Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 4:13

ἡ ἐπαγγελία is the Divine promise, which is identical with salvation in the widest sense. The word implies that the promise is held out by God of his own motion. The peculiar content here assigned to the promise, that Abraham should be heir of the world, is not found in so many words in the O.T. Schoettgen, on Romans 4:3, quotes Mechilta, fol. 25, 2. “Sic quoque de Abrahamo legimus, quod mundum hunc et mundum futurum non nisi ea de causa consecutus sit, quia in Deum credidit, q.d., Genesis 15:6. And Wetstein, Tanchuma, 165, 1: Abrahamo patri meo Deus possidendum dedit cælum et terram. These passages prove that the idea was not unfamiliar, and it may be regarded as an extension of the promises contained in Genesis 12:7; Genesis 17:8; Genesis 22:17. But what precisely did it mean? Possibly participation in the sovereignty of the Messiah. Abraham and his seed would then be heirs of the world in the sense of 1 Corinthians 6:2; 2 Timothy 2:12. So Meyer and many others. In the connection in which the words stand, however, this seems strained; and the “rationalising” interpretation, which makes the world Abraham's inheritance through the spread of Abraham's faith, and the multiplication of his spiritual children, is probably to be preferred. The religion which is conquering the world is descended from him, its power lies in that faith which he also had, and in proportion as it spreads he inherits the world. τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ : not Christ, as in Galatians 3:16, but Abraham's descendants in the widest sense. διὰ δικαιοσύνης πίστεως : it was not as one under law, but as one justified by faith, that Abraham had the promise given to him. In the narrative, indeed, the promise (Genesis 12:7) antedates the justification (Genesis 15:6), but it is repeated at later periods (see above): and as Romans 4:14 argues, promise, faith and justification are parts of one spiritual whole.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 4:13

Old Testament

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