Or but trusts; compare verse 24
Greek deadness
Some manuscripts let us
Some manuscripts omit by faith
Or let us; also verse 3
Or boast; also verses 3, 11
The Greek word anthropoi refers here to both men and women; also twice in verse 18
Or the trespass of one
Or the act of righteousness of one
3:21 “But now” is emphatic. In stark contrast to the preceding section, which majored on the human problem, Paul now turns to the divine solution. God’s “righteousness” here is that aspect of his character that moves him to bring the sinners described in previous verses into a right relationship with him. “Has been manifested” refers to God’s decisive act in sending Jesus. The word translated “manifested” is used three times in Romans (cf. 1:19; 16:26), each time referring to knowledge God discloses to people—whether or not they receive and respond to it. This is often called “revelation.” Saving faith includes not only accepting God’s saving promise but, in tandem with that, being willing to agree with his negative verdict on the human goodness we all like to think we possess.
This “righteousness” must be viewed in tension. On the one hand, God discloses it “apart from the law.” People do not achieve it by perfect compliance with God’s rules and regulations. On the other hand, God testifies to his righteousness in “the Law and the Prophets,” shorthand for the OT Scriptures (cf. Matt. 7:12; 22:40; Luke 16:16; Acts 13:15). Those Scriptures point to Christ.
3:22 God’s saving righteousness is attested to by the OT writings (v. 21), but those writings point beyond themselves to Jesus Christ. Paul affirms (1) how God’s righteousness in Christ is accessed and (2) who it is that requires and may receive this righteousness Christ provides.
(1) This righteousness is accessed “through faith.” This precise expression (Gk. dia pisteōs) occurs nine times in the NT, mostly in Paul (see also 2 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 3:9; 2 Tim. 3:15). More broadly, “faith” (pistis) occurs 243 times in the NT, including 142 times in Paul and 40 times in Romans. As used here it refers to an act and posture of personal trust in Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the gospel message (see again Rom. 1:16–17). Some have proposed that Paul speaks here of Jesus’ faithfulness. It is true that Jesus was faithful. But in commending faith Paul characteristically has in mind the sort of personal commitment that Christ called forth from him starting with his Damascus road experience onward (Acts 9:1–20).
(2) “All who believe” in Christ receive God’s righteousness through faith, because “there is no distinction.” Paul has already established the universality of human sinfulness (Rom. 1:18–3:20). There is a corresponding universality to the benefit offered in Christ.
3:23–24 “All have sinned” refers to the deeds all people commit as they defy God’s law and violate his will. Both Gentiles and Jews—all people on earth—are guilty (2:12). Paul could also have in mind Adam’s sin, which affects us all (5:12). “Fall short” is in the present tense; it describes our daily lives in comparison to God’s “glory,” his heavenly splendor and moral perfection. No one measures up to God their creator. Since God judges sin (1:18), sinners are in peril.
But just because people sin and fall short does not mean they are without hope. They can be “justified,” which could be translated here “made righteous in God’s sight.” The root of the word for “justified” is the same as that for the word translated “righteousness” in 3:21–22.
This being “justified” is “through faith” (v. 22). But even more fundamentally it is “by his grace as a gift.” Faith is the means; God’s grace is the ultimate cause. God has grace to expend through “redemption.” This word was used to describe the purchase of slaves. “In Christ Jesus” a price (or ransom) was paid. In exchange, those who believe—entrust their lives wholly to Christ—can step out of their bondage to sin and death.
3:25 “Put forward” refers to God’s sending of his Son on a mission that resulted in the cross. “Propitiation by his blood” refers to the place Jesus’ blood was shed, symbolic of the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant in Moses’ time. It also refers to the satisfaction of God’s decree that death would result from sin (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23). Jesus’ bloody sacrifice for sin, central to the gospel message, is “to be received by faith.” Faith is placed in the Jesus proclaimed as crucified for our sins (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2). This is the core of the Romans gospel (Rom. 1:16–17).
“Former sins” refers to human sinfulness prior to Jesus’ death. It could appear that God forgot about those sins. “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Jer. 12:1) is a refrain heard throughout the OT. But in Christ’s death God imputed to the one Son (“Why have you forsaken me?”; Matt. 27:46) the wickedness of the many sinful (cf. Rom. 5:15–21). This showed “God’s righteousness,” an aspect of which is his mercy. He is “slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6; echoed a dozen more times in the OT).
“Divine forbearance” refers to God’s delay of punishment. “In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, . . . giving . . . rains from heaven and fruitful seasons” despite human rebellion (Acts 14:16–17). God “passed over former sins” until the day he would “put forward” his Son to pay the price for sin—and by his resurrection conquer both sin and death.
3:26 This verse echoes the “to show God’s righteousness” in verse 25. But it gives deeper insight into (1) timing and (2) purpose.
(1) “At the present time [kairos]” highlights God’s choice of this juncture in human history to work redemption in Christ. God is righteous at all times. But the demonstration and vindication of that righteousness awaited the appearing of his Son. “At the right time [kairos] Christ died for the ungodly” (5:6).
(2) “Be just” refers to Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for sin. God had promised death as the result of sin. Simply to accept sinners as righteous would be unjust given that promise. But the Father “put forward” (3:25) the Son. Therefore the Father could “be just” to “the one who has faith in Jesus” by forgiving that person and granting a new quality of life. The Father could be that person’s “justifier.” He could regard that person as righteous based on the “redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (v. 24).
