Romans 4.3-God Credited and Regarded Abraham's Faith as Righteousness
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 8, 2008
Romans: Romans 4:3-God Credited and Regarded Abraham’s Faith as Righteousness
Lesson # 114
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 4:1.
Romans 4 continues the third major section in the book of Romans, which appears in Romans 3:21-5:21, which is divided into four parts: (1) Divine righteousness is imputed through faith in Christ (Romans 3:21-26). (2) Divine righteousness is available to both Jew and Gentile (Romans 3:27-31). (3) Justification by Faith: The Example of Abraham (Romans 4:1-23). (4) The Results of Faith (Romans 5:1-21).
Romans chapter four is divided into seven sections: (1) Romans 4:1: The introduction of the subject of Abraham as an example from the Law that justification is by means of faith. (2) Romans 4:2-5: Genesis 15:6 confirms that Abraham was justified by means of faith in the Lord’s promise rather than by the works of the Law. (3) Romans 4:6-8: The example from the prophets where David was justified by faith and apart from observing the Law. (4) Romans 4:9-12: Abraham was justified by faith before he received the rite of circumcision. (5) Romans 4:13-17: The Lord’s promises to Abraham that he would be heir of the world preceded the giving of the Law. (6) Romans 4:18-22: Abraham became the father of many nations as a result of his faith in the Lord. (7) Romans 4:23-25: The fact that Abraham was justified by faith rather than circumcision or keeping the Law has relevance for Paul’s Christian readers and serves as a pattern of their own faith.
In Romans 4:1, Paul introduces the subject of Abraham to support his teaching that justification is by means of faith and never by means of obedience to the Law.
Romans 4:1, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?”
Corrected translation of Romans 4:1:
Romans 4:1, “Therefore, what is the conclusion that we are forced to with respect to Abraham’s experience, our forefather with respect to genealogical descent?”
In Romans 4:2, Paul presents a hypothetical situation that if Abraham was justified by means of meritorious actions, then he would have reason for boasting but never in the judgment of God.
Romans 4:2, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.”
Corrected translation of Romans 4:2:
Romans 4:2, “For instance, if-and let us assume for the sake of argument that Abraham was justified by means of meritorious actions, then, he does possess a reason for boasting but never in the judgment of God.”
This evening we will study Romans 4:3, in which Paul explains the reason why Abraham was never justified by means of meritorious actions and had no basis for boasting in the judgment of God.
This passage teaches that Abraham was justified by means of his faith in the Lord to fulfill His promise of numerous descendants even though at the time, Abraham was childless.
In Romans 4:3, Paul teaches that God credited and regarded Abraham’s faith in Him as righteousness.
Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Corrected translation of Romans 4:3:
Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham had absolute confidence in (the Son of) God. Consequently, for his benefit, it was credited and regarded as righteousness.’”
“For” is the “explanatory” use of the conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces an Old Testament passage (Genesis 15:6) that “confirms” and gives an “explanation” for Paul’s statement in Romans 4:2 in which he taught that Abraham was never justified in the judgment of God by means of his obedience to the Law.
“What” is the interrogative pronoun tis (tiv$) (tis), which asks a debater’s rhetorical question and introduces an Old Testament quotation that will knock down the straw man, Paul set up in Romans 4:2.
He appeals to the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures in order to settle the dispute between him and the Judaizers who contended that a person was justified by means of obedience to the Law.
Both Paul and the Judaizers accepted the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures, thus this appeal to them would settle the argument.
In fact, the Jewish Rabbis often appealed to Biblical citations, sometimes prefacing them with, “What does Scripture say?”
Likewise, Jewish teachers often commented on Abraham’s faith as it was described in Genesis 15:6 but in that passage they read it as his “faithfulness” and equate that with one of Abraham's works!
“The Scripture” is the noun graphe (grafhv) (graf-ay), which refers to a specific Old Testament passage, namely, Genesis 15:6.
Paul employs the Old Testament Scriptures, quoting Genesis 15:6 in order to validate his teaching that Abraham was justified by faith and not by actions produced by obedience to the Law.
He is utilizing the “sword of the Spirit” by employing Genesis 15:6 to support his teaching that justification is by means of faith in Jesus Christ independently of actions produced by obedience to the Law.
In a sense Paul is personifying the Old Testament Scriptures in the sense that he is appealing to Genesis 15:6 to testify as a witness that justification is by means of faith and not by observing the Law.
Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
“Does…say” is the verb lego (levgw), which refers to the “content” of what is communicated in Genesis 15:6.
The statement “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS” is capitalized because Paul is quoting an Old Testament passage of Scripture, namely, Genesis 15:6.
Genesis 15:6, “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Abram’s faith in the Lord in Genesis 15:6 and the Lord imputing His righteousness to Abram as a result of his faith is employed by the New Testament writers as the pattern of a sinner’s justification (Rm. 4).
