Romans 4
J.B. Phillips New Testament
Let us go back and consider our father Abraham
4 1-3 Now how does all this affect the position of our ancestor Abraham? Well, if justification were by achievement he could quite fairly be proud of what he achieved—but not, I am sure, proud before God. For what does scripture say about him? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’.
4-8 Now if a man works his wages are not counted as a gift but as a fair reward. But if a man, irrespective of his work, has faith as righteousness, then that man’s faith is counted as righteousness, and that is the gift of God. This is the happy state of the man whom God accounts righteous, apart from his achievements, as David expresses it: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin’.
It is a matter of faith, not circumcision
9a Now the question, an important one, arises: is this happiness for the circumcised only, or for the uncircumcised as well?
9b-12 Note this carefully. We began by saying that Abraham’s faith was counted unto him for righteousness. When this happened, was he a circumcised man? He was not, he was still uncircumcised. It was afterwards that the sign of circumcision was given to him, as a seal upon that righteousness which God was accounting to him as yet an uncircumcised man! God’s purpose here is twofold. First, that Abraham might be the spiritual father of all who since that time, despite their circumcision, show the faith that is counted as righteousness. Then, secondly, that he might be the circumcised father of all those who are not only circumcised, but are living by the same sort of faith which he himself had before he was circumcised.
The promise, from the beginning, was made to faith
13-14 The ancient promise made to Abraham and his descendants, that they should eventually possess the world, was given not because of any achievements made through obedience to the Law, but because of the righteousness which had its root in faith. For if, after all, they who pin their faith to keeping the Law were to inherit God’s world, it would make nonsense of faith in God himself, and destroy the whole point of the promise.
15 For we have already noted that the Law can produce no promise, only the threat of wrath to come. And, indeed if there were no Law the question of sin would not arise.
16-17 The whole thing, then, is a matter of faith on man’s part and generosity on God’s. He gives the security of his own promise to all men who can be called “children of Abraham”, i.e. both those who have lived in faith by the Law, and those who have exhibited a faith like that of Abraham. To whichever group we belong, Abraham is in a real sense our father, as the scripture says: ‘I have made you a father of many nations’. This faith is valid because of the existence of God himself, who can make the dead live, and speak his Word to those who are yet unborn.
Abraham was a shining example of faith
18 Abraham, when hope was dead within him, went on hoping in faith, believing that he would become “the father of many nations”. He relied on the word of God which definitely referred to ‘your descendants’.
19-22 With undaunted faith he looked at the facts—his own impotence (he was practically a hundred years old at the time) and his wife Sarah’s apparent barrenness. Yet he refused to allow any distrust of a definite pronouncement of God to make him waver. He drew strength from his faith, and while giving the glory to God, remained absolutely convinced that God was able to implement his own promise. This was the “faith” which ‘was accounted to him for righteousness’.
23-25 Now this counting of faith for righteousness was not recorded simply for Abraham’s credit, but as a divine principle which should apply to us as well. Faith is to be reckoned as righteousness to us also, who believe in him who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered to death for our sins and raised again to secure our justification.
Romans 4
New English Translation
The Illustration of Justification
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh,[a] has discovered regarding this matter?[b] 2 For if Abraham was declared righteous[c] by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited[d] to him as righteousness.”[e] 4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation.[f] 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous,[g] his faith is credited as righteousness.
6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed[h] are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the one[i] against whom the Lord will never count[j] sin.”[k]
9 Is this blessedness[l] then for[m] the circumcision[n] or also for[o] the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”[p] 10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised,[q] so that he would become[r] the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised,[s] that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised,[t] 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.[u]
13 For the promise[v] 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. 14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.[w] 15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression[x] either. 16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace,[y] with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants—not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham,[z] who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”).[aa] He is our father[ab] in the presence of God whom he believed—the God who[ac] makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.[ad] 18 Against hope Abraham[ae] believed[af] in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations[ag] according to the pronouncement,[ah] “so will your descendants be.”[ai] 19 Without being weak in faith, he considered[aj] his own body as dead[ak] (because he was about 100 years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He[al] did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 21 He was[am] fully convinced that what God[an] promised he was also able to do. 22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham[ao] as righteousness.
23 But the statement it was credited to him[ap] was not written only for Abraham’s[aq] sake, 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. 25 He[ar] was given over[as] because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of[at] our justification.[au]
Footnotes
- Romans 4:1 tn Or “according to natural descent” (BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4).