3:27 “Boasting” refers to self-confidence based on self-righteousness. People “suppress the truth” about their sinfulness by their “ungodliness and unrighteousness” (1:18). In the background to the entire section on human depravity (1:18–3:20) is the human objection that we are not as bad as the gospel call to repentance asserts.
Such “boasting” is “excluded”—but not because of some human sufficiency, competency, or performance. There is no “law of works,” no system of sufficient compliance with God’s commands, that could result in confidence before God. Any such confidence would be ill-placed—it would be culpable “boasting.” Jesus’ words to some money-loving religious experts should be recalled: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). What people boast in, God rejects.
But the exclusion of boasting does not mean there is no approach to God. There is, rather, the “law of faith.” Here “law” could mean “principle” or “norm.” Faith has its own truths and means. But it excludes boasting because it shifts focus totally from the sinner in need of confidence before God to the one in whom faith is placed. The “law of faith” points to how faith functions in laying hold of the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16–17).
3:28 “For” indicates that this verse will help explain the previous one. “We hold” points to the “standard of teaching” (6:17) underlying the gospel message in the early church. Central to that message is man’s need to be “justified,” freed from God’s wrath (1:18) and made to be at peace with God (cf. 5:1). This prized destination is attainable “by faith,” no surprise in light of the faith-rich theme Paul has already sounded (1:16–17).
To be “justified” comes about “apart from works of the law.” Meritorious actions cannot suffice, nor actions plus faith—because that would no longer be “faith” as the gospel calls for, which is comprehensive confidence in Christ and thoroughgoing rejection of sufficiency in oneself. Paul describes the stance called for in Philippians 3:9: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
3:29 If justification were by works of the law, then only Jews could be justified, because it is to them that God gave the law. So Paul asks rhetorically whether the only people who can be justified are Jews. “Is God [who justifies] the God of Jews only?” The form and emphasis of the second question (“Is he not the God of Gentiles also?”) calls forth a decided “Yes, of Gentiles also” from Paul. The gospel properly understood has universal relevance. It is for all people and peoples, because all have sinned (v. 23) and because God’s gospel invitation goes forth to the “ends of the world” (10:18).
3:30 In verse 24 Paul spoke of being “justified” in the present tense. Now he switches to the future: “will justify.” He has in mind those who will receive the gospel in days ahead. He could also have the day of judgment in mind. Whether Jews (“the circumcised”) or non-Jews (“the uncircumcised”), God will justify those who believe “through faith.” This could be translated “through the faith,” meaning “faith as I am defining it here.”
“God is one” is a reminder of the God-centeredness of Paul’s gospel teaching. “Faith” is not a religious gesture defined by people who claim to have it. Faith is rather defined by its object, since here the object is the “gospel of God . . . concerning his Son” (1:1–3). God is an all-knowing, living being who can and will sort out whose “faith” is in Christ and who, in contrast, is using a facsimile of faith to feel good about himself, impress others, or otherwise justify himself. It is only God who can justify.
3:31 On a quick reading or hearing of Romans to this point, someone could get the impression that Paul is disparaging the law by the faith he is describing and commending. But Paul emphatically negates this notion. The truth lies in the opposite direction.
Here “law” is best understood as the OT, its narrative and precepts and overall testimony to God’s present (at that time) and promised redemption of the fallen world through the covenant he made with Abraham, sealed by faith (cf. ch. 4). Of course Paul is not overthrowing the OT! He depends on it for much that he affirms in this epistle.
It is true that he is rejecting understandings of the OT that might reduce it to a set of ethical or religious behaviors that, adequately followed, result in a righteous standing before God. But Paul, like OT prophets (cf. Isaiah 1–2; Mic. 6:6–8) and Jesus (Mark 7:6–9; cf. Isa. 29:13), rejects an approach to the OT that amounts to lip service rather a change of heart via repentance and trust in God. Paul can therefore say “we uphold the law” in the sense that God intended his deeds and words to be understood and applied over the centuries during which his saving revelation unfolded, leading up to its fulfillment in the Christ Paul serves.
4:1 This verse introduces Abraham as a means to illustrate the importance and nature of the “faith” through which God justifies.
It is notable that, as he writes to primarily Gentile churches, Paul mentions numerous OT figures in his epistles. This confirms the importance Paul attaches to the salvation history stretching back to Eden (Genesis 1–3) and culminating in the person and work of Jesus. Paul names David four times, Isaiah five times, Adam seven times, and Moses ten times in his writing. But most often of all Paul mentions Abraham—once in 2 Corinthians, nine times in Galatians, and nine times in Romans. Seven of those mentions are in Romans 4.
Abraham is relevant to the discussion beginning in 3:21 because Paul is stressing that salvation is by faith, yet by this faith “we uphold the law” (3:31). Many Jews of Paul’s time viewed God, the law, and faith through a Mosaic lens (John 5:46; 9:28; Acts 6:11, 14; 21:21). This carried over into the early church (Acts 15:1, 5). Paul’s lens is Abrahamic without minimizing Moses, properly understood. What was the nature of the standing Abraham obtained before God?
