Version
For not through law [is] the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, of his being heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith;

Majority Standard Bible
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

New American Bible
It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.

NET Bible
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

New Revised Standard Version
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

New Heart English Bible
For the promise to Abraham and to his descendants that he should be heir of the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

Weymouth New Testament
Again, the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his posterity conditioned by Law, but by faith-righteousness.

World English Bible
For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he would be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Young's Literal Translation
For not through law is the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, of his being heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Abraham Receives the Promise
12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,…

Cross References
Genesis 17:4
"As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

Genesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

Acts 13:32
And now we proclaim to you the good news: What God promised our fathers

Romans 4:12
And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Romans 9:8
So it is not the children of the flesh who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.

Galatians 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, "and to seeds," meaning many, but "and to your seed," meaning One, who is Christ.

Galatians 3:29
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.


Treasury of Scripture

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.

For the.

Genesis 12:3
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.

Genesis 17:4,5,16
As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations…

Genesis 22:17,18
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; …

through the.

Galatians 3:16-18,29
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ…

but through.

Romans 4:11
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

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Abraham Descendants Earth Faith Faith-Righteousness God's Heir Heritage Inherit Law Offspring Posterity Promise Received Righteousness Seed sness Wasn't Word World
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Abraham Descendants Earth Faith Faith-Righteousness God's Heir Heritage Inherit Law Offspring Posterity Promise Received Righteousness Seed sness Wasn't Word World
Romans 4
1. Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness;
10. before he was circumcised.
13. By faith only he and his seed received the promise.
16. Abraham is the father of all who believe.
24. Our faith also shall be credited to us as righteousness.














(13) Abraham was the father of all who walk in his steps. For this all is not limited by the Law any more than it is limited by circumcision. The promise of that world-wide inheritance was not given through the agency of the Law (which at that time did not exist), but as an effect of the righteousness which proceeds from faith.

Heir of the world.--This promise was explained by the Jews of the universal sovereignty of the Messiah.

Through the righteousness of faith.--As a further consequence of that (imputed) righteousness which proceeds from faith. Three stages are indicated: (1) faith, (2) imputed righteousness, (3) access to the Messianic kingdom with all its privileges.

Verses 13-15. - For not through law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith, For if they which are of law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. For the Law worketh wrath: for where no law is, neither is there transgression. The point of the argument is that the principle of law is essentially different from that on which Abraham was justified, and which is hence to be understood in the fulfilment of the promise to him and his seed. How this is so is shortly intimated in ver. 15, the idea being more fully expounded in ch. 7. The idea is (as has been already explained) that law simply declares what is right, and requires conformity to it; it does not give either power to obey, or atonement for not obeying. Hence, in itself, it worketh, not righteousness, but wrath; for man becomes fully liable to wrath when he comes to know, through law, the difference between right and wrong (cf. John 9:41, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin"). Exactly the same view of the impossibility of the Mosaic Law being the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham is found in Galatians 3, where also the real purpose of the Law, intervening thus between the promise and its fulfilment, is further explained. The expression in ver. 13, "that he should be the heir of the world," has reference to the ultimate scope of the Abrahamic promises (see Genesis 12:2, 3; Genesis 13:14-16; Genesis 15:5, 6, 18; Genesis 17:2-9; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:17, 18). Now, it is true that in some of these promises the language used seems to denote no more than the temporal possession by Israel of the promised land, with dominion (actually realized under David and Solomon) over the whole country from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, as in Genesis 13:14, 15; Genesis 15:18, etc. But their full scope transcends any such limited fulfilment, as where it is said that the promised seed should be as the stars of heaven, and as the dust of the earth that cannot be numbered, and that in it all the nations of the earth should be blessed. The prophets accordingly recognized a far larger ultimate fulfilment in their frequent pictures of the Messiah's universal dominion; and there was no need for the apostle to prove here what the Jews already understood. The only difference between the view current among them and his would be that they would mostly have in view a universal worldly sovereignty with its local centre on the throne of David at Jerusalem, while he interpreted spirttually, seeing beyond the outward framework of prophetic visions to the ideal they imply. "Heres mundi idem est quod pater omnium gentium, benedictionem accipientium. Totus mundus promissus est Abrahae et semini ejus per totum mundum conjunctim. Abrahamo obtigit terra Canaan, et sic aliis alia pars; atque corporalia sunt specimen spiritualium. Christus beres mundi, et omuium (Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 2:5; Revelation 11:15), et qui in eum credunt Abrahae exemplo (Matthew 5:5) (Bengel). It is to be observed that, though Abraham himself in ver. 13 is spoken of as "the heir of the world," yet the preceding expression, "to Abrabam or to his seed," sufficiently intimates that it is in his seed, identified with him, that he is conceived as so inheriting.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
For
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

it was not
Οὐ (Ou)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

through
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

[the] Law
νόμου (nomou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3551: From a primary nemo; law, genitive case, specially, (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively.

[that] Abraham
Ἀβραὰμ (Abraam)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 11: Abraham, progenitor of the Hebrew race. Of Hebrew origin; Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch.

[and]
(ē)
Conjunction
Strong's 2228: Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

his
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

descendants
σπέρματι (spermati)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4690: From speiro; something sown, i.e. Seed; by implication, offspring; specially, a remnant.

were promised
ἐπαγγελία (epangelia)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1860: A promise. From epaggello; an announcement.

that
τὸ (to)
Article - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

he
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

would be
εἶναι (einai)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

heir
κληρονόμον (klēronomon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2818: From kleros and the base of nomos (reflexively) getting by apportionment); a sharer by lot, i.e. Inheritor; by implication, a possessor.

[of the] world,
κόσμου (kosmou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2889: Probably from the base of komizo; orderly arrangement, i.e. Decoration; by implication, the world (morally).

but
ἀλλὰ (alla)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

through
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

[the] righteousness
δικαιοσύνης (dikaiosynēs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1343: From dikaios; equity; specially justification.

that comes by faith.
πίστεως (pisteōs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 4102: Faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness.


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NT Letters: Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham (Rom. Ro)
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