Text -- Romans 4:1-14 (NET)

The Illustration of Justification

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter? 4:2 For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about– but not before God. 4:3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4:4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness. 4:6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 4:7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 4:8 blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count sin.” 4:9 Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” 4:10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. 4:13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 4:14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Rom 4:1

¹ tn Or “according to natural descent” (BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4).

² tn Grk “has found?”

NET Notes: Rom 4:2

¹ tn Or “was justified.”

NET Notes: Rom 4:3

¹ tn The term λογίζομαι (logizomai) occurs 11 times in this chapter (vv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24). In secular usage it could (a) refer to deliberations of some sort, or (b) in commercial dealings (as virtually a technical term) to “reckoning” or “charging up a debt.” See H. W. Heidland, TDNT 4:284, 290-92.

² sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

NET Notes: Rom 4:4

¹ tn Grk “not according to grace but according to obligation.”

NET Notes: Rom 4:5

¹ tn Or “who justifies the ungodly.”

NET Notes: Rom 4:7

¹ tn Or “Happy.”

NET Notes: Rom 4:8

¹ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

² tn The verb translated “count” here is λογίζομαι (logizomai). It occurs eight times in Rom 4:1-12, including here, each time with the sense of “place on someone’s account.” By itself the word is neutral, but in particular contexts it can take on a positive or negative connotation. The other occurrences of the verb have been translated using a form of the English verb “credit” because they refer to a positive event: the application of righteousness to the individual believer. The use here in v. 8 is negative: the application of sin. A form of the verb “credit” was not used here because of the positive connotations associated with that English word, but it is important to recognize that the same concept is used here as in the other occurrences.

³ sn A quotation from Ps 32:1-2.

NET Notes: Rom 4:9

¹ tn Or “happiness.”

² tn Grk “upon.”

³ sn See the note on “circumcision” in 2:25.

⁴ tn Grk “upon.”

⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

NET Notes: Rom 4:11

¹ tn Grk “of the faith, the one [existing] in uncircumcision.”

² tn Grk “that he might be,” giving the purpose of v. 11a.

³ tn Grk “through uncircumcision.”

NET Notes: Rom 4:12

¹ tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”

² tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”

NET Notes: Rom 4:13

¹ sn Although a singular noun, the promise is collective and does not refer only to Gen 12:7, but as D. Moo (Romans 1-8 [WEC], 279) points out, refers to multiple aspects of the promise to Abraham: multiplied descendants (Gen 12:2), possession of the land (Gen 13:15-17), and his becoming the vehicle of blessing to all people (Gen 12:13).

NET Notes: Rom 4:14

¹ tn Grk “rendered inoperative.”