Romans 4

15. Because the law worketh wrath--has nothing to give to those who break is but condemnation and vengeance.
for where there is no law, there is no transgression--It is just the law that makes transgression, in the case of those who break it; nor can the one exist without the other.

16, 17. Therefore, &c.--A general summary: "Thus justification is by faith, in order that its purely gracious character may be seen, and that all who follow in the steps of Abraham's faith--whether of his natural seed or no--may be assured of the like justification with the parent believer."

17. As it is written, &c.--( Genesis 17:5 ). This is quoted to justify his calling Abraham the "father of us all," and is to be viewed as a parenthesis.
before--that is, "in the reckoning of."
him whom he believed--that is, "Thus Abraham, in the reckoning of Him whom he believed, is the father of us all, in order that all may be assured, that doing as he did, they shall be treated as he was."
even God, quickeneth the dead--The nature and greatness of that faith of Abraham which we are to copy is here strikingly described. What he was required to believe being above nature, his faith had to fasten upon God's power to surmount physical incapacity, and call into being what did not then exist. But God having made the promise, Abraham believed Him in spite of those obstacles. This is still further illustrated in what follows.

18-22. Who against hope--when no ground for hope appeared.
believed in hope--that is, cherished the believing expectation.
that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be--that is, Such "as the stars of heaven," Genesis 15:5 .

19. he considered not, &c.--paid no attention to those physical obstacles, both in himself and in Sarah, which might seem to render the fulfilment hopeless.

20. He staggered--hesitated
not . . . but was strong in faith, giving glory to God--as able to make good His own word in spite of all obstacles.

21. And being fully persuaded, &c.--that is, the glory which Abraham's faith gave to God consisted in this, that, firm in the persuasion of God's ability to fulfil his promise, no difficulties shook him.

22. And therefore it was imputed, &c.--"Let all then take notice that this was not because of anything meritorious in Abraham, but merely because he so believed."

23-25. Now, &c.--Here is the application of this whole argument about Abraham: These things were not recorded as mere historical facts, but as illustrations for all time of God's method of justification by faith.

24. to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe in him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead--in Him that hath done this, even as Abraham believed that God would raise up a seed in whom all nations should be blessed.

25. Who was delivered for--"on account of."
our offences--that is, in order to expiate them by His blood.
and raised again for--"on account of," that is, in order to.
our justification--As His resurrection was the divine assurance that He had "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," and the crowning of His whole work, our justification is fitly connected with that glorious act.

Note, (1) The doctrine of justification by works, as it generates self-exaltation, is contrary to the first principles of all true religion ( Romans 4:2 ; and (2) The way of a sinner's justification has been the same in all time, and the testimony of the Old Testament on this subject is one with that of the New ( Romans 4:3 , &c., and (3) Faith and works, in the matter of justification, are opposite and irreconcilable, even as grace and debt ( Romans 4:4 Romans 4:5 ; and be, in any sense or to any degree, the ground of justification. For the same reason, the first requisite, in order to justification, must be (under the conviction that we are "ungodly") to despair of it by works; and the next, to "believe in Him that justifieth the ungodly"--that hath a justifying righteousness to bestow, and is ready to bestow it upon those who deserve none, and to embrace it accordingly. (4) The sacraments of the Church were never intended, and are not adapted, to confer grace, or the blessings of salvation, upon men. Their proper use is to set a divine seal upon a state already existing, and so, they presuppose, and do not create it ( Romans 4:8-12 ). As circumcision merely "sealed" Abraham's already existing acceptance with God, so with the sacraments of the New Testament. (5) As Abraham is "the heir of the world," all nations being blessed in him, through his Seed Christ Jesus, and justified solely according to the pattern of his faith, so the transmission of the true religion and all the salvation which the world will ever experience shall yet be traced back with wonder, gratitude, and joy, to that morning dawn when "the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran," Acts 7:2 ( Romans 4:13 ). (6) Nothing gives more glory to God than simple faith in His word, especially when all things seem to render the fulfilment of it hopeless ( Romans 4:18-21 ). (7) All the Scripture examples of faith were recorded on purpose to beget and encourage the like faith in every succeeding age ( Romans 4:23 Romans 4:24 ; and compare Romans 15:4 ). (8) Justification, in this argument, cannot be taken--as Romanists and other errorists insist--to mean a change upon men's character; for besides that this is to confound it with Sanctification, which has its appropriate place in this Epistle, the whole argument of the present chapter--and nearly all its more important clauses, expressions, and words--would in that case be unsuitable, and fitted only to mislead. Beyond all doubt it means exclusively a change upon men's state or relation to God; or, in scientific language, it is an objective, not a subjective change--a change from guilt and condemnation to acquittal and acceptance. And the best evidence that this is the key to the whole argument is, that it opens all the wards of the many-chambered lock with which the apostle has enriched us in this Epistle.