Romans 4

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

• Papyrus 40 (~AD 250; extant verses 1–8)
• Codex Vaticanus (325–350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330–360)
• Codex Alexandrinus (400–440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; complete)

• Romans 4:3 references Genesis 15:6
• Romans 4:7–8 references Psalm 32:1–2{{cite book|last= Kirkpatrick| first= A. F. | authorlink=Alexander Kirkpatrick| title= The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes |series=The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges | volume = Book IV and V: Psalms XC-CL | place = Cambridge |publisher= At the University Press | year = 1901 | pages = 838 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SLJzlHElr6cC | access-date= February 28, 2019}}
• Romans 4:17 references Genesis 17:5{{cite web|url=https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/The-Epistle-to-the-Romanes_4_1611/|title=Biblical concordances of Romans 4 in the 1611 King James Bible}}
• Romans 4:18 references Genesis 15:5
• Romans 4:22 references Genesis 15:6

{{quote|What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?{{bibleverse|Romans|4:1|ESV}}: English Standard Version}}

The Jerusalem Bible (1966) sees Abraham's faith as an "example" or an "application" of the faith which Paul has described in chapter 3.Jerusalem Bible (1966), Romans 4:1 and section heading C at Romans 4 T F Lockyer calls it "a test case",Lockyer, T. F., [https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/lockyer/a_test_case.htm A Test Case], accessed on 3 October 2024 and Craig Hill treats this passage as an appeal, in a legal sense, to precedent.{{sfn|Hill|2007|p=1093}} While many translations link the {{langx|el|κατα σαρκα}} (kata sarka, "according to the flesh") with the Jews' ancestral relationship with Abraham, an alternative reading is recognised, for example in the New King James Version, which reads "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?"{{bibleverse|Romans|4:1|NKJV}}: NKJV. A reading which links "the flesh" with Abraham's status as "forefather" is noted as an alternative translation

{{quote|For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."|Romans 4:3, English Standard Version{{Bibleverse|Romans|4:3|ESV}}: ESV}}

Heinrich Meyer explains that the citation from Genesis 15:6{{bibleverse|Genesis|15:6|KJV}} ("he believed in the {{LORD}}; and He counted it to him for righteousness") is quoted according to the Septuagint (LXX), which renders the active {{langx|hbo|וְיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ|{{Strong-number|wa-yaḥ-shə-ḇe-hā|H|2803}}|and he counted it|label=none}}[http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0115.htm#1 Genesis 15:6 Mechon-Mamre version][https://biblehub.com/text/genesis/15-6.htm Hebrew Text Analysis: Genesis 15:6]. Biblehub by the passive {{langx|grc|και ελογισθη|{{Strong-number|kai|G|2532}} {{Strong-number|elogisthe|G|3049}}|and it was accounted|label=none}}.Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm (1880). [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/romans/4.htm Commentary on the New Testament. Romans 4]. Translation by Peter Christie from Meyer's sixth edition. Accessed February 14, 2019. The passage follows from an account of where God has taken Abraham (then known as Abram, and childless) outside to count the number of stars, and promised "so shall your descendants be".{{bibleverse|Genesis|15:5}} Paul quotes the same verse in the same way in Galatians 3:6.

Meyer also disputes the charge from theologian {{ill|Leopold Immanuel Rückert|de}} that Paul "made an unwarrantable use of the passage for his purpose",Rückert, L. I., Commentary on Romans, 1831, referred to by Meyer in his [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/romans/4.htm NT Commentary on Romans 4], accessed 10 September 2016 because here Paul definitely understood {{langx|grc|δικαιοσύνη|{{Strong-number|dikaiosynēn|G|1343}}|righteousness|label=none}}[https://biblehub.com/text/romans/4-3.htm Greek Text Analysis: Romans 4:3]. Biblehub "in the dogmatic sense", justifiable in doing so, since "the imputation of faith as {{langx|hbo|צְדָקָה|{{Strong-number|tsə-ḏā-qāh|H|6666}}|for righteousness|label=none}}, was essentially the same judicial act which takes place at the justification of Christians".

:Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.{{bibleverse|Romans|4:18|KJV}}: King James Version

Hope in nature (as far as nature could give hope) is contrasted with hope in God (that God could do what nature could not). The hope that Abraham might become the father of many nations is "most properly taken" as expressing the divine purpose in regard to Abraham and his destiny.Nicoll, W. R. (1897ff), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/egt/romans/4.htm Expositor's Greek Testament] on Romans 4, accessed 9 June 2024

• Abraham
• David
• Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 22, Psalm 32, Isaiah 53, Galatians 3, and Hebrews 11

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book

|last= Coogan

|first = Michael David

|title = The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48

|editor-last1=Coogan

|editor-first1=Michael David

|editor-first2=Marc Zvi

|editor-last2= Brettler

|editor-first3=Carol Ann

|editor-last3= Newsom

|editor-first4= Pheme

|editor-last4= Perkins

|edition=Augmented 3rd

|publisher = Oxford University Press

|year =2007

|isbn = 9780195288810

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HmpMPgAACAAJ

}}

• {{cite book|last=Hill | first= Craig C. |chapter = 64. Romans | title=The Oxford Bible Commentary | editor-first1=John| editor-last1=Barton | editor-first2=John| editor-last2= Muddiman | publisher = Oxford University Press |edition= first (paperback) | date = 2007 | pages = 1083–1108 | isbn = 978-0199277186 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJdVkgEACAAJ| access-date=February 6, 2019}}

• {{bibleverse|Romans|4|KJV}} King James Bible - Wikisource
• [http://www.latinvulgate.com/lv/verse.aspx?t=1&b=6&c=4 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate]
• [http://www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?passage=Romans+4 Online Bible at GospelHall.org] (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=4 Multiple bible versions at Bible Gateway] (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)

{{Epistle to the Romans}}

04