Romans 4:13

For the promise, &c. Here again the Gr. order is emphatic: For not through the law came the promise, &c.

that he should be the heir Perhaps better, namely, his being: heir, in apposition with "the promise." The promise made him heir at once, and foretold actual possession. The Gr. word rendered "heir" sometimes means one with a prospect of possession, more rarely an actual possessor.

the world Perhaps here in its widest meaning; "heaven and earth," "the universe." In Christ, the Son of Abraham, to whom "all power is given in heaven and earth," the inheritance is seen to be universal. And even a Rabbinic phrase is quoted in which "heaven and earth" are named as promised to Abraham. (See too p. 260.) But looking at Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18, and at the frequent use of "the world" for "the world of man" (e. g. ch. Romans 1:8; Romans 3:19; Colossians 1:6; 1 Timothy 3:16;) and at the special doctrine of this passage (that of a righteousness for believers of every nation), it seems best to understand it here as = "every land." Abraham was to possess, in "his seed," every land; "all kindreds, peoples, and tongues." Comparing Galatians 3:16 and its connexion, it seems clear that the reference here is to the dominion of Christ, "the Prince of the kings of the earth," to whom "the utmost parts of the earth" are given "for His possession," a possession real now, and indeed manifested as real in the important respect that the redeeming power of Messiah is felt in every region, and in an ever-growing degree.