Romans 4 Study Notes

4:13 The law demanded obedience and performance. If the law was violated, wrath resulted. The law was not a system of grace. God’s promise was one of grace. The promise to Abraham and his seed (Gl 3:16-18) was not through the law but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

4:14-15 If the inheritance of the promise came by legal obedience, then the way of faith is empty. Furthermore, no one would inherit the promise since no one could keep the law.

4:16-17 God’s promise is by faith so that it may be guaranteed to both Jews and Gentiles who believe. If it were by law, no such guarantee would be possible. To make it certain, therefore, the promise was according to grace. Abraham was also promised to be the father of many nations. Abraham believed in the God who created everything from nothing and gives life to the dead.

4:18 It seemed humanly impossible for Abraham to become the father of many nations when he was old, but he placed his hope in God’s promise.

4:19-20 Abraham had a realistic evaluation of his prospects for fatherhood. He was about a hundred years old, and Sarah was childless and long past child-bearing years. Yet Abraham did not doubt God’s promise, and God strengthened his faith.

4:21-22 “It is Abraham’s conviction that God is fully able to do whatever he promised that enabled his faith to overcome the obstacle of the tangible and visible ‘facts’” (Douglas J. Moo). And this is the kind of faith that receives righteousness.

4:23-24 Everything in Scripture is for our benefit. The experiences of Abraham are as relevant to us as they were to him, for we serve the same Creator God who can do the humanly impossible. We are credited as righteous before God in the same manner as Abraham: by faith.

4:25 Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses as promised in Is 52:13-53:12. Who delivered up Jesus? Was it Judas? Pilate? The Jewish Sanhedrin? Satan? Certainly all these were causal agents in the crucifixion of Christ, but ultimately it was the sovereign God who brought it to pass in order to fulfill his plan of redemption (Ac 4:27-28). The Father delivered up Jesus for our trespasses, and raised him so that his righteous servant would justify many people (Is 53:11).