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Rom.4:1. What, say, did Abraham, our father, acquire in the flesh? Rom.4:2. If Abraham was justified by works, he has praise, but not before God. Rom.4:3. For what does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Having sufficiently proven that faith is necessary for everyone, he further confirms this by the example of Abraham, who was greatly respected by the Jews, and says that he, who accomplished many great things, was justified not by works, but by faith. He calls him father “according to the flesh,” in order to show that the Jews have no spiritual kinship with him, or, better, in order to oblige them to imitate him in everything. If he was justified by works, then “he has praise, but not before God,” that is, he can boast that he has done something well through his own labors, but this does not mean boasting before God, and is not directed towards God. On the contrary, he who is justified by faith has praise before God and can boast in God as one saved by His grace and beloved by Him. A believer can boast in another way, namely, as having glorified God by believing that He can do what seems impossible to us. So, he has praise and boldness before God, as having a true understanding of Him, and believing in Him as omnipotent. Rom.4:4. Reward to the one who does it is imputed not according to mercy, but according to duty. Rom.4:5. But to him who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Rom.4:6. So David calls blessed the person to whom God imputes righteousness regardless of works: Rom.4:7. Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Rom.4:8. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin. The one who does, he says, receives a reward as given to him for work according to duty; the believer, although he does not do it, nevertheless represents faith on his part - a very significant thing; because to be convinced that God can not only free one who lived in wickedness from punishment, but also make him righteous, is a matter of high price. For this reason, “to the believer... his faith is counted as righteousness,” that is, his faith is accepted by God - not in order to give him a reward, but in order to justify him. Therefore, whoever believes brings something from his side, namely faith. Having proved by the example of Abraham that truth or justification comes from faith, David also introduces him, who calls blessed the person to whom God does not impute sin, and shows the advantage and superiority of faith. For if he is blessed who receives forgiveness by grace, then much more blessed is he who has shown faith and is justified by it. Why, he says, do you find it difficult that he receives forgiveness of sins by grace? You see that he who has received remission by grace is blessed; for the prophet would not have called him blessed if he had not known that he has great glory: for blessedness is something very important and above righteousness itself, it is the top of all the benefits we receive from God. Rom.4:9. Does this blessedness apply to circumcision, or to uncircumcision? We say that Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness. Rom.4:10. When did you get imputed? after circumcision or before circumcision? Not after circumcision, but before circumcision. If, he says, bliss belongs to the one to whom the Lord does not impute sin, that is, to the justified, and Abraham was justified, then of course he received bliss. Let us see when he was justified: was it before circumcision, or after circumcision? Of course, before circumcision. This means that blessedness falls on uncircumcision, that is, it belongs more to uncircumcision than to circumcision. Rom.4:11. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness through the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he became the father of all who believed in the uncircumcision, so that righteousness might be imputed to them also, Rom.4:12. and the father of the circumcised, who not only received circumcision, but also walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while uncircumcised. Resolves a naturally occurring objection. Another, perhaps, would object: if Abraham was justified before circumcision, then why was he circumcised? The apostle answers: he “received the sign of circumcision” - instead of a seal, sealing that he was justified by the faith that he had previously discovered, being uncircumcised. So, regarding Abraham, two things are presented: uncircumcision and circumcision. Through uncircumcision he becomes the father of the uncircumcised. But which ones? who believe like him, “so that righteousness may be imputed to them,” that is, so that they too may be justified. On the other hand, through circumcision Abraham turns out to be the father of the “circumcision,” that is, the circumcised. He is the father not only of those who are circumcised, but also of those who follow in the footsteps of his faith, which he had while uncircumcised. So, the present passage should be read like this: He also became the father of the circumcision, not for those who are like him in circumcision alone, but for those who walk in the footsteps of his faith, that is, like him, they believe in the resurrection of dead bodies. For in his old age and in his dead state he believed that God could make his seed fruitful and give him a son. The full thought is this: Abraham, being uncircumcised, believed and was justified, so that he could thus become the father of the uncircumcised believers. On the other hand, he received circumcision, the seal and the sign of faith, which is in uncircumcision, in order to become the father of the circumcision, who walk, of course, in the footsteps of his faith, which he had while not yet being circumcised. If this faith is not there, circumcision is vainly praised, imitating the one who shows a wallet to which only a seal is attached, but in which there is nothing. So; The Jew has a purse sealed by circumcision, but does not have faith, the seal of which is circumcision. Rom.4:13. For the promise was not given to Abraham, or to his seed, by law, to be the heir of the world, but by the righteousness of faith. Rom.4:14. If those who are established in the law are heirs, then faith is vain, promise is ineffectual. The Apostle has already proved that justification is not by law, but by faith. Now he proves that Abraham received