ROMANS 4

Chapters 3 and 4 of Romans deal with the past and present status of the Jewish people before God. Each starts out with a key question: What advantage has the Jew? and What shall we say about Abraham? The references to circumcision at the beginning and end of Chapter 3 delineate its bounds, and Chapter 4 is bounded by quotation of Genesis 15:6 in its beginning (v. 3) and concluding (v. 22) verses.

Romans 4 is a reworking of Paul's argument in the Letter to the Galatians (mainly chapter 3). Galatians' concern is mainly with the Gentile mission frontier. Romans was written later and takes into account the existence of a number of Jewish Christians in the Church.

Abraham appears also in Hebrews as an example of a man of faith. But in James he is said to be a man approved by God due to his works – an apparent contradiction. There are several ways to resolve this conflict, but I will give you my way, which deals with the meaning of the words – the study of semantics. Let's consult the linguistics expert Humpty Dumpty in Alice Through the Looking Glass:

“There's glory for you!” said Humpty Dumpty. “I don't know what you mean by 'glory,'” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don't – till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'” “But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,'” Alice objected. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”

So if we let Paul and James define their own words by looking at the respective contexts in which these words appear, we can we that there is really no contradiction at all.`

“Faith”

James – mere intellectual assent to a fact (2:19) without any change in behavior (2:17).

Paul (Galatians) – faith in Christ, which justifies us (2:16), enables us to live (2:20), and demonstrates

 itself in love (5:6).

“Works”

James – showing compassion to the needy (2:14-17); totally trusting in God for salvation (2:21, 25)

Paul (Galatians) – of the law (2:16) that men try to rely on for salvation (5:4)

“Law”

James – a general principle of liberty (1:25) and love (2:8)

Paul (Galatians) – Old Testament commandments (3:10) and ceremonial customs (4:10)

Before going through this chapter verse by verse, let's look at how Chapter 4 is arranged:

    A. Abraham's righteousness was by faith alone (Romans 4:1-8)

        B. Abraham's righteousness was independent of circumcision (Romans 4:9-12)

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        B'. Abraham's righteousness was independent of the Mosaic Law (Romans 4:13-21)

    A'. Believers' righteousness is by faith alone (Romans 4:22-25)

First, to confirm that our present chapter divisions here happen to be accurate (and we can't always trust them since they were only first divided in the Middle Ages), Chapter 4 contains exactly seven occurrences each of the words “Abraham” and “father” as well as seven direct quotations from the Old Testament. And to confirm that Romans 4 itself has the basic literary structure shown above, one can point to the fact that (a) the Greek word for “believe/faith” appears seven times in the first half of the chapter and 10 times in the second half, (b) “(un)circumcize” appears 10 times, all in the first half, and (c) “reckon” is used 10 times in the chapter with seven of the occurrences being in the first half.

Romans 4:1-8: Rabbi Hillel's Rule 4 for Bible interpretation was called “building a father from two passages.” This meant that a general principle could be established by considering two scriptures containing the same key word. In this case, Paul uses the key word “count / consider” in Genesis 15:6 and Psalm 32:1-2. Paul cites someone who is uncircumcised and someone who is circumcised to show that in both cases, justification is unrelated to works.

Those examples show that just as in Abraham good works are not reckoned toward justification, from David's life and poetry we see that neither do sins necessarily bar one from ever being justified.

Verse 3. Three interpretations of this verse have been offered:

1. Righteousness was reckoned to Abraham's account on the basis of his faith.

2. Abraham's faith was accepted as a substitute for law-righteousness.

3. Abraham's faith was the equivalent of righteousness.

Whichever the interpretation, “reckoned” implies grace, not wages earned.

Verses 4-5. However, this does not rule out good works done in response to God's love, only works done with the expectation of reward.

Verse 5. These words would have been shocking to a Jewish audience since they portray God doing the opposite of what he had taught human judges to do. See Deuteronomy 25:1-2. We all deserve punishment under God's justice, but instead we will receive God's mercy.

Verses 6-8. Righteousness comes about when God no longer counts man's sins against him. Paul in Romans implies that this actually happened in OT times. There is a controversial idea I just read from an OT scholar. I had always been taught in church that in OT times, the sins of people were never atoned for on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), only temporarily covered over and put off from year to year. But that teaching may not be strictly correct. The possible confusion may be due to the fact that there are actually two completely different Hebrew words spelled identically (One example in English would be “lead.”). Kipper I means “cover” while kipper II means “atone/expiate.” They are two different words.

