Can we earn God's promises through good works? See how Romans 4:13–17 explains that God's promises rest on grace, are received through faith, and are guaranteed to all who believe.
Introduction: Life with Hidden Conditions
Have you ever heard a promise, then later discovered the fine print? An ad that said, “Free,” but then there were fees. At the San Diego Fair, a product says, “Money Back Guarantee,” but then you get home and it has a massive list of exceptions! Someone who said, “You can count on me,” but when the time came, there was an excuse, a loophole, a way out. We live in a world like that. A world of hidden conditions. A world where promises often turn out not to be promises at all. And if we’re not careful, we start to think God must be like that too.
The Scriptures say God promised Abraham blessing, righteousness, and inheritance. It promises us eternal life to all who believe in Jesus. But deep down, we’re jaded: “There must be a catch. What’s the fine print? God must be saying, ‘I promise,’ but I still have to perform.’” Here in Romans 4, Paul says: “No!”
Summary: where we’re at in Romans and where we’re going in this passage: In Romans 3–4, Paul’s been proving that any and all sinners—Jews and Gentiles—are justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. In verses 1–8, he showed that from the lives of Abraham and David. In verses 9–12, we saw how Abraham was counted righteous before he was circumcised. In verses 13–17, Paul widens the lens. He moves from Abraham’s personal story to the larger point: How does God’s promise come? And to whom does it belong? Paul’s answer is clear: the promise doesn’t come through law but through faith.
Relevance: why does this matter to me? This changes everything for us as believers! To know that we relate to God and he to us on the basis of grace, faith, promise, and gospel frees us! If you’re not a believer yet, we know you’ve probably heard so much about Jesus that’s wrong. We want you to be free!
Theme
Here’s Paul’s point: God’s promise doesn’t come through law; it comes through faith, so that it rests on grace and is guaranteed to all who share Abraham’s faith.
Transition: Paul first begins with a huge distinction: God’s promise to Abraham didn’t come through law.
The Promise Is Not Through Law (v. 13)
Paul says in verse 13: 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.
Beginning in Genesis 12, God made a promise to Abraham and his offspring that they would inherit a land. Paul describes that promise in universal terms: Abraham would be heir of the world—the kosmos. This is bigger than one strip of land, one nation, and one ethnicity. God’s promise to Abraham stretches out from Israel through the Messiah to the nations and ultimately in a new heavens and new earth. But Paul’s focus here isn’t the size of the inheritance. It’s the way the it comes. He says it did not come through the law.
That means the promise wasn’t grounded in legal obedience. It wasn’t secured by Sinai. God did not say to Abraham, “I will bless you, justify you, and give you inheritance—but only if you keep the law well enough.”
No. The promise came first. That’s exactly Paul’s point in Galatians 3. The law came 430 years later. He didn’t promise then later attach hidden conditions.
Illustration: In the traditional wedding vows, husband and wife promise “to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.” A promise like that isn’t followed with, “Let me pull out of my pocket the conditions I want to add.” If later conditions can cancel the promise, then it was never really a promise. Paul is saying that’s not how God dealt with Abraham. God promised first. And what God promises, he keeps.
Here’s the first truth of the text: God doesn’t build his promise on your performance, but on his own gracious word.
Application: Let that sink in. You say you believe in grace, but the way you live tells a different story. You’re constantly relating to God as if everything finally depends on your performance. You know the language of grace, but in your heart you still think there must be fine print. You think, “Surely God’s blessing must finally depend on how well I am doing. If I obey, I’ll get that job, spouse, or house. Surely God’s promise to me is only as strong as my obedience this week.” Or, “I know I got in by grace but now I have to stay in by performing.”
Paul says no. The promise is not through the law.
Promise isn’t paycheck: “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (4:4–5).
Transition: Why is Paul so insistent about that? Why can’t law and promise work together as two ways of receiving the inheritance? Paul answers that next.
The Law Cannot Make Heirs (vv. 14–15)
Paul says: For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. That’s strong language without any wiggle room. If inheritance comes by law, then faith is emptied and promise is canceled. Why? Because law and promise operate on opposite principles.
Promise says, “I will give.”
Law says, “You must do.”
Promise depends on the faithfulness of the one who makes it.
Law depends on the obedience of the one who receives it.
Then he sharpens the point in verse 15: For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. Paul isn’t saying the law is bad. The law is “holy, righteous, and good” (Rom. 7). But the law isn’t an heir-making instrument for sinners. The law reveals God’s will, exposes our sin, and names our rebellion as transgression. The law tells the truth about us. But it can’t hand guilty people an inheritance.
The law can diagnose. It can’t deliver. The law is like a mirror. It can show dirt on your face, but it can’t wash you. The law is like a thermometer. It can tell you that you have a fever, but it can’t heal you. The law can expose the problem, but it can’t provide the inheritance.
Law makes transgressors known; promise makes heirs.
Application: This is where many go wrong today. Some people think Christianity is basically God saying, “Try hard, clean yourself up, do better, be good, and then I’ll add-on a blessing.” Others think the way to peace with God is church attendance, moral seriousness, family background, or outward respectability. That’s law-thinking.
