What is the context?
Paul describes the promise to Abraham and his offspring in terms of inheriting the world. It came through the righteousness of faith, rather than through the law. Making inheritance depend on the law would empty faith and the promise of their force.
The law identifies transgression and brings wrath against it. Paul’s statement that there is no transgression where there is no law concerns the breaking of a command; it does not reverse his earlier account of human accountability without possession of the Law of Moses.
The promise therefore comes by faith so that it rests on grace and is assured to Abraham’s family of faith. Paul includes those associated with the law and those who share Abraham’s faith beyond that setting. The father of many nations belongs within this wider invitation.
The God Abraham believes gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist. This leads into the account of the promised child and, by the chapter’s ending, faith in the God who raised Jesus.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly understand Paul as grounding confidence in God’s gracious promise, rather than treating inheritance as wages earned through keeping the law. The promise opens a shared future for people who trust Him across the distinction between Jew and Gentile.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Galatians 3:15–18 makes a closely related point: the law that came later does not cancel the earlier promise. God’s faithfulness is not dependent on changing that promise into a different kind of arrangement.
The promise of many nations in Genesis 17:4–6 is part of the connection Paul draws. His point here concerns inheritance through faith and grace. It should not be made to settle every later question about the land, Israel and the church that these verses do not explain in detail.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.