- Romans 4:1 tn Grk “has found?”
- Romans 4:2 tn Or “was justified.”
- Romans 4:3 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.
- Romans 4:3 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
- Romans 4:4 tn Grk “not according to grace but according to obligation.”
- Romans 4:5 tn Or “who justifies the ungodly.”
- Romans 4:7 tn Or “Happy.”
- Romans 4:8 tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anēr), 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.”
- Romans 4:8 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.
- Romans 4:8 sn A quotation from Ps 32:1-2.
- Romans 4:9 tn Or “happiness.”
- Romans 4:9 tn Grk “upon.”
- Romans 4:9 sn See the note on “circumcision” in 2:25.
- Romans 4:9 tn Grk “upon.”
- Romans 4:9 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
- Romans 4:11 tn Grk “of the faith, the one [existing] in uncircumcision.”
- Romans 4:11 tn Grk “that he might be,” giving the purpose of v. 11a.
- Romans 4:11 tn Grk “through uncircumcision.”
- Romans 4:12 tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”
- Romans 4:12 tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”
- Romans 4:13 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 12:3).
- Romans 4:14 tn Grk “rendered inoperative.”
- Romans 4:15 tn Or “violation.”
- Romans 4:16 tn Grk “that it might be according to grace.”
- Romans 4:16 tn Grk “those who are of the faith of Abraham.”
- Romans 4:17 tn Verses 16-17 comprise one sentence in Greek, but this has been divided into two sentences due to English requirements.sn A quotation from Gen 17:5. The quotation forms a parenthesis in Paul’s argument.
- Romans 4:17 tn The words “He is our father” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to show that they resume Paul’s argument from 16b. (It is also possible to supply “Abraham had faith” here [so REB], taking the relative clause [“who is the father of us all”] as part of the parenthesis, and making the connection back to “the faith of Abraham,” but such an option is not as likely [C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:243].)
- Romans 4:17 tn “The God” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.
- Romans 4:17 tn Or “calls into existence the things that do not exist.” The translation of ὡς ὄντα (hōs onta) allows for two different interpretations. If it has the force of result, then creatio ex nihilo (“creation out of nothing,” a technical theological phrase) is in view and the variant rendering is to be accepted (so C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:244). A problem with this view is the scarcity of ὡς plus participle to indicate result (though for the telic idea with ὡς plus participle, cf. Rom 15:15; 1 Thess 2:4). If it has a comparative force, then the translation given in the text is to be accepted: “this interpretation fits the immediate context better than a reference to God’s creative power, for it explains the assurance with which God can speak of the ‘many nations’ that will be descended from Abraham” (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 282; so also W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans [ICC], 113). Further, this view is in line with a Pauline idiom, viz., verb followed by ὡς plus participle (of the same verb or, in certain contexts, its antonym) to compare present reality with what is not a present reality (cf. 1 Cor 4:7; 5:3; 7:29, 30 (three times), 31; Col 2:20 [similarly, 2 Cor 6:9, 10]).
- Romans 4:18 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 4:18 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.
- Romans 4:18 sn A quotation from Gen 17:5.
- Romans 4:18 tn Grk “according to that which had been spoken.”
- Romans 4:18 sn A quotation from Gen 15:5.
- Romans 4:19 tc Most mss (D F G Ψ 33 1881 M it) read “he did not consider” by including the negative particle (οὐ, ou), but others (א A B C 6 81 365 1506 1739 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.
- Romans 4:19 tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A C D Ψ 33 M bo) have ἤδη (ēdē, “already”) at this point in v. 19. But B F G 630 1739 1881 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 autographic. NA28 includes the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.
- Romans 4:20 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.
- Romans 4:21 tn Grk “and being.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
- Romans 4:21 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 4:22 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 4:23 tn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
- Romans 4:23 tn Grk “his”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 4:25 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.
- Romans 4:25 tn Or “handed over.” sn The verb translated given over (παραδίδωμι, paradidōmi) is also used in Rom 1:24, 26, 28 to describe God giving people over to sin. But it is also used frequently in the gospels to describe Jesus being handed over (or delivered up, betrayed) by sinful men for crucifixion (cf., e.g., Matt 26:21; 27:4; Mark 9:31; 10:33; 15:15; Luke 20:20; 22:24; 24:7). It is probable that Paul has both ideas in mind: Jesus was handed over by sinners, but even this betrayal was directed by the Father for our sake (because of our transgressions).
- Romans 4:25 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.
- Romans 4:25 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.
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