4:2 Earlier Paul mentioned “boasting” (3:27). There was a belief in Judaism that Abraham’s confidence, his “boasting,” lay in his obedience—not faith as personal trust and commitment but faith as faithful compliance with God’s commands. More than a century before Jesus’ birth, in the Jewish historical writing 1 Maccabees 2, obedience and faithfulness and commandment keeping are celebrated as the way of salvation (the speaker is Mattathias, who sparked the revolution against the Syrians that Hanukkah celebrates):
In contrast to this widespread reading of Abraham, in which he was justified by circumcision and his offering up of Isaac, Paul denies that Abraham’s works justified him. He cannot “boast about” his own merit “before God.”
4:3 Paul asks, “What does the Scripture say?” because he is writing to explain the gospel (1:16–17). This is a gospel God “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures” (1:2). What Scripture says is both informative and normative for grasping the gospel message. Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 as the foundation for gauging Abraham’s importance: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Abraham’s act of believing is what opened the door for God’s declaration that he now regarded Abraham as righteous. His believing “was counted to him as righteousness.” “Was counted” is in the passive voice; the active agent behind the expression is God who justifies.
4:4 At one level this verse seems to state a common-sense observation. If an employee works and gets a paycheck, the paycheck is not a present. He earned it! In context, however, this has a deeper implication. God gifted Abraham with a righteous status, totally contrary to what he was due, because all he did was hear God’s promise and trust (v. 3). He did not work in expectation of recompense. This means Abraham’s believing, though it was an act on his part, was not a work in the sense of obedience in demand of a reward.
4:5 The first word “And” could also be translated “But,” setting up a contrast with verse 4. Paul uses the impersonal language of “the one who,” but he has biblical figures such as David (v. 6) and Abraham in mind.
Key to this verse (and this whole chapter) is that God “justifies the ungodly” (see also 5:6: “Christ died for the ungodly”). This is an astounding assertion. Is not the point of religion to provide a way for people to “get right with God,” whether by acts of worship or by deeds of kindness or by spiritual experience? Does not God reward religious commitment with his acceptance and blessing?
The gospel message is that the grace of justification precedes human acts of obedience and loyalty that God deems pleasing. Abraham did not perform meritorious acts to earn God’s favor. It was his believing that God “counted as righteousness.” The image here recalls a courtroom in which a judge renders a verdict, declaring the accused guilty or innocent. Like all humans, Abraham was a sinner—guilty! But the surprising verdict is . . . not guilty! God imputed a righteous status to a person with clay feet just like all other people. When confronted with God’s promise (Gen. 15:5), Abraham “believed the Lord” (Gen. 15:6).
4:6 Abraham lived some one thousand years before David. Between them Moses intervened and gave the law. But despite living under the law, David praised the law as something to delight in and a means for flourishing (Ps. 1:1–3). It mediated a relationship to God like the one Abraham enjoyed, namely, “the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.” This is not a doctrine cooked up by Paul but a relational reality of the spiritual DNA of faith’s forerunners like Abraham and David, who heard God’s saving promise and let it transform their hearts and lives. By the Bible’s own account, David was a man of war and a scheming adulterer. These excesses brought woe into his life; sin is never trivial. But as the psalmist confesses to God, “With you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. . . . [The Lord] will redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Ps. 130:4, 8).
4:7–8 Paul quotes the Greek OT rather than translating from the Hebrew, which is slightly different. He quotes just the first two verses of Psalm 32. But often NT quotations of the OT have the larger context of the quoted verses in mind. Such is the case here. The entire psalm is a study in the agony of guilt, the necessity of confession, and the assurance and joy of the “steadfast love” that “surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord” (Ps. 32:10) because he has been forgiven.
It is that trust that Paul highlights here. Through trust, or faith, two things (among many others) occur: (1) “lawless deeds are forgiven” and (2) “sins are covered.” The result of these truths in Romans 4:7 is expressed in verse 8: God “will not count” the trusting person’s sin. Sin is unrighteousness. But God does not “count” it; instead he “counts” faith as righteousness (vv. 3, 5, 6).
4:9 It is well and good to speak of “blessing” from the standpoint of Abraham’s descendants whom God chose and promised to bless (Gen. 12:1–3). But Paul presses the question of whether “this blessing” is “only for the circumcised.”
From a first-century Jewish standpoint, the answer for many was yes. After Peter’s glorious ministry of the gospel to Cornelius (Acts 10), when Peter “went up to Jerusalem” to report this good news to the church there was a furor. “The circumcision party,” Jews who had believed the gospel message and belonged to the church, “criticized [Peter], saying, ‘You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them’” (Acts 11:2–3). Clearly, some believed that God’s blessing was for the Jewish community only. Jews were not to even eat with Gentiles. The notion that the uncircumcised could be blessed alongside Jews was unthinkable.
It might therefore seem that non-Jews (“the uncircumcised”) are left out. Abraham was the one to whom “faith was counted . . . as righteousness.” How could people who did not bear the sign and seal of Abrahamic lineage possibly share in the blessing he was promised?
4:10 To answer that question, Paul poses two more. His “How?” question is really about “When?” Did God count Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness “before or after he had been circumcised”? Paul then immediately answers his own question. God justifies Abraham in Genesis 15:6. God gives him the circumcision command in Genesis 17. The chronology is decisive.
Much later, God praises the (virtual) sacrifice of Isaac, telling Abraham, “Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you” (Gen. 22:16–17). Blessing always attaches to obeying God’s will. But Abraham’s fidelity to God—expressed in circumcision and offering up Isaac—follows God’s affirmation of his act of trust, his believing God. This rules out the argument that circumcision (or any other “work” commanded by God) can be the basis for God’s justifying the ungodly.
