Teks -- Romans 4:14 (NET)

4:14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Rom 4:14 - Be heirs

Be heirs ( klēronomoi ).

No predicate in the Greek (eisin ). See note on Gal 4:1. If legalists are heirs of the Messianic promise to Abraham (condition of first class, assumed as true for argument’ s sake), the faith is emptied of all meaning (kekenōtai , perfect passive indicative of kenoō ) and the promise to Abraham is made permanently idle (katērgētai ).

Wesley: Rom 4:14 - 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.

JFB: Rom 4:13-15 - For the promise, &c.

This is merely an enlargement of the foregoing reasoning, applying to the law what had just been said of circumcision.

JFB: Rom 4:13-15 - that he should be the heir of the world

Or, that "all the families of the earth should be blessed in him."

JFB: Rom 4:13-15 - was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law

In virtue of obedience to the law.

JFB: Rom 4:13-15 - but through the righteousness of faith

In virtue of his simple faith in the divine promises.

JFB: Rom 4:14 - For if they which are of the law be heirs

If the blessing is to be earned by obedience to the law.

JFB: Rom 4:14 - faith is made void

The whole divine method is subverted.

Clarke: Rom 4:14 - For, if they which are of the law be heirs

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.

Calvin: Rom 4:14 - NO PHRASE

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.

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.

TSK: Rom 4:14 - For if // made

For if : Rom 4:16; Gal 2:21, Gal 3:18-24, Gal 5:4; Phi 3:9; Heb 7:19, Heb 7:28

made : Rom 3:31; Num 30:12, Num 30:15; Psa 119:126; Isa 55:11; Jer 19:7

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Rom 4:14 - If they which are of the law // Be heirs // Faith is made void // And the promise made of none effect

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.

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.

Haydock: Rom 4:14 - For if they, who are of the law, be heirs: faith is made void, the promise is made of no effect

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)

Gill: Rom 4:14 - For if they which are of the law be heirs // faith is made void // and the promise made of none effect

For if they which are of the law be heirs,.... That is, if the Jews who are under the law, and are seeking for righteousness and life by the works of it, should, on the account of their obedience to it, be heirs of the grace of life and of glory,

faith is made void; for if the right to the inheritance is by the works of the law, there is no room for faith; that can be of no use or service;

and the promise made of none effect: if salvation is by works, it is to no purpose for God to promise, or men to believe; for the thing promised depends not upon God's promise, but upon man's obedience to the law; and if that is not perfectly observed, as it cannot possibly be, then the promise of God stands for nothing, and is in course made void. The apostle here argues from the absurdities which follow upon the doctrine of justification by works, as he does from the different effects of the law, in the following verse.