<p>4:13&nbsp;<i>For the promise to Abraham and his seed</i>- The Greek really means an announcement. It&rsquo;s not a vague possibility, the &lsquo;promises&rsquo; to Abraham were an announcement that he would inherit the Kingdom. The promise Paul refers to was given to Abraham because of,&nbsp;<i>dia</i>, on account of, his being declared right with God by faith in Gen. 15:6. Perhaps Paul specifically has in mind the promise of Gen. 22:17,18. Having been declared right with God, Abraham was then promised that he personally would be heir of the world- the implications of being right with God, counted righteous, were thereby fleshed out and given some more tangible, material, concrete form. He would therefore live for ever, because he was right with God; and the arena of that eternity would be &ldquo;the world&rdquo;.</p><p><i>T</i><i>hat he should be heir of the world, did not come through the law- but through the righteousness of faith</i>- Abraham was only explicitly promised the land of Canaan, not the entire planet. Perhaps Paul is interpreting the promises that his seed would comprise &ldquo;many nations&rdquo; and that he would bring blessing on &ldquo;all the peoples of the earth&rdquo; (Gen. 12:2,3 etc.). In this sense, they would become his, and he would thereby inherit them. Thus Is. 55:3-5 likewise implies that Abraham&rsquo;s promised inheritance was therefore not only the land of Canaan but by implication, the whole planet.</p><p>God promised Abraham a very specific inheritance in Canaan. And yet this promise seems to be interpreted in later Scripture as referring to the&nbsp;<i>world-wide</i>&nbsp;Kingdom which will be established at the second coming (e.g. Rom. 4:13 speaks of how Abraham was promised that he would inherit the world; Ps. 72 and other familiar prophecies speak of a world-wide Messianic Kingdom, based on the promises to Abraham). One possible explanation is found in Psalm 2, where the Father seems to encourage the Son to ask of Him &quot;the&nbsp;<i>heathen</i>&nbsp;i.e., not just the Jews for thine inheritance, and the&nbsp;<i>uttermost parts of the earth</i>&nbsp;not just the land of promise for thy possession&quot; (Ps. 2:8). Could it be that due to the Lord's spiritual ambition, the inheritance was extended from the Jewish people to&nbsp;<i>all</i>&nbsp;nations, and from literal Canaan to all the earth? This is not to say, of course, that&nbsp;<i>fundamentally</i>&nbsp;the promises to Abraham have been changed. No. The promise of eternal inheritance of Canaan still stands as the basis of the Gospel of the Kingdom (Gal. 3:8), but that promise has been considerably extended, thanks to the Lord's spiritual ambition.&nbsp;<br />Abraham believed God in Gen. 15, but the works of Gen. 22 offering Isaac made that faith &ldquo;perfect&rdquo;. Through his correct response to the early promises given him, Abraham was imputed &ldquo;the righteousness of faith&rdquo;. But&nbsp;<i>on account of</i>&nbsp;that faith inspired by the earlier promises, he was given &ldquo;the promises that he should be heir of the world&rdquo; (Rom. 4:13). That promise in turn inspired yet more faith. In this same context, Paul had spoken of how the Gospel preached to Abraham in the promises leads men &ldquo;from faith to faith&rdquo;, up the upward spiral (Rom. 1:17).<br />Through his correct response to the early promises given him, Abraham was imputed &ldquo;the righteousness of faith&rdquo;. But&nbsp;<i>on account of</i>&nbsp;that faith inspired by the earlier promises, he was given &ldquo;the promise that he should be heir of the world&rdquo; (Rom. 4:13). That promise in turn inspired yet more faith. In this same context, Paul had spoken of how the Gospel preached to Abraham in the promises leads men &ldquo;from faith to faith&rdquo;, up the upward spiral (Rom. 1:17).</p>