Romans 4:18-25

4:18 Against hope Abraham ¹  believed ²  in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations ³  according to the pronouncement, ⁴  “so will your descendants be.” ⁵  4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered ⁶  his own body as dead ⁷  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 4:20 He ⁸  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 4:21 He was ⁹  fully convinced that what God ¹⁰  promised he was also able to do. 4:22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham ¹¹  as righteousness.

4:23 But the statement it was credited to him ¹²  was not written only for Abraham’s ¹³  sake, 4:24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 4:25 He ¹⁴  was given over ¹⁵  because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of ¹⁶  our justification. ¹⁷ 

[4:18]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:18]  ² tn Grk “who against hope believed,” referring to Abraham. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:18]  ³ sn A quotation from Gen 17:5.

[4:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “according to that which had been spoken.”

[4:18]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 15:5.

[4:19]  ⁶ tc Most mss (D F G Ψ 33 1881 Ï it) read “he did not consider” by including the negative particle (οὐ, ou), but others (א A B C 6 81 365 1506 1739 pc co) lack οὐ. The reading which includes the negative particle probably represents a scribal attempt to exalt the faith of Abraham by making it appear that his faith was so strong that he did not even consider the physical facts. But “here Paul does not wish to imply that faith means closing one’s eyes to reality, but that Abraham was so strong in faith as to be undaunted by every consideration” (TCGNT 451). Both on external and internal grounds, the reading without the negative particle is preferred.

[4:19]  ⁷ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A C D Ψ 33 Ï bo) have ἤδη (hdh, “already”) at this point in v. 19. But B F G 630 1739 1881 pc lat sa lack it. Since it appears to heighten the style of the narrative and since there is no easy accounting for an accidental omission, it is best to regard the shorter text as original. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[4:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here.

[4:21]  ⁹ tn Grk “and being.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:21]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:23]  ¹² tn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

[4:23]  ¹³ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “who,” referring to Jesus. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:25]  ¹⁵ tn Or “handed over.”

[4:25]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “because of.” However, in light of the unsatisfactory sense that a causal nuance would here suggest, it has been argued that the second διά (dia) is prospective rather than retrospective (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 288-89). The difficulty of this interpretation is the structural balance that both διά phrases provide (“given over because of our transgressions…raised because of our justification”). However the poetic structure of this verse strengthens the likelihood that the clauses each have a different force.

[4:25]  ¹⁷ sn Many scholars regard Rom 4:25 to be poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage.