Romans 4:1-12
1. ROMANS 4:1-12. Abraham was justified _by faith_, Romans 4:1-8, and by faith _alone_, Romans 4:9-12.... [ Continue Reading ]
1. ROMANS 4:1-12. Abraham was justified _by faith_, Romans 4:1-8, and by faith _alone_, Romans 4:9-12.... [ Continue Reading ]
TENTH PASSAGE (4:1-25). FAITH THE PRINCIPLE OF ABRAHAM'S JUSTIFICATION. Abraham being for the Jews the embodiment of salvation, his case was of capital moment in the solution of the question here treated. This was a conviction which Paul shared with his adversaries. Was the patriarch justified, by... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _What shall we say then that Abraham our first father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not in relation to God._ ” The question with which this exposition opens is connected with the preceding by _then_, because the negative an... [ Continue Reading ]
Some commentators take this verse as the logical proof (_for_) of the negative answer which must be understood between Romans 4:1-2: “ _Nothing; for_, if he had been justified by his works, he would have whereof to glory, which is inadmissible.” But why would it be inadmissible? This is exactly the... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For what saith the Scripture? Now Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh his reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousn... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _As David also exactly celebrateth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin._ ” It need not be supposed that David here plays... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Is this beatification then for the circumcision, or for the uncircumcision also? for we say:Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in a state of circumcision, or of uncircumcision? Not in a state of circumcision, but of uncircumcision._ ” The _then... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And he received the sign of circumcision_, _as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be at once the father of all them that believe while in a state of uncircumcision, in order that righteousness may be imputed unto them also; and the father... [ Continue Reading ]
There can be no doubt that this verse refers to believers of Jewish origin, who formed the other half of Abraham's spiritual family. But it presents a great grammatical difficulty. The Greek expression is such that it seems as if Paul meant to speak in this same verse of _two_ different _classes_ of... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not made to Abraham, or to his seed, by the law, but by the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise annulled._ ” The _for_ bears on the understood objection which we have... [ Continue Reading ]
If, in order to be _heir of the world_, it is absolutely necessary to come _under the jurisdiction of the law_, and consequently to be its faithful observer otherwise what purpose would it serve? it is all over at a stroke both with _faith_ and with the _promise:_ with faith, that is to say, with th... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For the law worketh wrath: and, indeed_, _where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the fath... [ Continue Reading ]
If, then, the promise of the inheritance was serious, there was only one way to its fulfilment that the inheritance should be given by the way of faith and not of law. This consequence is expounded in Romans 4:16, which develops the last words of Romans 4:13: _by the righteousness of faith_, as Roma... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _According as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before God whom he believed, as him, that quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were._ ” This verse is directly connected with the end of Romans 4:12; for the last words of Romans 4:16: _who... [ Continue Reading ]
3. ROMANS 4:17-21. The birth of Isaac was the work of faith; the apostle proves it by the Scripture narrative, the memory of which was present to the mind of all his readers, and which was intended to be recalled to them by the declaration of Romans 4:3 relative to Abraham's justification.... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Who against hope believed in hope, in order to become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be._ ” The word _hope_ is used here in two different senses, the one subjective: hope as a feeling (in the phrase: _in hope_), the other objective: hope to denot... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And being not weak in faith, he considered his own body now dead he was about an hundred years old and the old age of Sarah's body; but having regard to the promise, he doubted not through unbelief; but grew in strength by faith, giving glory to God._ ” Abraham is represented in this passage as... [ Continue Reading ]
The δέ, _but_, denotes the contrast to the possible and natural result of this consideration. Strictly speaking, the antithesis would have been the ἐνεδυναυώθη, _he strengthened himself;_ but the apostle feels the need of reminding us first, in a negative form, of what might have been so easily prod... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Being fully convinced that, what He has promised, he is able also to perform. Wherefore also righteousness was imputed to him._ ” Πληροφορεῖν, _to fill a vessel to the brim;_ this word used in the passive applies to a man filled with a conviction which leaves no place in his heart for the least d... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 22 sums up the whole development relating to Abraham's faith, Romans 4:1-21, to clear the way for the final application which Paul had in view. Διό, _wherefore_, refers to what has just been said of the confidence with which Abraham laid hold of God's promise, Romans 4:21. God ascribed to that c... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now it was not written for him only, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, when we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead._ ” The apostle extracts the permanent principle contained in Abraham's case to apply it to us. The δέ, _now_, marks t... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Who was delivered on account of our offences, and was raised again on account of our justification._ ” In the title _our Lord_ there was involved the idea of a very intimate relation between Jesus and us. This mysterious and gracious solidarity is summed up in two symmetrical clauses, which in a... [ Continue Reading ]