4:11 Paul continues to explain the true meaning of circumcision, and thereby the significance of Abraham. Circumcision is not a meritorious marker earning acceptance by God. It is rather a “sign” and a “seal” of the righteous standing with which God graced him “while he was still uncircumcised.” A “sign” in this sense is a “distinguishing mark whereby someth[ing] is known” (BDAG, s.v. σημεῖον). Abraham and his descendants were known as God’s set-apart people by a number of practices, including dietary laws and Sabbath observance. These were not salvific in themselves; they were indicators or a “sign” of God’s claim on and expectations for this people.
“Seal” can be thought of as a certification, as when an immigration officer stamps a passport. Abraham was certified as a true child of God by the ordinance God gave him and his descendants to follow.
The second sentence of this verse is crucial. It reveals God’s missiological intention behind his dealings with Abraham. Because Abraham was justified prior to circumcision, he serves as a “father” to “all who believe without being circumcised.” These include the Gentiles Paul preaches to, including those receiving his Romans letter. As he composes this epistle, Paul has been laboring for a quarter century “so that righteousness would be counted to them as well.”
4:12 The blessing of Abraham is for the “circumcised who are not merely circumcised.” This subtle claim was anticipated in 2:29: “A Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” Paul expresses the same truth later: “Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. . . . It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (9:7–8). To receive Abraham’s blessing is not a formal matter of outward ritual; it means rather to “walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.”
Even though Paul is underscoring the importance of faith, not self-justifying works, the metaphor for faith he uses—walking in footsteps—implies a life of ongoing and costly commitment, not a one-and-done mental gesture. In no way is Paul presenting an easy believism in which obedience to God and performance of good works are irrelevant. For Jew and Gentile alike the point is for the gospel to unleash the energy of God’s love in the lives of the formerly ungodly: “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6).
4:13 “Law” has not been mentioned since 3:31. But since 4:1 Paul has been arguing with the law in mind. He has been showing from the Law (i.e., from the first book of Moses, or Genesis) how righteousness came to Abraham. The “promise” God gave to Abraham and his descendants “did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Abraham did not perform to earn a blessing but trusted and was transformed so that he could function in the future in accordance with God’s plans for him.
There were Jewish traditions in Paul’s day that taught that Abraham’s descendants were destined to rule the world. But the “promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world” relates rather to the blessing all the world would receive though Abraham. As God told him, “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 28:14; see also 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4).
“Heir of the world” means that the faith he modeled and the community of faith that traces back to him are victorious throughout the world through their link with the Lord of all. Abrahamic believers are “more than conquerors through him who loved” them (Rom. 8:37).
4:14 “Promise” (Gk. epangelia), introduced in verse 13, occurs a total of eight times in Romans (4:13, 14, 16, 20; 9:4, 8, 9; 15:8). A hymn attributed to John Calvin contains the words, “Our hope is in no other save in Thee; our faith is built upon Thy promise free.” God and what he promises are inseparable in biblical understanding: “I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word” (Ps. 138:2). “Faith” and “promise” (God’s “word”) are therefore central elements in the gospel Paul is presenting.
In contrast to those who cling in faith to God’s promise are those who are confident “adherents of the law.” Paul does not mean there is necessarily something wrong with Jews of his day who obey the law of Moses. The problem is the mentality that can inform law keeping. Paul describes it later like this: “Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works” (Rom. 9:31–32).
To approach God and his commands with the wrong outlook can render faith “null” and God’s promise “void.”
4:15 There is a reason why wrongheaded law keeping is so injurious: “the law brings wrath.” Behind God’s law is God himself, a living being who upholds and enforces what he promises and commands. He promises death for sin, which the law defines and explains. Yet he offers the “free gift” of “eternal life” through faith in Christ (6:23). In OT times this means faith in God’s promise in line with Abraham’s model. Paul’s argument in this section is not a petty concern of his own but the very marrow of the gospel message.
“Where there is no law there is no transgression” means that where the law’s condemnation has been removed by grace, breaking the law (“transgression”) is not lethal. God has dealt with that sin in Christ, whose death removes the penalty for transgression from believers’ lives. Paul also speaks of “transgression” in 2:23; 5:14. Where the law’s condemnation has not been removed, the penalty for breaking the law, which is God’s judgment and wrath, remains.
4:16 This verse draws the main point from verses 1–15. Gospel salvation through the revealing of God’s righteousness (1:16–17) “depends on faith.” This could also be translated “comes/is by faith” (NIV, CSB), a theme Paul has already sounded five times (1:17; 3:25, 28, 30; 4:11) and will repeat four more times (5:1, 2; 9:30, 32). Why is this faith principle so important?
Behind the scenes is a God who is not partial (2:11) but offers his righteousness in a saving way “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction” (3:22). Some years later Paul will write that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).
For God’s gospel promise to “rest on grace and be guaranteed to all [Abraham’s] offspring,” it could not be limited just to the “adherent of the law,” meaning the faithful Jew. The decisive characteristic of God’s people is not circumcision but the “faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
4:17 Why does Paul so often clinch arguments with “it is written”? As a Jew he venerates what we call the OT in the same way Timothy does, as Paul reminds him: “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings” (2 Tim. 3:15). Furthermore, the Gospel writers and Jesus himself use the same expression over two dozen times. Reference and deference to God’s Word written seem to have been part of the DNA of the early Christian movement. From that foundation the church through the centuries (albeit never perfectly) has viewed the Scriptures as God’s unerring truth.
