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The promise is not by the Law:
v. 13. for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
v. 14. For if they which are of the Law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect,
v. 15. because the Law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression.
v. 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be 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.
The apostle had explained that Abraham was intended to be the spiritual father of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, circumcised or uncircumcised, because he had been justified by faith before he was under the rite of circumcision. For not through the Law did the promise reach, come to, Abraham or to his seed, his descendants, that he should be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. If God had attached the promise which He made to Abraham to the order establishing the Old Testament sacrament, then it would have been connected with the Law. But the promise made to Abraham that he should be the heir of the world (since the earthly Canaan was only a type of the perfect heritage, of the heavenly Canaan), was connected with his being justified, and therefore: since the promise is not by the Law, justification cannot be either. This is confirmed by the history of Abraham; for to him as believer, after he had been justified by faith, the possession of Canaan and therefore also of the world to come was assured. And like Abraham, all his seed, all his spiritual children, have the promise of the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, Heb_11:10. It is theirs through the righteousness of faith, through the acceptance, by faith, of the righteousness which is valid before God. He that is justified before God by faith thereby becomes an heir of the world of God, the world of glory, the home of everlasting righteousness, which God has prepared for the children of men.
On the other hand, Paul argues, if those of the Law be heirs, faith is emptied of all power, is made void and of none effect with respect to its object, and the promise is abolished. Faith was the original condition, that under which God gave the promise. If, therefore, a new condition be substituted, according to which the people that have the nature of the Law in themselves, that hope to be saved by the works of the Law, are made heirs, then faith, of course, is rendered useless, it is made empty and vain, it has nothing to hold to, and the promise is done away with: the entire plan and order of salvation is subverted. And this, in turn, follows from the fact that the Law worketh wrath: for where there is no Law, there is also no transgression. If the promise depended upon the Law, upon the fulfillment of the Law, then, since all men are transgressors of the Law, the wrath of God is brought upon them, and the promise of salvation will fall as a matter of consequence. The Law, from its very nature, demands perfect obedience and condemns all that are not perfect; therefore, by its very nature, it is unsuited to give life to sinners. If thus God had given the promise of salvation with the condition of keeping the Law, promising the inheritance of His eternal blessings to them that are of the Law, the promise of God would by that mere fact be rendered of none effect. It thus follows once more that the promise is attached to faith. For that reason it is of faith, that it might be according to grace. Because of this fact, that the promise of God would be useless from the start, it is attached to faith; the blessed inheritance of the happiness of heaven is of faith, in order to be in accordance with grace. Faith and grace are correlates: as a man is justified by grace; through faith, so he also is saved by grace, through faith. And to this end has God given the promise of the inheritance of the world to come out of free grace, without the slightest consideration of, and reference to, the works of men, in order that the promise of salvation might be sure and certain, being dependent, not upon any work or condition of man, but entirely and alone on the grace of God apprehended by faith. And Paul emphasizes the universality of the grace and promise by saying that it is to all the seed, to all the descendants of Abraham, not only to those that have the way and form of the Law, that is, the believing Jews, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, the spiritual children of Abraham among the heathen, who had nothing in common with Abraham except his faith. The promise is to all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles; for Abraham is the spiritual father of them all, and their faith makes them partakers of the inheritance promised to Abraham, Gen_17:5, Note: All Christians are Israelites in truth, children of Abraham indeed, by the faith which they hold in common with him, which unites them in a closer relationship with the ancient patriarch than mere blood and family ties ever could.