Romans 4:14

14 For yf they which are of the lawe be heyres then is fayth but vayne and the promes of none effecte.

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 that he myght be the father of the circumcised not because they are circumcised only: but because they walke also in the steppes of that fayth yt was in oure father Abraham before the tyme of circumcision.

13 For the promes that he shuld be the heyre of the worlde was not geven to Abraha or to his seed thorow the lawe: but thorow ye rightewesnes which cometh of fayth.

14 For yf they which are of the lawe be heyres then is fayth but vayne and the promes of none effecte.

15 Because the lawe causeth wrathe. For where no lawe is there is no trasgression.

16 Therfore by fayth is the inheritauce geven that it myght come of faveour: and the promes myght be sure to all the seed. Not to them only which are of the lawe: but also to them which are of the fayth of Abraham which is the father of vs all.