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.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world. To understand this in any local or territorial sense-of the land of Canaan, as a type of heaven (with Calvin) or of the millennial reign over the each (with Alford) - is surely away from the apostle's purpose. Nor does it seem to meet the case to view it (with Hodge) as just a general promise of blessedness. The allusion seems clearly to be to the promise, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." In this case Abraham is "the heir of the world" religiously rather than locally. By his Religion he may be said to rule the world. As the parent of that race from whom the world has received "the lively oracles," of whom it is said that "Salvation is of the Jews," and "of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever" - in this sublime sense is Abraham "the heir of the world." (So, substantially, Beza, Olshausen, Webster and Wilkinson, etc.) This promise, then, reasons the apostle here,
Was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law - was not given to them under the Mosaic covenant, or in virtue of their obedience to the law,
But through the righteousness of faith - in virtue simply of his faith in the divine promise.