Although, the New Testament writers like Paul employ Genesis 15:6 to teach that justification is through faith alone in Christ alone, it does “not” mean that Genesis 15:6 records the moment when Abram first got saved.
There at least three reasons for this.
First of all, Abram had already obeyed the Lord’s call to leave Ur and Haran (Acts 7:2-5; Gen. 12:1-5).
Secondly, the Lord had entered into a covenant agreement with him as recorded in Genesis 12:1-3 and 15:4-5, which is something the Lord would never do with an unbeliever.
Thirdly, the perfect tense of the verb `aman, “believed” demonstrates that Abram’s faith did “not” begin after the events recorded in Genesis 15:1-5 since it represents the state of Abram trusting in the Lord, which flowed from his initial faith in the Lord the moment he got saved in Ur of the Chaldeans.
“BELIEVED” is the verb pisteuo (pisteuvw), which means to “to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance,” thus, “to trust, place complete or absolute confidence in” someone or something.
In Romans 4:3, the verb pisteuo means that Abraham made the non-meritorious decision to “place his absolute confidence in” or “trusted implicitly” in the Lord to deliver on His promise to give him not only an heir from his own body but also innumerable descendants.
“GOD” is the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the preincarnate Son of God since He is that member of the Trinity who appeared in a theophany to Abraham.
The Son of God represented the Trinity before men and was the member of the Trinity who made the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the nation of Israel.
The definite article preceding the noun theos emphasizes that the God referenced here by Paul is “well-known” to Paul’s Jewish audience since He appeared in the Old Testament to Abraham and the other patriarchs and made promises to them.
The noun theos functions as a “dative direct object” meaning that the Son of God, the preincarnate Christ was the object of Abraham’s faith or absolute confidence or implicit trust.
Paul does not use the word in the accusative case but rather the dative case since he wants to emphasize Abraham’s faith in the Lord was in his personal interests since it resulted in his being declared righteous by the Lord.
Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
“AND” is the “consecutive” use of the conjunction kai (kaiV), which introduces a statement that describes what took place “as a result” of the childless Abraham having absolute confidence in the preincarnate Son of God to deliver on His promise to give Abraham a son and innumerable descendants.
“IT WAS CREDITED” is the verb logizomai (logivzomai) (lo-gidz-o-my), which means, “to credit and regard a thing as something else.”
The word indicates that the Father “credited” Abraham’s faith as righteousness.
In Romans 4:3, the verb logizomai refers to a “judicial” imputation in which the justice of God the Father “credited” or “imputed” to Abraham His righteousness as a result of the childless Abraham exercising faith in His Son’s promise to give him a son and innumerable descendants.
A judicial imputation credits something to the sinner, which does not belong to him.
Divine righteousness did not belong to the sinner, but was imputed to the sinner when they make a non-meritorious decision to believe in Christ as their Savior.
The verb also means “considering or regarding or treating a thing as something.”
Thus, God “regarded,” or “considered” Abraham’s faith as righteousness.
The word is used with the prepositional phrase eis dikaiosunen, “as righteousness.”
Together, these three words indicate that God the Father “credited and regarded” Abraham’s faith “as righteousness.”
Therefore, the verb logizomai not only denotes the doctrine of imputation but also justification since the latter means that God acknowledges His righteousness in the sinner as a result of imputing His righteousness to the sinner when the sinner exercised faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
“TO HIM” is the dative masculine 3rd person singular form of the personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), which refers to its antecedent, Abraham.
This word functions as a “dative of advantage” meaning that the Father crediting and regarding Abraham’s faith as righteousness was “for his benefit” since it resulted in his justification.
“RIGHTEOUSNESS” is the noun dikaiosune (dikaiosuvnh), which refers to the righteousness of God meaning the perfect “integrity” and “virtue” of God.
“AS” is the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), which expresses “equivalence” meaning that Abraham’s faith in the Lord to deliver on His promises of an heir and innumerable descendants would be credited and regarded “as tantamount to” or “the equivalent to” righteousness.
Paul is not saying that faith is equivalent to God’s righteousness but that it would “treated as such” or it would be “considered or regarded as such” since God the Father imputes His Son’s righteousness to the sinner the moment they exercise faith in His Son as their Savior.
The prepositional phrase eis dikaiosune, “AS RIGHTEOUSNESS” and the verb logizomai, “IT WAS CREDITED” that appear in Romans 4:3 also appear in Romans 4:5, 9 and 22.
However, in Romans 4:5 and 9, the noun pistis, “faith” is used as the subject of the verb logizomai, “it was credited” but is not used as the subject in Romans 4:3 and 22 but it is clearly implied.
In Romans 4:5 and 9, Paul explicitly states the sinner’s faith is credited and regarded by God as righteousness whereas in Romans 4:3 and 22, it is implied.