What Paul cites in Romans 4:17 is Genesis 17:5. When God spoke those words to Abraham, as he did in Genesis 15:5, Abraham believed, even though at the time he had not even fathered a son, let alone a nation. But Abraham believed that God could enliven his aged body (cf. comment on Rom. 4:19) and bring something (like a people, a nation) out of nothing. Later this dogged faith continued: Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because “he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb. 11:19).
4:18 A great test of faith is whether a person can continue to believe God’s promises when appearances seem to destroy all hope. God told Abraham his offspring would be as numerous as the stars (Gen. 15:5). This was after addressing his fear: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (Gen. 15:1). He also addressed Abraham’s protest, in which the patriarch asked, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless . . . ?” (Gen. 15:2).
Accordingly, “in hope he believed against hope” means that Abraham took God at his word and remained hopeful in spite of his fear that his hopes were idle because “Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children” (Gen. 16:1). “Father of many nations” can be taken as a quantitative prediction—Abraham’s descendants would be numerous. But “nations” translates a form of the Greek word ethnoi, which can also be translated “Gentiles.” Paul has already referred to his Roman readers by this term: “that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles” (Rom. 1:13). Abraham’s descendants will be not only numerous but also varied—from bloodlines both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic.
4:19 This verse goes into more detail about Abraham’s hope and faith (v. 18). God’s promise to give him an heir seemed impossible for two reasons. One was his advanced old age. So ludicrous did the prospect of fathering a child seem that when God promised to give Sarah a child, “Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” (Gen. 17:17). Sarah’s predicament was no less dire. Genesis is clear: “The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah” (Gen. 18:11). It is understandable that Paul highlights the quality of Abraham’s commitment to God at a time when despair and disbelief would have been so easy.
4:20–21 In Greek the word order stresses the “promise of God.” Viewing his or Sarah’s age, Abraham could only laugh (Gen. 17:17). But beneath the laughter was steely resolve not to discount God by doubting his promise: “No unbelief made him waver.” On the contrary, his faith “grew strong.” Forms of this word (Gk. endynomoō, “I strengthen”) dot Paul’s writings at crucial points, as in the exhortation “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Eph. 6:10) or in “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). Abraham’s faith was tested; had it not grown it would likely have withered away.
Abraham’s growth in faith took two forms. First, “he gave glory to God.” Glorifying God can seem like a nebulous enterprise. Abraham’s example demonstrates the basic ingredient: believing what God says (Gen. 15:6). For believers today this starts with trusting what Scripture affirms. Second, he followed through on what he initially affirmed. It was a quarter century from Abraham’s departure from Haran (Gen. 12:4) to Isaac’s birth (Gen. 21:5). The discomfiting delay became a means of grace, a prolonged occasion for Abraham to confirm he was “fully convinced” that God would stand behind his word to him.
4:22 Paul returns to the verse (Gen. 15:6) and theme (Abraham’s justification through faith) that overshadows the whole of Romans 4. Specifically, Paul affirms the quality of Abrahamic faith. “Faith of this quality brings glory to God, and God graciously puts it down in the heavenly books as righteousness.” Numerous adjectives describe this quality: tenacious, long-lived, unflappable, consistent, courageous. It is not that Abraham was without fault (as when he lied; Gen. 12:13; 20:9). But God’s favor is not contingent on human perfection or even adequacy; it is by sheer mercy and grace. His favor is accessed by harking to God’s voice and believing what he says.
Calvin remarks insightfully on the quality of Abraham’s faith. It brought righteousness to him “because he depended on the Word of God, and did not reject the grace which God had promised. This relation between faith and the Word is to be carefully maintained and committed to memory, for faith can bring us no more than it has received from the Word.”
4:23 Later Paul will affirm as a matter of principle that Scripture often has multiple applications. Genesis 15:6 is a narrative from Moses documenting what Abraham did. It spoke to Hebrew and Jewish readers for over a millennium prior to the coming of Jesus. But as Paul notes elsewhere, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Paul viewed Genesis as God’s true and living Word for him and for the church of his time. Readers today extend the sequence: Scripture’s teaching about Abraham’s justification through faith holds promise for current times as much as it did for Paul’s.
4:24 “It” refers to faith of the quality exercised by Abraham. If we exercise it ourselves we too will be counted righteous. Paul may be speaking prospectively of people who have not yet believed, or of vindication on the last day, or of both.
Faith here is not solely faith in the fact that God raised Jesus. It is rather believing “in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord.” Belief in the fact is necessary but not sufficient. The difference is subtle but enormous. Abraham’s faith was not just in a fact; it opened up a line of interpersonal rapport between him and God. It was mysterious, as God transcends full human knowledge, but it was personal, and as events bore out it was real. “Our Lord” (not just “the Lord”) reflects the personal nature of the faith Paul has in mind. God is not just recognized as a force able to raise the dead. He is known as a living and loving being who demonstrated his tangible and visible care, as well as his patient and long-suffering character, in sending Jesus—and in establishing a fresh, life-giving communion with undeserving sinners who lift their eyes and hearts to him.
