Romans 4 Study Notes
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4:1-25 Abraham was the father of the Hebrew nation (Gn 12:1-3). Jews commonly believed that Abraham kept the whole law before it was given on Mount Sinai (Gn 26:5), so he had something to brag about. Paul refutes this, showing that Abraham was justified by faith and had no grounds to boast.
4:3 Tradition must give way to the clear statements of the Scripture. Genesis 15:6 is the text that Paul cited.
4:4-5 Pay and gift are as different as works and faith. Paul describes God as having a set of books of the kind an accountant has. God imputed or credited righteousness to Abraham’s account because of his faith. To the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous is a shocking expression. The Reformation focused on this passage. God saves the ungodly, sinners, and his enemies (5:5,8,10). Though Jews took Abraham to be a paragon of virtue, Paul declared that he was just a sinner saved by grace. He was justified by faith, just as any Christian is.
4:6-8 David, Israel’s greatest king, sang about the blessing that God gave him in the forgiveness of his deliberate sins—no works-righteousness here. David understood that, in God’s accounting ledger, his sins were wiped out and righteousness was inscribed in their place. Paul’s quotation of Ps 32:1-2 clarifies and explains Gn 15:6. Paul similarly links justification and the forgiveness of sin in his synagogue sermon recorded in Ac 13:38-39.
logizomai
| Greek pronunciation | [lah GEE zah migh] |
| CSB translation | credit, charge |
| Uses in Romans | 19 |
| Uses in the NT | 40 |
| Focus passage | Romans 4:3-11 |
The Greek verb logizomai means to charge or to credit to an account, and thus it was a mathematical term in general and an accounting term in particular. It also had other meanings, such as to keep a record or list, to think, to consider. In the NT, logizomai means to credit to one’s account only once outside of Paul’s writings (Jms 2:23). The other five non-Pauline occurrences of the term mean to count (Lk 22:37), to consider (Jn 11:50; Heb 11:19; 1Pt 5:12), or to regard (Ac 19:27). However, the most significant use of logizomai is related to salvation. Paul often used the term to explain how a person can be in a right relationship with God. Paul’s imagery is that a lost person owes God an infinite debt that he or she has no ability to pay because of sin. However, Christ’s death on the sinner’s behalf is the basis of the debt being canceled (aphiÄ“mi) with Christ’s righteousness being credited to the believer’s account (Rm 2:26; 4:3-6,10-11,22-24; 2Co 5:19; Gl 3:6).
4:9-10 It might seem that God’s blessing was only for the circumcised since David’s psalm (Ps 32) was written by a Jew for the Jewish people. Paul returned to his key text in Gn 15:6 and showed that the crediting of righteousness to Abraham took place when he was uncircumcised, so God’s blessing is also for Gentiles who believe.
4:11 Circumcision was a sign and a seal. It marked out a man as part of the nation of Israel. It was also to be a seal of the righteousness a man had received by faith. The timing of Abraham’s circumcision enabled him to be the spiritual father and model for justification by faith to both circumcised Jews and uncircumcised Gentiles.
4:12 Abraham was the physical father of the Hebrew nation, but his greatest legacy was his example of faith. Jews and Gentiles alike can follow in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith.
4:13 The law demanded obedience and performance. If the law was violated, wrath resulted. The law was not a system of grace. God’s promise was one of grace. The promise to Abraham and his seed (Gl 3:16-18) was not through the law but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
4:14-15 If the inheritance of the promise came by legal obedience, then the way of faith is empty. Furthermore, no one would inherit the promise since no one could keep the law.
4:16-17 God’s promise is by faith so that it may be guaranteed to both Jews and Gentiles who believe. If it were by law, no such guarantee would be possible. To make it certain, therefore, the promise was according to grace. Abraham was also promised to be the father of many nations. Abraham believed in the God who created everything from nothing and gives life to the dead.
4:18 It seemed humanly impossible for Abraham to become the father of many nations when he was old, but he placed his hope in God’s promise.
4:19-20 Abraham had a realistic evaluation of his prospects for fatherhood. He was about a hundred years old, and Sarah was childless and long past child-bearing years. Yet Abraham did not doubt God’s promise, and God strengthened his faith.
4:21-22 “It is Abraham’s conviction that God is fully able to do whatever he promised that enabled his faith to overcome the obstacle of the tangible and visible ‘facts’” (Douglas J. Moo). And this is the kind of faith that receives righteousness.
4:23-24 Everything in Scripture is for our benefit. The experiences of Abraham are as relevant to us as they were to him, for we serve the same Creator God who can do the humanly impossible. We are credited as righteous before God in the same manner as Abraham: by faith.
4:25 Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses as promised in Is 52:13-53:12. Who delivered up Jesus? Was it Judas? Pilate? The Jewish Sanhedrin? Satan? Certainly all these were causal agents in the crucifixion of Christ, but ultimately it was the sovereign God who brought it to pass in order to fulfill his plan of redemption (Ac 4:27-28). The Father delivered up Jesus for our trespasses, and raised him so that his righteous servant would justify many people (Is 53:11).