Chapter Four
Rom. 4:1. What then shall we say that Abraham, our father, acquired according to the flesh?
Rom. 4:2. If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom. 4:3. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
Having sufficiently proven that faith is necessary for all, he confirms this further with the example of Abraham, who enjoyed great respect among the Jews, and says that he too, having excellently accomplished many great things, was justified not by works, but by faith. He calls him father "according to the flesh," in order to show that the Jews do not have a spiritual kinship with him, or rather, in order to oblige them to imitate him in all things. If he was justified by works, then he "has something to boast about, but not before God," that is, he can boast that he accomplished something well by his own labors, but this does not mean boasting before God, and is not directed toward God.
On the contrary, whoever is justified by faith has praise before God and can boast in God, as one saved by His grace and beloved by Him. The believer can also boast in another way, namely as one who has glorified God by believing that He can do what seems impossible to us.
So, he has praise and boldness before God, as one having a true understanding of Him, and believing in Him as almighty.
Rom. 4:4. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt.
Rom. 4:5. But to him who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
Rom. 4:6. So also David describes as blessed the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
Rom. 4:7. Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.
Rom. 4:8. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
The one who works, he says, receives wages as something given to him for his labor as a debt; the one who believes, although he does not work, nevertheless presents on his part faith — a thing of great significance; for to be convinced that God can not only free from punishment one who has lived in ungodliness, but also make him righteous, is a matter of high value. For this reason, "to the one who believes... his faith is counted as righteousness," that is, God accepts his faith — not in order to give him wages, but in order to justify him. Therefore the one who believes brings something on his part as well, namely faith.
Having proved by the example of Abraham that righteousness or justification is from faith, he presents David as well, who calls blessed the man to whom God does not impute sin, and shows the advantage and superiority of faith. For if he who receives forgiveness by grace is blessed, then far more blessed is he who has shown faith and been justified by it. Why, he says, do you hesitate over the fact that he receives forgiveness of sins by grace? You see that he who has received remission by grace is called blessed; for the prophet would not have called him blessed if he did not know that he possesses great glory: for blessedness is something exceedingly important and higher than righteousness itself; it is the summit of all the good things we receive from God.
Rom. 4:9. This blessedness, does it come upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
Rom. 4:10. When was it reckoned? In circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
If, he says, blessedness belongs to the one whom the Lord does not impute sin to, that is, to the one who is justified, and Abraham was justified, then he most certainly received blessedness. Let us see, then, when he was justified: before circumcision or after circumcision? Of course, before circumcision. Therefore, blessedness falls upon uncircumcision, that is, it belongs more to uncircumcision than to circumcision.
Rom. 4:11. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness through faith which he had while in uncircumcision, so that he became the father of all who believe while in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
Rom. 4:12. And the father of circumcision, not only to those who have received circumcision, but also to those who walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while in uncircumcision.
He resolves a naturally arising objection. Someone might perhaps object: if Abraham was justified before circumcision, then why was he circumcised? The Apostle answers: he "received the sign of circumcision" — in place of a seal, confirming that he was justified by faith, which he demonstrated earlier, while being uncircumcised.
So, regarding Abraham, two things are presented: uncircumcision and circumcision. Through uncircumcision he proves to be the father of the uncircumcised. But which ones? Those who, like him, believe, "that righteousness might be imputed to them also," that is, so that they too might be justified. On the other hand, through circumcision Abraham proves to be the father of "the circumcision," that is, of the circumcised. Yet he is the father not only of those who have circumcision, but also of those who walk in the footsteps of the faith that he had while in uncircumcision.
So, the present passage must be read thus: he became the father of the circumcised not for those who resemble him in circumcision alone, but for those who walk in the footsteps of his faith, that is, who like him believe in the resurrection of dead bodies. For in old age and in deadness he believed that God could make his seed fruitful and give him a son.
The complete thought is this: Abraham, being uncircumcised, believed and was justified, so that in this way he might become the father of believing uncircumcised ones.
On the other hand, he received circumcision, a seal and sign of the faith which was in uncircumcision, so as to become the father of the circumcised who walk, of course, in the footsteps of his faith which he had while not yet circumcised. As long as this faith is absent, circumcision boasts in vain, imitating one who shows a purse to which only a seal has been affixed, but in which there is nothing.
So then, the Jew is a purse sealed by circumcision, but not having the faith whose seal is circumcision.