the promise not by law, but by righteous faith. What is the “promise”? “To be the heir of the world,” that is, so that all the peoples of the whole world will be blessed in it. For if the inheritance, he says, is given by law, then “faith is vain,” that is, it turns out to be vain and useless. For who will care about faith if the promise of an inheritance is given by the law? But this is not the case. Abraham inherited the promise not by law (for where was the law then?), but by faith, as it is written: “Abraham believed” (Gen. 15:6). Rom.4:15. For the law produces wrath; because where there is no law, there is no crime. Now he proves how “the promise is ineffective.” With the law, he says, is connected a crime, and the crime of the law produces anger and is subject to oath and punishment. How, one might ask, is someone guilty of a crime worthy of inheriting? Rom.4:16. Therefore it is by faith, that it may be by grace, that the promise may be certain to all, not only according to the law, but also according to the faith of the descendants of Abraham, who is the father of us all: Rom.4:17. (as it is written: I have made you a father of many nations) before God, whom he believed. Since the law produces wrath, it is said that Abraham was justified and became an heir through faith, so that all things might be by grace. Why is grace necessary? “That the promise may be sure.” For grace, not as law, has no transgression, so that what is given is not durable. Since everything happens by the grace and mercy of God, what is given in justice is immutable “to all of us,” that is, for all believers, not only for those who are “according to the law,” that is, circumcised, but also for those who are not circumcised, who are the seed of Abraham, born “by faith.” Therefore, whoever does not have faith is not the seed of Abraham, “who is the father of us all,” that is, those who believe, as it is written: “I have made you the father of many nations.” The meaning is this: Abraham is the father of all “before God,” that is, like God. Just as God is the Father of all, so is Abraham, not by natural relationship, but by the union of faith. “Whom he believed” was added to show that Abraham also received the reward for his faith - to be the father of all. Therefore, if you, a Jew, do not recognize that Abraham is the father of all, then you have diminished the honor that he received by faith. Who gives life to the dead and calls things that do not exist as if they exist. Now he repeats what was said above, that is, that Abraham believed that God could not only revive dead flesh, such as his, but also make it fertile; which is why he now says: “to those who give life to the dead.” The words “calling things that do not exist as if they exist” were added in order to show that it is not impossible for God to make those who are not children of Abraham his children. He did not say, however, bringing into existence the non-existent, but “naming.” As easy as it is for us to name something that exists, it is just as convenient for God to bring into existence something that does not exist. Rom.4:18. He believed with hope beyond hope, through which he became the father of many nations. Don’t think, he says, that Abraham was awarded honors not according to his merits. For is this possible when, beyond human hope, he believed with the hope of God that he would become the father of many nations, not those who came from Ishmael (for they came from Abraham not by faith, but by nature), but those who were like him in faith? According to what was said: “So numerous will your seed be.” Rom.4:19. And, not fainting in faith, he did not think that his body, almost a hundred years old, was already dead, and Sarah’s womb was dead; Rom.4:20. did not shake the promise of God through unbelief, but remained steadfast in faith, giving glory to God Rom.4:21. and being fully confident that He is able to fulfill His promise. Having said that Abraham believed with the hope of God beyond the hope of man, he now proves this by saying that it was said to Abraham: “I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand” (Gen. 15:5, 22:17); he did not weaken in faith, but, remaining firm in it, did not pay attention either to his own body, already deadened by time, or to the extreme death of Sarah’s womb (for her womb was deadened both from old age and from infertility), and did not become perplexed, that is, he did not doubt at all, did not waver in thought, but “remained firm in the faith.” Notice how it proves that the believer has a need of great strength. Many demeaned faith as a matter that did not require work, and exalted works as requiring sweat and strength. But the apostle says that the believer needs a great and powerful soul in order to repel the suggestions of unbelief, just as Abraham was able to do so through faith. How was Abraham able to do so by faith? “Giving glory to God,” that is, not through human inferences, believing, but thinking in yourself what is worthy of the glory of God and being confident that God can do the impossible; for this is the glory of God. “Almost a hundred years old” I said approximately, because at that time Abraham was not yet a hundred full years old. Rom.4:22. Therefore it was counted to him as righteousness. Rom.4:23. However, it is not written in relation to him alone that what was imputed to him, Rom.4:24. but also in relation to us; will be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead, Rom.4:25. Who was delivered for our sins and rose again for our justification. The apostle said a lot in praise of Abraham, but someone could object: what is it to us? Therefore, he expresses that this is also written for us, that faith in the truth will be imputed to us, if only we had it by believing in the One who raised Jesus. If you doubt how you can be justified, then imagine in your soul Jesus, who blotted out all your sins, who died not for His own sin, but for the sin of the world. Since He died without sin, He was rightly resurrected. For how could He who had no sin be kept in hell? So, for this purpose He died and rose again, in order to free us from sins and make them righteous. Therefore, just as Abraham believed that his already dead body would become fruitful, so you believe that Jesus died and rose again, and it will be credited to you as righteousness, just as it was to your forefather Abraham. You might be interested in: