Romans 4

Paul uses Abraham to prove that God puts people right with Himself by faith, not by works or religious rites. Abraham was counted righteous before he was circumcised and before the law, so he is father to all who believe, Jew or Gentile. His faith in the God who raises the dead points forward to our faith in the risen Jesus.

Romans 4:1

Paul turns to the great test case. Abraham was the Jews’ honored forefather, so if anyone earned God’s favor, he did. What did Abraham actually find out about being right with God? The answer will surprise those who trust in their own record.

BSA: discovered (“found, met with, or experienced”): Abraham did not earn a standing; he came upon one that God gave him.

Romans 4:2

If Abraham had been put right with God by his good deeds, he could take credit for it. But before God nobody can boast. Even the best of human achievements gives no ground for pride in God’s presence.

BSA: justified (“made righteous, declared innocent”): The word is about God’s verdict of acquittal, not about a person’s own achievement.

Romans 4:3

Paul answers from Scripture, not opinion. Abraham trusted God’s word, and God counted that trust as righteousness. Righteousness came to him as something put to his account, not something he produced.

BSA: credited (“counted, reckoned”): It is a bookkeeping word: God entered righteousness on Abraham’s account because he trusted.

Greek: ἐλογίσθη (elogisthē, G3049) — “was counted, reckoned.” It is an accounting term, used for entering a sum in a ledger. Paul uses it again and again in this chapter to show righteousness is entered to our account by God.

See also: Genesis 15:6.

Romans 4:4

A worker who is paid wages is not receiving a favor. The employer simply owes him. If righteousness came by work, God would be in debt to us. That picture is the opposite of the gospel.

BSA: gift (“unmerited favor, grace”): A true gift cannot be earned; it comes from the giver’s kindness.

Romans 4:5

Here is the wonder. God justifies the wicked. The person who stops relying on his own work and trusts God finds his faith counted as righteousness. Faith does not earn anything; it simply receives what God gives.

BSA: wicked (“ungodly, irreverent”): God’s justifying reaches people who have no godliness to offer Him.

See also: Ephesians 2:8-9.

Romans 4:6-8

David, a king who knew his own great failures, describes the same blessing. The happy person is not the one who has a flawless record but the one whose sins God forgives, covers, and refuses to hold against him.

BSA: covered (“concealed, forgiven”): God’s mercy hides the sin from His sight so it no longer stands against the sinner. count (“reckon, impute”): God will not enter the sin as a charge against the forgiven person.

See also: Psalm 32:1-2.

Romans 4:9

Is this blessing only for Jews, the circumcised, or for Gentiles too? Paul takes us back to Abraham, whose faith was counted as righteousness. The question is when that happened.

BSA: uncircumcised (“those who have not been circumcised, non-Jews”): Paul is asking whether Gentiles can share the blessing without joining Israel by this rite.

Romans 4:10

Paul asks about the timeline, and the answer is plain from Genesis. Abraham was counted righteous in Genesis 15, years before circumcision was given in Genesis 17. So the rite could not be the cause of his standing.

See also: Genesis 15:6; Genesis 17:10-11.

Romans 4:11

Circumcision was a sign and seal, confirming a righteousness Abraham already had by faith. A seal is like a stamp on a document that is already valid. So Abraham is the spiritual father of believing Gentiles too.

BSA: seal (“a mark of confirmation, a guarantee”): The rite did not create his righteousness; it stamped it as genuine and secure.

Greek: σφραγῖδα (sphragida, G4973) — “seal, stamp.” A seal marked ownership and guaranteed that something was authentic. Circumcision certified a righteousness already given, not one it produced.

Romans 4:12

Abraham is also father of Jewish believers, but only those who do more than carry the mark. They must follow his example of trust. The sign alone is not enough; the faith it points to is what counts.

BSA: footsteps (“tracks, path”): Believers follow a path Abraham walked first, the path of trusting God.

