Romans 4
Paul now grounds his entire argument in Israel's own ancestor - Abraham himself. If justification is by faith, then it always has been by faith. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. This was not a transaction. It was a declaration. He was not yet circumcised. The law had not yet been given. He had no works to show. Yet God reckoned him righteous on the basis of one thing alone: his faith.
The promise to Abraham was not that he would keep a law. It was that he would inherit the earth, that his seed would be as numerous as the stars. This promise rested entirely on God's word and Abraham's willingness to believe it even when it seemed humanly impossible - when he and Sarah were past the age of bearing children, when there was no sign, no path forward except God's voice. And because Abraham believed God in that impossible hour, righteousness was counted to him before he was ever marked by circumcision. Abraham became the father of many nations not through descent alone, but through faith.
Romans 4 is Paul's answer to a question that would not leave the early church alone: How can a Gentile - someone outside the covenant, without the law, without circumcision - stand righteous before God? The answer is simple and radical: the same way Abraham did. Through faith. Abraham is not the father of the circumcised only. He is the father of all those who believe.
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Romans 4:1-3What Did Abraham Find?
1What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
Paul sets the question simply. Not What did Abraham earn? Not What did Abraham achieve? What did he find? The Greek suggests something discovered, something that came to Abraham from outside himself. And the answer is about to be the hinge of the entire argument: Abraham found that faith itself is what God counts as righteousness.
2For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
Paul builds his case methodically. If righteousness came through works, then Abraham would have something to boast about. He would have earned it. He could stand before other people and display his credentials. But the whole point of Romans is that no one can boast before God. Works produce boasting. Faith produces humility. Abraham did not glory in his works because his righteousness did not rest on them.
3For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Paul quotes Genesis 15:61 - the verse that changed everything for Abraham, and the verse that will change everything for theology. Abraham simply believed. There is no work mentioned. No achievement. No transformation of character. Just faith. And God counted it - placed it in His ledger - as righteousness itself.
Romans 4:4-8The Wage and the Gift
4Now to him that worketh is the reward reckoned not of grace, but of debt.
Paul sets up a simple equation. When you work, you are owed a wage. It is not a gift. It is a debt. The employer owes you. You have earned it through your labor. Your work creates an obligation.
5But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness:
Notice the phrase: "justifieth the ungodly." Not after you are righteous. Not when you finally clean up your life. God justifies the ungodly - those who are, in fact, still trapped in sin, still broken, still failing. The faith that reaches toward Him in that condition - not in victory, not in moral triumph, but in nakedness - that is the faith that is counted. There is no wage here. There is only grace.
6Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Paul brings in David (Psalm 322) to show that this truth runs through the Old Testament. David, author of Israel's prayers, speaks of blessedness - not through works, not through moral achievement, but through forgiveness. Sins covered. Sin not imputed. Righteousness credited. David is describing the same thing Abraham experienced: righteousness that comes not through what you do but through what God declares.
Romans 4:9-12Reckoned Before the Sign
9Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
Paul asks a question that cuts to the heart of the dispute between Jewish and Gentile believers. Is blessedness - righteousness, justification, acceptance with God - only for the circumcised? Only for those marked by the sign of the covenant? Paul is about to show that it is not. Abraham's righteousness came long before circumcision was ever mentioned.
10How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
The timeline is decisive. Genesis 15:6 says Abraham believed and it was reckoned as righteousness3. Genesis 17, chapters later, describes Abraham's circumcision. Righteousness came first. The sign came second. Abraham was counted righteous in his uncircumcision. This means the pathway to righteousness does not depend on the mark. It depends on faith.
11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
Circumcision becomes a seal - a mark or confirmation of a righteousness that already existed. It is not the source of righteousness. It is the sign that righteousness has already been credited. And here is the crucial move: Abraham becomes the father not just of the circumcised but of all who believe, even though they are uncircumcised. The promise runs through faith, not through the sign.
12And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Abraham is the father of Gentiles - of those outside the covenant signs, those without circumcision, those who have not kept the law. But they are his children because they walk in the steps of his faith. That is what makes someone Abraham's child: not genealogy, not the sign, not the law, but faith. Faith like Abraham's. Belief in God despite impossible circumstances.
