An Exegetical Look at Romans 4:1-12
This is the outline for an exegesis I did in discipleship school on saturday morning. It is not too overly theological, but definitely requires a basic understanding of justification, imputation, and Pauline studies. I pray that it is informative and encouraging. Feel free to comment with any questions or further analysis as you see fit.
“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” - Romans 4:1-12 (ESV)
Theme: Justification of gentiles and Jews
Look at the passage as one linear argument in four distinct parts.
The passage begins with a direct link between justification and imputation as Paul refers to Genesis 15:6 and Abraham’s faithfulness. The forensic value of justification hinges on word “counted”, but the preposition translated as “for” or “as” (εις) can more literally be translated “with a view to”. Keeping this in mind, we know that Abraham’s righteousness didn’t consist of his faith – a decisive, whole hearted reliance on God’s gracious promise – but his faith was the occasion and means of righteousness being imputed to Abraham.
Justification and imputation in relation to faith now being linked, Paul goes on to explain the means by which we are imputed righteousness. Because Abraham did not receive righteousness as a result of his works, it was a gift. As verses one and two establish, Abraham’s faith was not the impetus for God’s imputation, but only the occasion and means by which he was made righteous. The next passage contributes to the argument as a whole by underlining the gift aspect of righteousness. We cannot conclude that Abraham’s faith was the reason for his imputation, because that would be a work in and of himself, and would directly contradict Paul’s whole argument in the passage - that justification is a gracious gift and not deserved or earned. In the broader context of Romans 3-4, we can see Paul’s macro argument that justification is not subjective to individual believers, but objective and outward (forensic). This is precisely why justification (forensic imputation) and sanctification (creation of an actual righteousness) are separated.
Abraham was a gentile, and Paul mentions him not only to show a gentile who has been justified but also to highlight one of the mega themes of Romans, God’s just judgment of the world and his gracious election of sinners that do not deserve favor.
Paul now shifts the focus of the argument to David, one of the preeminent men in the mind of Jews and someone known as ‘a man after God’s own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:13-14), but also known as an egregious sinner. David’s ‘works of the law’ mentioned were not his submission to the Levitical law, but his works of lawlessness in his sin. Paul uses this passage from Psalm 38 to illustrate that ‘righteousness apart from the law’ is positively imputation of God’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), and negatively freedom from sin and its mortal effects.
What is interesting about Paul’s reference to this text is that the psalm is about confessing sins and the freedom from sin as a result, but Paul assumes here that the reader knows confession and freedom from the law are a part of faith.
Paul begins the macro argument of this passage with “Abraham, our forefather”, but does not explain how this could be the case for both the Jews and the gentiles he was writing to. Echoing Old Testament rhetoric (beginning, middle, beginning), Paul closes the argument in this passage by explaining the beginning. He cites again Genesis 5:6 and the fact that Abraham was justified before he was circumcised (apart from and before the law), that gentiles might become his ‘children of faith’, and he was later circumcised that Jews may become his ‘children of faith’ as well, but only by walking in faith as he did.
Faith is pivotal in receiving justification from God because it looks to God for justification in Christ (Rom 4:24-25, 1 Corinthians 1:30). Because justification is towards ungodly (sinful) men, it must be apart from works in that a sinful man cannot be vindicated to a sinless God. The father’s justifying work is none other than the establishment of His right as Creator, calling into being (righteousness) that which is not present in the life of a sinner. This makes justification twofold – forensic and actual, in that a man is called righteous (forensic) before God on the basis of Christ’s atoning work, and that a man is at the same time (the moment of regeneration) made righteous through sanctification, which is both a instantaneous and a continuing process, albeit in different respects. If God were to merely call us righteous forensically, then what is the use of Christ’s atoning death? Precisely that at the same time as justification and imputed righteousness He also creates an actual righteousness in the sinner who is justified by sanctification through Christ.
-MD Letteney
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