Romans 4:13

God promised Abraham and his family that they would inherit the world. That promise did not hang on keeping the law, which came centuries later. It came through the righteousness that faith receives.

BSA: heir (“receiver of the inheritance”): An heir receives by gift and family relationship, not by wages.

See also: Genesis 12:2-3; Galatians 3:17-18.

Romans 4:14-15

If the inheritance went to those who earn it by the law, faith would be pointless and the promise empty. The law cannot secure the promise, because it shows our failures and brings God’s judgment. Where there is no law, there is no law to break.

BSA: wrath (“God’s strong anger, divine displeasure”): The law exposes sin and so exposes people to God’s just anger instead of delivering the promise.

See also: Romans 3:20.

Romans 4:16

The promise rests on faith so that it can rest on grace. Then it is guaranteed to every one of Abraham’s family, whether Jewish or Gentile. If it depended on our performance, it would never be certain.

BSA: guaranteed (“made certain, sure”): Because the promise depends on God’s grace and not our effort, it cannot fail. grace (“unmerited favor, divine influence”): God gives out of kindness, not because anyone has earned it.

Romans 4:17

God had told Abraham he would be father of many nations, long before he had even one child through Sarah. Abraham trusted the God who raises the dead and who speaks things into being that are not yet there.

BSA: calls into being (“creates, brings forth”): God’s word is creative; what He declares comes to exist.

See also: Genesis 17:5; Hebrews 11:19.

Romans 4:18

Humanly speaking there was no reason to hope. Yet Abraham hoped because God had spoken. His trust in God’s word gave him hope when nothing else did, and the promise came true.

BSA: hope (“trusting in God’s goodness, with expectation”): Biblical hope is confident expectation resting on God’s character.

See also: Genesis 15:5.

Romans 4:19

Abraham was not naive. He looked squarely at the facts: his body was as good as dead at about a hundred, and Sarah’s womb was lifeless. His faith did not deny reality; it simply trusted God over it.

BSA: lifelessness (“deadness, barrenness”): Sarah’s womb was beyond natural hope, which sets the stage for a resurrection-like miracle.

Greek: νενεκρωμένον (nenekrōmenon, G3499) — “made dead, deadened.” Paul says Abraham’s body was as good as dead. The word links the birth of Isaac to resurrection, the same power that raised Jesus.

Romans 4:20

Abraham did not stagger in doubt. As he held on to the promise, his faith grew stronger, and he gave glory to God. Trusting God is a way of honoring Him as truthful and able.

BSA: waver (“stagger, doubt”): He did not go back and forth in his mind about whether God would act. glory (“honor, praise”): Faith honors God by treating His word as completely reliable.

Romans 4:21

This is what faith is at its heart: being fully convinced that God can do what He has promised. Abraham rested on God’s ability, not on his own.

BSA: fully persuaded (“convinced, assured”): His confidence was not partial but settled and complete.

Greek: πληροφορηθείς (plērophorētheis, G4135) — “fully convinced, filled to the brim.” The word pictures a sail filled with wind or a ship carrying a full load. Abraham’s confidence in God was full, with no room left for doubt.

Romans 4:22

Because he trusted so completely, God counted his faith as righteousness. Paul brings us back to the verse from Genesis. Abraham’s standing came from believing God, not from anything he accomplished.

See also: Genesis 15:6.

Romans 4:23-24

These words were not written only to record history about Abraham. They were written for us as well. God will credit righteousness to everyone who believes in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

BSA: raised (“caused to arise, brought back to life”): Our faith rests on the same God who gave life where there was death.

Romans 4:25

Jesus was handed over to death because of our sins, and He was raised so that we could be declared righteous. The cross deals with our guilt, and the resurrection is God’s seal that the work is accepted.

BSA: justification (“being made right with God, declared righteous”): The resurrection shows God’s verdict in our favor is real and final.

See also: Isaiah 53:5; 1 Corinthians 15:17.