Romans 4:13-17The Promise Through Faith, Not Law
13For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Paul sets up the historical timeline. God made a promise to Abraham. Centuries later - 430 years, Paul will say in Galatians - the law was given at Mount Sinai. The promise came first. The law came much later. Therefore, the fulfillment of the promise cannot depend on the law. It depends on what existed when the promise was made: righteousness of faith.
14For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 15Because the law worketh wrath: for where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Paul follows the logic. If the promise were fulfilled through the law, then the law would be the key. But the law does not fulfill the promise. The law works wrath - it shows us what we have done wrong, what we have failed to do, what we owe. Where there is law, there is judgment. Transgression becomes visible. The law cannot inherit because the law condemns.
16Therefore 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 to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
The promise is sure because it rests on grace, not on law. Why? Because grace can be given to anyone. Grace knows no boundaries. The law, by contrast, is particular - it was given to Israel at a specific moment in history. Grace is universal. Therefore, if the promise were through grace and faith, it could extend to all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile, whether marked by the sign or not.
17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were:
The promise to Abraham was staggering: father of many nations4. Not just one son. Not just Israel. Many nations. This promise was impossible by every human calculation. Sarah was barren. Abraham was aged. Yet he was to be the father of multitudes. The promise itself required a God who works impossibly.
Romans 4:18-21Hope Against Hope
18Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be:
The phrase is exquisite: "against hope believed in hope." All visible hope was gone. Naturally speaking, there was no reason to believe the promise. Yet Abraham believed in hope - not in what could be seen, but in what God had spoken. This is the shape of faith: it faces the silence of the world and chooses to trust God's voice instead.
19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
Abraham's body was dead. That is the literal fact. At one hundred years old, a man cannot father children. Sarah's womb was dead. Barrenness had sealed her past the age of hope. Every biological fact said impossible. Yet Abraham did not consider these facts as the final word. He looked past them.
20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Here is the turning point. Abraham did not waver. Did not doubt. Did not stagger back from the promise. Instead, he was strong in faith. His strength was not physical strength. It was not in his own power. It was in his capacity to trust God when everything in him wanted to doubt. And this faith - this refusal to doubt - gave glory to God. It said: I believe You more than I believe my own aging body.
21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Abraham was fully persuaded. Not slowly coming around. Not reluctantly believing. Fully convinced. Completely assured. This is the shape of faith at its fullest: not blind hope, but a deep, reasoned conviction rooted in what you know of God's character. Abraham knew God was able. He was persuaded. And that persuasion was itself the substance of his faith.
Romans 4:22-25Not for His Sake Alone
22And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
The conclusion is simple. Because Abraham believed, righteousness was imputed - credited - to him. Not earned. Credited. Placed in his account. This is the reckoning language that runs through Romans 4. God does not transform Abraham through a process of moral improvement. He declares Abraham righteous because of his faith.
23Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
This is the move that opens the entire Old Testament to the New Testament reader. The story of Abraham was not written merely for Abraham. It was written for us. The same reckoning that happened to Abraham can happen to us. The same righteousness that was imputed to him is available to us. But the object of our faith is not the same as Abraham's. We believe not merely in God who raises the dead. We believe in God who has raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead.
25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Christ was raised again for our justification. Not only His death justifies. His resurrection justifies. His rising from the dead is the proof that God has accepted His sacrifice, that the debt has been paid, that death has been conquered. Abraham believed in God who makes the dead live. We believe in God who raised Jesus. And that resurrection is the vindication of His death. It is the confirmation that our sins were truly borne, truly forgiven, truly removed.
Further study
- Genesis 15:6 (Hebrew)SefariaThe Hebrew text and translation of Abraham's faith being reckoned as righteousness - the verse Paul cites as the foundation of justification.
- The full Hebrew text and English translation of David's psalm on blessed forgiveness, which Paul quotes at Romans 4:7-8.
- Genesis 15:6 ↔ Romans 4:3Intertextual BibleSide-by-side comparison of the Hebrew original and Paul's Greek citation, showing how the imputation language carries forward.
- Abraham in Second Temple JudaismBible Odyssey (SBL)Open-access scholarly entry on Abraham's role in Jewish thought between the testaments, setting the stage for Paul's argument.