4:25 While the resurrection of Jesus is vital (v. 24; see also 10:9), it was part of an even more fundamental act of God in sending Jesus. The Jesus “raised for our justification” was the Jesus “delivered up for our trespasses.” God the Father’s two-pronged saving act in his Son cannot be reduced to just one or the other. Either command alone, “Believe he died for your sins” or “Believe he rose from the dead,” distorts the full and only authentic depiction of what God did to save sinners and what they are called to affirm in response.
“Delivered up for” can be translated “delivered up because of.” Human trespass required the magnitude of the remarkable remedy God provided. In the same way, “raised for” can be translated “raised because of.” God’s justification is an all-encompassing, life-transforming move on his part. Nothing less than Jesus’ resurrection would declare him to be the “Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness” (1:4) and give him the authority to be God’s instrument of justifying the ungodly, transforming death to life through faith both (1) that he was raised and (2) in the one who raised him.
5:1 The word translated “therefore” (Gk. oun) often marks major transitions or inferences in Romans; such is the case here. In light of divine wrath and human sin (1:18–3:20), bare forgiveness would be an infinite treasure. But “peace” denotes full fellowship and well-being. Such peace had already been known and promised through a king in David’s lineage (Isa. 9:6–7; Ezek. 34:23–31; 37:24–28; Mic. 5:4–5). It is now confirmed and enhanced “through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Some ancient manuscripts read “let us have peace” rather than the indicative statement “we have peace.” Certainly “peace with everyone” is worth striving for (Heb. 12:14). But that verse speaks of interpersonal harmony. Paul here is emphasizing the peace won by Christ (Rom. 3:21–31), with its pronounced vertical dimension—it proceeds from God. Abraham’s pilgrimage of faith and God’s favor (ch. 4) exemplified that peace. “Peace with God” like Abraham obtained (4:1), with the result that “he was called a friend of God” (James 2:23), is already available for full appropriation by those who “have been justified by faith” in line with Abraham’s precedent.
5:2 Peace with God is a first major benefit of being “justified by faith” (v. 1). A second benefit now follows: “access.” As BDAG (s.v. προσαγωγή) notes, “A status factor is implied.” Through Christ the status of a sinner changes from unacceptable before God to welcome before him. Paul speaks of the means, the destination, and the result of this access.
The means is “by faith.” Paul has just used these words (Gk. tē pistei) to describe Abraham’s not weakening “in faith” (4:19) but growing strong “in his faith” (4:20). Paul has in mind not a vague or weak faith but a faith comparable to Abraham’s.
The destination of this “access” is “this grace in which we stand.” Outside of faith in God through Christ our position is one not of grace but of condemnation. We have no prospect for peace with God but are exposed to his wrath. Grace gives us a sheltered and favored place to center our life.
The result of this access is a strong and joyous confidence in the sure expectation (“hope”) of God’s glorious goodness and favorable regard. “Rejoice” translates a verb normally rendered “boast, glory, pride oneself.” People seek a reason for living that buoys them with purpose and value. That reason, for those changed by the gospel message, lies in a “hope” with present and future value (namely, heaven [Col. 1:5] and Christ’s glorious future reign [Titus 2:13]).
5:3 It is one thing to rejoice in what is favorable and desirable (cf. v. 2). But what about in “sufferings,” life’s tribulations and afflictions? Paul has in mind sufferings that arise in connection with a believer’s commitment to Christ, not primarily the woes common to humanity nor the pain brought on by sin or rebellion against God.
Paul commends “sufferings” not because suffering is good in itself but because for those who stand in grace (v. 2) there is a redemptive outcome: “endurance” (Gk. hypomonē). This word is also translated “patience” (2:7; 8:25) or “steadfastness” (2 Thess. 3:5; 2 Tim. 3:10; Titus 2:2). Endurance results from strong love of God (1 Cor. 13:7). It is a primary motivation in evangelism (2 Tim. 3:10). It is also the path of future joy and reward and the antidote to apostasy: “If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Tim. 2:12).
In marriage, hardships endured together often produce a stronger, growing bond. Suffering for the Christian cause can have the same effect for believers with God and with others in the worldwide communion of the saints.
5:4 A popular philosophy of Paul’s time was stoicism. It commended endurance in the face of a blind and inexorable fate that was every person’s lot. Stoics taught that there is no conscious afterlife.
Paul believed that “endurance produces character.” This is not a grim badge of mental fortitude against life’s meaninglessness. Trials are occasions for growth in grace and “character,” which means personality and behavior traits in line with God and his will. God is not indifferent to our personal formation but seeks to deepen and sharpen our coping skills and capacity for loving, serving, and enjoying himself and others.
Character, in turn, produces hope in a cycle that begins with sufferings (v. 3). This process was prominent in Paul’s life: “Light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). As Christian character develops, believers progress in the confidence that their self-sacrifice is worthwhile (Rom. 12:1). They learn the secret of prospering inwardly, before God, whether or not their outer circumstances seem favorable (Phil. 4:12). The assurance that fuels Christian poise and purpose in adversity is hope.
