Romans 4:14

14 For if those who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,

Romans 4:14 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 4:14

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.

Romans 4:14 In-Context

12 and the father of circumcision to those who are not of the Circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had, being yet uncircumcised.

13 For the promise that he should be the heir of the world came not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

14 For if those who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,

15 because the law worketh wrath; for where there is no law, there is no transgression.

16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be given by grace to the end that the promise might be made sure to all the seed, 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