Romans 4 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
c. AD 55-57
Location
Rome
Audience
Mixed Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome
Situation
Paul writes his epistle from Corinth to the Roman church he had not yet visited, systematically explaining the gospel of justification by faith amid tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers over adherence to the Mosaic Law.
Key Background
Chapter 4 argues using Abraham—patriarch of the Jews—as proof that righteousness comes by faith apart from circumcision or law-keeping, since his faith was credited as righteousness before these (Gen 15:6 precedes Gen 17 and the Law by centuries). David is also cited (Ps 32) to affirm blessing for the ungodly forgiven by faith. This counters Judaizing influences insisting on Torah observance for Gentiles, affirming faith accessible to all.
So what do we say Abraham, our about all this?
Because if Abraham was with based on what he did, he'd have something to — but not when it comes to
Because what does the say? "Abraham and that trust was to as being with
Now when someone works, their isn't considered a — it's what they earned.
But for someone who doesn't rely on what they do, and instead the God who the to be with — their trust is credited to their account as being with God.
says the same thing when he talks about how is for the person God credits as right with him — apart from anything they've done:
"What joy for those whose are whose are
"What joy for the person whose failure will never them."
Now, does this is declaration apply only to the or to the uncircumcised too? We keep coming back to this: "Abraham's trust was credited to his account as being right with God."
So how was it When he was circumcised or before? It wasn't after — it was before he was circumcised!
He received circumcision as a — a confirming the right-standing he already had through trust while he was still uncircumcised. This made him the of everyone who trusts God without being circumcised, so that right-standing could be credited to them too.
And he's also the father of the circumcised — but not just because they're circumcised. He's the father of those who also in the same kind of trust our father Abraham had before he was ever circumcised.
The that Abraham and his descendants would the didn't come through the — it came through the right-standing that comes from trust.
Because if the people who rely on the law are the heirs, then and the is
Here's why: the law produces for it. But where there's no law, there's no to speak of.
That's why it depends on trust — so that it's based on This the promise to all of Abraham's descendants: not just to those who have the law, but also to those who share Abraham's kind of trust. He is the father of all of us,
just as it's written: "I've made you the father of He stood in the presence of the God he trusted — the God who to the and that
all Abraham in so that he became the father of many nations, just as he'd been told: "That's how many your descendants will be."
Without weakening in his trust, he faced the fact that his own body was as as — he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah's womb was also
He didn't in toward God's promise. Instead, his trust made him strong, and he
because he was that what God had promised, God had the to
And that's exactly why "it was to as being right with God."
Now the words "it was credited to him" weren't written just for Abraham's sake.
They were written for us too — for those of us who trust the one who from the It will be credited to us in the same way.
He was to death because of our and he was to so that we could be with