5:5 Hope completes the cycle that began with an earlier, initial hope (v. 2). This hard-won hope “does not put us to shame.” This could mean we are not disappointed but pleased. It could also mean we are not condemned by God (the meaning of “put to shame” in Rom. 9:33; 10:11). Hopelessness is a condition no one seeks and some do not survive. At the very least it can leave a life awash in despair. But faith in Christ initiates a cycle (initial hope–sufferings–endurance–proven character–enhanced hope) that continually challenges us and refreshes our sense of future promise. This gives motivation for daily faithfulness and the hard work of service for God and others.
Fueling the process is God’s living, personal presence. Christians do not serve a concept or a flowchart of virtues. Rather, and most importantly, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Elsewhere Paul reminds us that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). There is liberation from the bondage of living without hope, or with false or tawdry hope, on the horizon.
Personal awareness of God, and interchange with God, characterized a man of faith like Abraham; believers walking in that same faith find an abundance of love inside them from and for God. “Poured” implies abundance—not drips but a flowing stream. “Given” is in the passive voice and points to God the generous giver.
5:6 “For” indicates that Paul will give a reason for God’s lavish outpouring of love and his Holy Spirit (v. 5). The center of the explanation: “Christ died for the ungodly.” If human perfection or even goodness were the prerequisite for God’s favor, there would be no hope. But there is hope, because of the doctrinal bedrock Paul has already laid down: “To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (4:5). Christ died for those who in themselves have no claim to his benefits.
“Weak” means sickly or feeble. Human self-righteousness is strong, and suppression of God’s truth (1:18) is a burgeoning human enterprise in all times and places. But the end of those things is death (6:23). On the other hand, a divine act in which we play no role opens the possibility of God’s love and Spirit (5:5).
“At the right time” points to Paul’s conviction that Christ’s coming, death, resurrection, and indeed all he accomplished were planned by God and unfolded “when the fullness of time had come” (Gal. 4:4). “The times and the seasons” (1 Thess. 5:1) are in God’s hands. This too is a basis for hope.
5:7–8 Paul argues from a lesser truth to a greater one in order to dramatize the force and power of Christ’s death “for the ungodly” (v. 6), which is to say, “for us” (v. 8).
The lesser truth is that people do occasionally lay down their lives for others—but this is neither normal nor common. If our well-being depends on someone’s sacrificing his or her life for us, our prospects are dim.
Paul concedes, “Perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.” Kruse points out that in the Roman setting of client-benefactor relationships, it would have been thinkable for a lesser important person (a client) to be willing to die for an honorable person of privilege from whom he had benefited (a benefactor). But this exception only underscores the general truth: the instinct of self-preservation is generally stronger than a willingness to die so that someone else can live and prosper. In biblical annals, Moses’ offer to be blotted out of God’s book of life for the sake of fellow Israelites stands out precisely because such a daring move shocks by its selflessness (Ex. 32:32).
The greater truth is that Christ died for sinners (Rom. 5:8). Paul is aware that Christ was sinless (2 Cor. 5:21) and so did not deserve to die for sin. Nor did he die hoping to call forth such improvement in observers that they would merit God’s favor. On the contrary, he died for us “while we were still sinners.” “Shows” in Romans 5:8 means to demonstrate so as to commend. What God commended in Christ’s death was “his love”—which could be translated “his own love.” There is a quality and might in that love that sets it apart from all human facsimiles, as God is qualitatively distinct from any human.
The magnitude and excellence of the sacrifice Christ made argues for trust in God despite the cycle of suffering that begins with hope and ends with greater hope in verses 2–5.
5:9 “Therefore” indicates Paul is making an inference from what precedes. Paul has asserted that justification results in peace with God and access to grace and rejoicing (vv. 1–2). Faith in Christ involves sufferings, but those sufferings begin and end in hope (vv. 3–5). Christ’s death vouchsafes the promise of God’s love (vv. 6–8). Now in verse 9 Paul returns to justification and its fruits.
“By his blood” confirms the foundational importance of Jesus’ death for the salvation promised in the gospel message. “Saved by faith” does not refer to faith saving in the same sense that Christ saved by dying. It rather points to faith as the instrument God uses to give us access to the objective event of the sinless Son of God dying for the sake of sinners.
Justification grounded in Jesus’ cross is not the end of the matter. It deals with past sins and present standing, but what about the future? “Saved by him from the wrath of God” confirms Paul’s conviction (underscored in vv. 12–21) that all people live under the shadow of coming judgment. That explains in part why Paul moved from talk of gospel good news (1:16–17) so quickly and fulsomely to wrath and sin (1:18–3:20).
5:10 Using a lesser-to-greater argument once more, Paul reasons from the past fact of Jesus’ death and its benefits to being “saved by his life.” “His life” could refer to Jesus’ resurrection, to his continuing life and intercession at the Father’s right hand (8:34), or to both. “Shall . . . be saved” implies deliverance in the future from eschatological judgment.
“Reconciled” translates a verb that occurs with this meaning only three other times in the NT (2 Cor. 5:18–20). The word describes a state of resolution between two formerly hostile parties. Without justification (Rom. 5:1, 9), people are estranged from God—they are “enemies.” The construction “if while we were enemies” implies that we all were, in line with Romans 3:23.
If Christ’s death, resulting in justification for those who believe in him, results in cessation of God’s wrath and even positive peace—God and the believer reconciled—all the more can we be confident of deliverance at the coming judgment (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10).
5:11 The benefit of justification (v. 9) and reconciliation (v. 10) is not merely future, great though that be. “More than that, we also rejoice” in the current moment (cf. comment on 5:2 on the almost identical verbal form likewise translated “rejoice”).
