Romans 4:1–25: Abraham Believed God (two sessions)
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness
See from Abraham and David that God credits righteousness apart from works, to the one who “believes in Him who justifies the ungodly” (4:5), and that Abraham was credited before he was circumcised, so that he is the father of all who believe, circumcised and uncircumcised.
Outline
- Abraham believed God; wages and giftRom 4:1–5
- David: blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against himRom 4:6–8
- Credited before circumcision; the sign and seal; the father of all who believeRom 4:9–12
observation · 4
In 4:4–5, how does Paul contrast a worker's wages with a gift? Whom does God justify, according to 4:5? What is credited to the one who believes?
Read 4:9–12 with Gen 16:16 and 17:1, 11, 24. When was righteousness credited to Abraham: before or after his circumcision? What did he receive circumcision as? Whose father does that make him?
Says “In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before” (4:10). “And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (4:11). He is “the father of all who believe but are not circumcised” (4:11) and “also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised” (4:12).
Says In Genesis the crediting (15:6) comes before the circumcision (17:24). Gen 17:11 calls circumcision a sign of the covenant, לְאוֹת בְּרִית (le'ot berit, “for a sign of the covenant,” literal). σημεῖον (sēmeion, “sign”) matches Swete's LXX; σφραγίς (sphragis, “seal”) is Paul's word, absent from Gen 17.
Implies The order of Genesis settles the question: Gen 15:6 comes before Ishmael's birth, when Abraham was eighty-six (Gen 16:16), and the circumcision when he was ninety-nine (17:1, 24). Text notes: NA28, RP, and TR add καί (kai) before αὐτοῖς (autois) in 4:11, and the order of the last words of 4:12 varies without change of sense.
interpretation · 5
How should 4:1 be read: “Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh,” or “what Abraham found by the flesh” (literal), or “Have we found Abraham to be our forefather according to the flesh?” (literal) Why might Jewish readers have praised Abraham for his works (compare 1 Macc 2:52, non-canonical)?
What does it mean that God “credits” righteousness (4:3–6)? Is faith itself the righteousness, or the way it is received? Read 3:24–26, 5:18–19, 2 Cor 5:21 and Phil 3:9 with 4:4–5.
In 4:4–5, is Paul excluding only the works that marked Israel off (circumcision, food laws, Sabbath), or working of any kind? What does the wage picture suggest?
What does it mean that circumcision was a “seal” of a righteousness Abraham already had (4:11)? Christians have used this verse in debates about baptism. What do the two sides say?
application · 3
God “justifies the ungodly” (4:5). Where are you tempted to think God accepts you because of your record? What would it mean this week to rest on God's crediting instead of your own performance?
David calls “blessed” the one whose sin the Lord will never count against him (4:8). How does knowing your sin will not be counted against you change the way you face guilt and confession?
Abraham is “the father of all who believe,” circumcised and uncircumcised (4:11–12). How should that shape the way you welcome believers whose background differs from yours?
Quotations from LXX (Swete) are used under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credits