Romans 4:9-12 Abraham, in essence, obtained righteousness as a Gentile, not a Jew. For a Jew, the proper order was circumcision, justification, faith. Paul shows that the pattern should be reversed according to the example of Abraham. Some Christian theologians see a parallel between circumcision and baptism, and so we get the same controversy today with the same argument; those who practice infant baptism feel that baptism precedes faith, according to the Jewish pattern. Others would side with Paul and place faith before baptism. We must be careful about drawing parallels between circumcision and baptism since the Bible never does. Now there is one passage (Colossians 2:11-12) which h been used by those practicing infant baptism to show that it is a direct parallel to the Jewish practice of circumcision.

I have consulted 17 commentaries on the Colossians passage, written by Christians coming from a wide variety of doctrinal traditions. All of these scholars were in agreement that Paul did not intend any such equation, although many were in disagreement as to why that is so. G. R. Beasley-Murray (Baptism in the New Testament, pp. 152-160) in his discussion on Colossians 2:11-12 specifically addresses the question of infant baptism in the most detail. The first real identification of baptism with circumcision in church history came from the writings of the Church Father Justin Martyr. However, his definition of circumcision referred to the Gentiles being cut off from their old ways due to the teachings of Paul. (Dictionary of the Later New Testament, p. 228).

Romans 4:13-21

Verse 13. The promise was given to Abraham about 400 years before the law was given on Mt. Sinai. Read Genesis 17:8. The promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham's descendants has become in Paul's teaching the promise of the whole world to believers. This probably refers to the New Earth, not the present one (similar to Jesus' “the meek shall inherit the earth”).

There seems to be a possible contradiction with Paul's reasoning in Galatians 3:16, where he insists that “offspring” in Genesis 15:5 is singular, referring to Christ. In fact, a collective noun is used in Genesis which can be interpreted as either singular or plural. Both meanings are probably in mind.

Verse 15. The purpose of the law was mainly negative, to point out man's sinfulness, not to save him.

Verses 16-17. See Genesis 17:5. There is a pun based on the similarity of Abraham's name to 'ab hamon goyim, or “father of a crowd of nations.” Paul quotes from the Septuagint, which uses the Greek word ethne for “nations.” This is also the word for Gentiles.

Verse 17b. The final clauses of this verse “are less than perfectly transparent.” – J. Louis Martyn.

They may refer to (1) the creation of the earth, (2) creation of many nations from Abraham's seed, (3) Abraham's belief that Isaac would be resurrected after being sacrificed, (4) the resurrection of Christ, (5) the creation of a new people, the body of Christ, (6) the bodily resurrection of believers, (7) God's control over all things – real and possible, or (8) God's control over all future events.

Verses 18-21. One commentator has said, “Just as we are dead before God and have nothing to hope for, so Abraham's and Sarah's procreative power was dead. But trust in God created and creates new life.”

Romans 4:22-25 Paul now begins to introduce the main theme of Romans, which will be expounded upon in the next chapter: the believer's righteousness.

Verse 25. “Put to death” actually reads “delivered over” (“to death” is implied.). Who delivered up Jesus? Was it Judas? Romans 8:32 explains that it was actually God who delivered him up.

Dia occurs twice here with several possible interpretations:

1. Both occurrences may be final (in order to deal with, in order to achieve). This interpretation says that Christ's resurrection was the means of our justification. However, John Stott and others point out that complete victory over sin and death was obtained on the cross. The resurrection did not achieve this.

2. The first is causal (because of) and second is final (in order to achieve). But nowhere else in the NT is this importance or meaning given to the resurrection alone.

3. Both are causal (because of, in view of), meaning that we were already justified before the resurrection. The resurrection, however, proves that Christ's sacrifice was accepted so that we could be justified.

Several commentators solve the problem by treating the crucifixion and resurrection as one event described in parallel lines of text.

Paul at the end of this chapter is picking up on two promises mentioned earlier in the chapter: (a) forgiveness of sins (to David) and (2) continued posterity to Abraham (equivalent to resurrection from the dead). These are the two enemies conquered on the cross, sin and death.