4. Romans 4:1-25

The apostle Paul finished in Rom. 3:31 with the conclusion that his message of justification by grace does not cancel the law, but that it confirms the law. The law also clarifies that even those who try to obey the law, are sinners.

Paul then uses Abraham as an example to get his point across. He call him our forefather according to the flesh, thus underlining his own Jewishness (Rom. 4:1). In a while Paul will make clear that his national background has no meaning for salvation.

Abraham was not justified by works of the law, but by his faith. Because he believed that God can make sinful people righteous, that faith was counted as righteousness to him. That is very different from working for your justification, because if you work for something you get paid in accordance with your performance (Rom. 4:2-5). Paul does not need to repeat again that no man is able to earn his justification with God. No one is meeting the standard of the law.

David, the king of Israel, also spoke about this matter. He called someone blessed if God attributes righteousness to that person. David speaks of offences being forgiven and guilt not being imputed by God (Rom. 4:6-8). This is not a matter of earning, or of work, but of grace of God.

Paul then asks: Is this blessing only for the circumcised, or is it said of the uncircumcised as well? Meaning: is it only for Jews or for all people?(Rom. 4:9) He then answers: Abraham was justified by faith when he was not circumcised, and he received circumcision as a confirmation of his faith. Paul explains that this is why Abraham could become a father of all those who believe in Christ from the nations and for the believers in Christ from Judaism (Rom. 4:11-12).

Paul has done something interesting and important here. He creates unity between Jewish and non-Jewish believers in the Church, by pointing to Abraham as the common forefather through faith. Abraham brings the believers together, not Moses and the law.

The promise to Abraham and his posterity that they would inherit the earth was not related to the law, but to righteousness by faith. Faith and the promises related to faith make people into heirs of the world. Paul then says in Rom. 4:14-15:

If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

This is tough language by Paul! He who thinks that the adhering to the laws of Israel makes one righteous is not an heir of the promises of God to Abraham. What does this mean for Jews who do not believe in Jesus Christ? I think Paul says such Jews are not awaiting the covenantal promises of Abraham.

The word salvation is not used in this chapter, but the term is related to forgiveness of sins, and sins being blotted out (Rom. 4:7-8). The same is true for the terms inherit the world and heirs, as used in Rom. 4:13-14.

The law brings wrath, says Paul, but where there is no law, there is no transgression (Rom 4:15). How does the law bring wrath? I think we have to see this in the light of what Paul said in the previous chapters. God gave Israel his laws and thereby taught them his standard. However, Israel was not able to live up to the standard, and broke all laws. By doing so, they justified God's wrath. With Abraham, such people shoud have said: I trust in God, in his mercy... But Israel endeavored to earn his blessings and that can never work out well.

For Abraham, who believed, the law played no role - it had not been given yet. He was declared righteous because he believed it is God who justifies people.

Justification is by faith, based on God's grace. This is why the covenant relationship of God is for all of Abraham's seed, not only for those who are from the law but also for those who have the same faith as Abraham (Rom. 4:16). This is a complicated verse!

Because of the previous sentence, that the promise is for all posterity of Abraham, the words not only to... but also must speak of all of Abraham's posterity. Paul has already clarified that the promises of God to Abraham only count for those who believe in Christ, and that whoever expects salvation from obedience to the law does not share in the promise. Therefore it seems obvious that when Paul speaks of those who are adherents of the law, he thinks of the Jewish Church members, who grew up with the law. The second part of the verse, about those who share the faith of Abraham, is then about the believers in Christ from the nations.

Abraham is the father of all believers in the Church in Rome, of people from Israel and the many people represented in the Church (Rom. 4:16b-17). Paul focuses on unity in the Church: we have the same father. He does not speak of nations in the Middle East who physically descended from Abraham when he calls him a father of many nations; that title for Abraham is about the multiple ethnicity inside the Church of Christ.

Abraham's faith in God as the One who is even able to give him a son, in spite of his old age and a body that was as good as dead, is briefly described in order to underline that Abraham's faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. In a similar manner God also justifies us, says Rom. 4:24-25:

It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

I think Paul purposefully describes Abraham's faith in God in apposition to his own 'dead body'. This makes it easier to compare with the belief of the Christians who trust in God who raised Jesus from the dead.

The Greek word for thus (houtoos) appears in Rom 4:18. It is translated: So shall your descendants be.

The Greek word for all (pas) only appears in Rom. 4:11 (all who believe).