Romans 4 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Rom 4:1-8

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’

4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7 ‘Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.’

A. Find Out:

1. What did Paul next wonder about Abraham? v.1
2. How could Abraham have boasted? v.2
3. But how does Scripture say Abraham was credited with righteousness? v.3
4. When isn’t a man credited with righteousness? v.4
5. But who IS credited with righteousness? v.5
6. What man did David speak about? v.6

B. Think:

1. Why was Abraham seen as righteous?
2. What is the difference between wages and being credited with something?
3. So how does righteousness come to us?

C. Comment:

Paul continues his argument, hammering in the point that our salvation is a free gift and NOT earned. He first uses Abraham as an example. Abraham did various things that made him outstanding. On these grounds he could perhaps boast that he was better than some other people (but never before God that he was perfect!).  Was he therefore saved because he did a few good things? No! The Bible declares that his believing God was credited to him as righteousness.

Now when something is credited to you, it is just transferred to your account. If you worked you would earn wages, but when you haven’t worked, and it is credited to your account, it is clearly a free gift.

Believing happens in the mind (and is later followed up by actions of the body) and therefore the moment the person believes in their mind (without having done ANYTHING) God says, “Right, you are now righteous”. That is the wonder of the Gospel, you are credited as righteous BEFORE you have a chance to DO a thing! It’s all a matter of believing.

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord that you don’t have to work or strive to achieve His acceptance.
2. Thank Him that He accepted you the moment you said. “I believe”

Passage: Rom 4:9-12

9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

A. Find Out:

1. What possible factor does Paul next go on to investigate? v.9
2. What does he observe about Abraham? v.10
3. What therefore, was circumcision to Abraham? v.11aOf whom is Abraham therefore father? v.11b
4. Of whom also is he father? v.12

B. Think:

1. What might Jews have argued, that Paul deals with here?
2. What might Gentiles have wondered?
3. How does Paul show Abraham is father of BOTH circumcised AND uncircumcised?

C. Comment:

 Now the Jews felt circumcision was very important, and without it the Jewish male was hardly a Jew. Into their minds more than once so far, the thought must have come, surely he doesn’t mean that circumcision is of no importance? Well, says Paul, let’s look at this logically. We’ve said that Abraham was credited with being righteous when he believed. Very well, when did he believe, before or after he was circumcised? Before he was circumcised! Very well that means he was declared righteous BEFORE he was circumcised and that it was just a sign of the faith that he already had.

ual father (first of the family of believers) of all who believe while they are uncircumcised. But he’s also the father of those who are circumcised, who are already a people of faith. Faith is the issue. Jews may have gone on to be circumcised, Gentiles may not, but that’s irrelevant as far as being declared righteous by God. Circumcision doesn’t mean a Jew has faith, and a Gentile doesn’t have to be circumcised to prove he has faith.

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord that we don’t HAVE to DO things to be justified, that it’s all a matter of faith.
2. Ask that your faith will produce fruit of action.

Passage: Rom 4:13-17

13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’[c] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

A. Find Out:

1. What was the promise to Abraham? v.13b
2. How did he receive (obtain) it? v.13c
3. Why might faith be of no value? v.14
4. What does the law bring? v.15How does the promise come therefore? v.16a
5. To whom does it come? v.16b

B. Think:

1. Had Abraham received his inheritance and become a great man by keeping God’s rules?
2. How had he become a great man?
3. What does that say to us, therefore?

C. Comment:

Having maintained that this new righteousness wasn’t received because of works or circumcision, Paul answers the Jewish readers who might still have wondered if the law guaranteed their future.

Abraham had been promised by God that he would be a great man, that he would have many descendants, that he would inherit a land and that the world would be blessed by him. That was ALL before he believed and before he had the chance to do anything (See Genesis 12:1-3). If rule-keepers are to be the inheritors of God’s blessing, says Paul, then you might as well not have had the promise to start with. Trying to keep the rules, brings failure and therefore God’s wrath. Complete freedom to enjoy God’s world, (free from pressures of the flesh, sin, fear and Satan) doesn’t come like that! It’s a GIFT from God

Blessing comes simply by believing God, God who has the power to do what is humanly impossible. He can make us what we are unable to make ourselves, just like He did when He made Abraham a father in his old age.

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord that we are simply receivers of His blessing, we cannot earn it!
2. Thank the Lord that He is for us (Romans 8:31 ) and wants to bless us (Galatians 3:14).

Passage: Rom 4:18-25

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’ 23 The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

A. Find Out:

1. How did Abraham become a father? v.18
2. What did he have to face? v.19
3. Yet what wasn’t weakened? v.19a
4. What would wavering have been? v.20
5. About what was he fully persuaded? v.21
6. How is the result applicable to us? v.22-24

B. Think:

1. What was the crisis point of Abraham’s life where his faith prevailed until success?
2. Why was he “credited” with righteousness?
3. How was Jesus’ sacrifice for us shown it was accepted and results in our  justification?

C. Comment:

Abraham had been promised offspring by God. The only problem was that Abraham hadn’t had any children and he was now moving into older age. Not only that, his wife was past childbearing age BUT God had said he would have children and that was enough!

Abraham believed and not only that, but he also carried on believing for over twenty years! To have children you have to try to conceive and so these two elderly people, with bodies that humanly speaking were past it, continue to try to have children, until after twenty-four years Sarah found she was pregnant.

It was this faith, this sure belief in what God had said, that resulted in God declaring that Abraham was righteous. A number of times Abraham did get things wrong, but he was a believer and as such he was declared “righteous”. Thus, we too, when we believe, are declared righteous by God. Jesus died to take our sins and by his resurrection showed that what he had done was perfect and acceptable in God’s sight, and he had therefore bought our justification.

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord again, that when you just believed you were declared righteous by God.
2. Thank the Lord for Abraham’s example