11 March 2016

Scripture: Romans 4:1-12

Observations:

So, let's review quickly the end of Romans 3.

• "One is justified by faith apart from works of the law." (v 28)
• "[God] will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith." (v 30)

Now in this passage, Paul brings two questions to the attention of the Roman church.

Q1) What was gained by Abraham according to the flesh? (v 1)

Verse two says that if Abraham were justified by works, then he would be able to boast before man, but not before God. That doesn't quite mesh well with what we know of Abraham, so thremust be some greater reason for Abraham's justification. To that end, I want to take a snapshot of the next few verses.

• "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness" (v3)
• To the worker, wages are counted as his due, not a gift (paraphrased, v 4)
• To him who did not put his faith in works, but believed God, his faith is counted as righteousness (paraphrased, v 5)
• David called blessed the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works (paraphrased, v 6)
• "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." (v 8)

Now, yes, I paraphrased a few verses to truncate some of the wordage, but the word I want to stress is unchanged: λογίζομαι. (Strong's numbers are great for the lay scholar)

λογίζομαι is a word meaning "to take an inventory," "to estimate," "to conclude," "to account for/of," "to impute, reason, reckon, or suppose."

Paul is saying that, just as a worker's wages are accounted (reckoned, reasoned, supposed, allocated, etc.) to him as his due according to his work, so is righteousness accounted to the one who believes in God as his due according to his faith.

Clearly, then, we can see that what Abraham gained was nothing that could be attributed to his ability. What he gained, then, was not according to the flesh, as it was not based upon his ability to keep the law, but was according to God, as it was based upon his faith.

Q2) "Is this blessing only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised?" (v 9)
(Or, how was Abraham's faith counted? Was it before or after circumcision? (v 10a)

This question is key. Depending on the answer, it would affirm that either Paul is logically inconsistent and that justification by faith is contingent upon adherence to the law and circumcision is necessary, or that circumcision is unnecessary and adherence to the law is a response from faith.

Paul answers this question in the second half of verse ten, saying that circumcision came after righteousness was counted to him as the wages of his faith. Therefore, as Paul puts it, "circumcision was a sign of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised." (v 11)

This is a big deal, because that then makes him the father of the righteous uncircumcised as well as the circumcised who believe in God through faith! (v 11-12)