If that’s how you’re trying to come to God, you’ll never have assurance, peace, and rest. The law always finds more failure. It always exposes more guilt. It always says, “Not enough!” To borrow an old Rolling Stones line, “you can’t always get what you want”—and if what you want is inheritance by performance, peace by self-improvement, or salvation by law, you’ll never get it that way. The law can’t give what only promise can. That’s why so many churchgoers are exhausted, trying to draw inheritance from what only brings wrath.
If your whole relationship to God is: “I was baptized.” “I was raised in the church.” “I know the Bible.” “I’m conservative.” “I’m decent.” “I’m not like those people.” Paul is saying: “none of these can make you an heir.”
Transition: So, if the promise can’t come through law, and if law brings wrath rather than inheritance, then why does it come through faith? Paul gives the answer with one of the sweetest lines in the chapter.
Faith Makes the Promise Sure (vv. 16–17)
Verse 16 says: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring.
That’s the payoff. Why does promise depend on faith? Look at what Paul says: It depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace.
Faith isn’t a work that impresses God. Faith isn’t the one thing you contribute. Faith doesn’t earn what law can’t.
Faith receives grace. Faith is the empty hand: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.” Faith is the beggar’s hand. Faith is the open mouth: “Open your mouth and I will fill it” (Ps. 85). Faith simply says, “I believe; help my unbelief.”
Because the promise rests on God’s grace, it’s guaranteed by God.
If the promise depended on law and obedience, it’s outcome would never be sure. Why? Because the law always uncovers more and more sin. Law exposes more and more guilt. Because God’s promise rests on God’s grace as a manifestation of himself, it’s sure, certain, guaranteed.
Application: This is so, so important for us. If the assurance of God’s promise to faither Abraham wasn’t built on the strength of his obedience, but on the strength of God’s promise, then so is your salvation and assurance! Note to whom this promise is guaranteed: not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Jew and Gentile. Insider and outsider. Churched and unchurched. Abraham isn’t father of one ethnic group, but of all who share his faith.
Going back to all we’ve seen in chapters 2–4, that means the family of God isn’t built on outward badges like circumcision or ethnic pedigree. It’s built on God’s promise received by faith.
Paul even lifts our eyes to the God behind the promise: the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. That’s the kind of God who made this promise.
He who gives life to the dead.
He who creates out of nothing.
He who keeps promises that look impossible—taking barren old Abraham and Sarah and beginning many nations.
He who takes dead sinners and makes them alive in Christ.
The promise is safe. It doesn’t rest on weak people but on a mighty God. The promise is by faith so that it may be by grace—by grace so that it may be sure.
That changes everything!
Application: Believer, you don’t have to live like an orphan trying to earn a place in the house. You’re an heir because God promised. You’re accepted because God gives. You’re secure because grace guarantees what law never could.
Church, this is why we should be the most welcoming people in the world. The promise of the gospel isn’t for one kind of person. It’s for all who simply share Abraham’s faith. Different stories. Different backgrounds. Different skin tones. Different personalities. Different baggage. Different scars. Different pasts. Yet because we hold onto one Christ, we’re one family. So, when someone asks, “Would I fit in at OURC?” the answer is, “there’s always more room at the table in Abraham’s living room for those who put faith in Christ,.
What Does This Mean For Us?
Let me give a few implications of what all this means for us.
First, stop trying to turn promise into paycheck. God does not relate to his children on the principle of wages. He relates to them on the principle of promise. Stop trying to earn what can only be received.
Second, take comfort that grace makes the promise sure. Some of you are weary because you’re always checking yourself, measuring yourself, grading yourself. But if the promise rests on grace, then your peace isn’t found in your performance but in God’s promise in Christ.
Third, rejoice that Abraham’s family is bigger than you think. The door is open wide. Jew and Gentile. Insider and outsider. Respectable and broken. If you share Abraham’s faith, you share Abraham’s blessing.
Gospel Call
Now let me speak plainly to you if you’re not a Christian. Maybe you’ve spent your whole life relating to God on the principle of law. You may never have used that word, but that’s what you are doing. You think your standing with God comes down to your effort, your decency, your religion, your family background, your morality, your improvement.
Here’s what God says to you today: that road doesn’t end in inheritance. It ends in wrath. You can’t become an heir by trying harder, being religious, cleaning yourself up, leaning on your upbringing, baptism, or your church connections.
There’s another way. The way of promise, grace, and faith in Jesus. Jesus the Messiah is the true offspring of Abraham. He obeyed where you failed. He bore the wrath that law brings against you. He died for your ungodliness. He rose again so that you who trust him might be heirs of the promise.
Stop trying to negotiate with God. Stop trying to pay for what Christ already purchased. Stop trying to turn promise into paycheck. Come to Christ. Trust in Christ. Rest in Christ. And you’ll find that what God promised Abraham, He still gives freely to all who believe.
Conclusion: Your Hope Isn’t In What You Do for God
So, what’s Paul shown us?
The promise didn’t come through law. Law can’t make heirs, because law brings wrath.
The promise comes through faith, so that it may rest on grace and be guaranteed.
That means God doesn’t save sinners by turning his promise into a contract. He saves sinners by keeping his promise in Christ.
So, your hope isn’t in what you do for God, but in what God has promised to give in his Son. Don’t try to inherit by law. Don’t try to qualify yourself for grace. Don’t try to turn promise into paycheck.
Trust in Jesus Christ and you’ll discover that the promise made to Abraham belongs to you too.