The still greater contrast between verses 10 and 11 lies here: Verse 10 stresses the conceptual consolation of Jesus’ reconciling death—believers, who “were enemies,” need fear judgment no more. Verse 11 stresses the relational consolation—joy lies not just in the fact of freedom from judgment but “more than that [comes] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Behind our reconciliation is a creator and redeemer, and not a distant deity but a God disclosed in human form. He is the one “through whom we have now received reconciliation.” His truths connect us to him personally.
As great as doctrinal truths like justification and reconciliation are, they are not abstract assertions but descriptions of the living God’s will and actions, expressing his love and a “kindness . . . meant to lead . . . to repentance” (2:4).
5:12 This verse introduces a section notorious for difficulty. It helps at the outset to note that verse 12 connects directly with verse 18. In other words, beginning in verse 13 Paul digresses to explain verse 12. His digression swells to include verses 13–17. Then in verse 18 he restates verse 12 (the entrance of sin and death into the world) and adds a positive side (Christ’s “act of righteousness”), which he anticipates in verses 15–17.
What Paul states in verse 12, taken alone, is fairly straightforward:
(1) “Sin came into the world through one man.” Paul simplifies the details of Genesis 3, in which Eve takes the lead (as Paul knows; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14).
(2) Death came into the world “through sin.” God had promised that sin would result in death (Gen. 2:17). Following the transgression in Eden, God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden so they would not “take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Gen. 3:22–24). Because of sin, they would eventually die. The portal to eternal life became not a piece of fruit but physical death and resurrection of the body, as Jesus’ example and teaching indicate.
(3) Through Adam’s sin “death spread to all men because all sinned.” Post-Eden, no person in the history of mankind has been free of sin, except one. Behind death’s mystery, sadness, and sometimes terror lies human sin—not only Adam and Eve’s but also our own, which confirms that we are complicit. We are guilty both by nature and by willing action.
5:13 Verse 12 said that death is the result of Eden’s sin. This sin occurred prior to the formal presentation of the law through Moses. Sin was “not counted” in the sense that the written moral code was not violated. But this does not mean there was no violation of God’s law. Adam and Eve knew God’s will because he had spoken it to them. Created in his image (Gen. 1:26), they would also have possessed his moral probity innately. God’s wisdom and will are deeper and more sweeping than their written articulation can capture.
This verse anticipates a point Paul will make later: when it comes to human sin, the problem is not the law. “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!” (Rom. 7:7). The problem of sin in the world is the fault not of God’s law but of those who break it, not by their calculation but in the eyes of God.
5:14 “Death reigned” points to the fact that the penalty for sin stated in the law—death—was in effect from Adam until the time God gave the law in a formal way to Moses. Adam and Eve’s descendants down to the time of Moses were as guilty of sin, and as subject to death, as were their first parents. Adam’s sin had a ripple effect from him to his pre-law descendants and to their descendants down to Moses and beyond. In that sense Adam’s sin was unique. But the effect of sin was no different for “those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.” The result was spiritual separation from God and eventually physical death.
“A type of the one who was to come” foreshadows Paul’s major point in coming verses. As one man, Adam, had a fateful effect on the human race, “the one who was to come” would likewise make a countermove with universal implications—not that all would be saved by that countermove but that all would be affected and held responsible to respond to that countermove with the “obedience of faith” (1:5; 16:26; cf. 15:18).
5:15 Paul has already stated that sinners are “justified by his grace as a gift” (3:24). Now he contrasts the free gift of justification, on the one hand, with Adam’s sin, “the trespass,” on the other. How do the two relate?
They are unlike each other. Adam’s trespass wrought havoc on “many,” which here means the whole human race. Death spread to all because all were guilty of sin in Adam’s wake. In contrast to the trespass, however, there is grace. It has “abounded for many,” meaning all who received God’s covenant promise prior to Jesus’ coming and all who have believed in him since. Revealing his affirmation of Christ’s deity, Paul places the “grace of God” and the “grace of that one man Jesus Christ” in parallel—this lavish gift flows from Father and Son equally. And their dual grace abounds for “many”—the myriads who receive the gospel promise.
5:16 Verse 15 highlighted one contrast. This verse highlights another: the difference between the result of God’s “free gift” and the result of Adam’s sin. That sin brought “judgment” (Gk. krima, “the determination of guilt”), the outcome of which is “condemnation” (katakrima, “the execution of punishment for guilt”). This word for “condemnation” occurs elsewhere in the NT only at 5:18 and 8:1 (where BDAG renders it “death-sentence”).
In the light of “many trespasses,” one could expect much guilt and condemnation. But the first man Adam does not have the last word; the “free gift” does. Despite untold transgressions, the gift “brought justification.” Grace results in God’s pronouncement of acceptance in his sight.
5:17 Paul digs still deeper into the contrast. The topic clearly fascinates him, as well it should. There is an inexorable consequence of Adam’s sin: “death reigned.” The same expression is found in verses 14, 21. Death is the human dilemma that ties together this entire section (vv. 12–21).
The grim reign of sin and death counts for a lot. But there is a still greater reign. Offsetting the one man Adam, “through the one man Jesus Christ” those who receive his grace and the “free gift of righteousness” will “reign in life.” Paul uses the future tense (“will . . . reign”) because he is speaking prospectively about the result when people receive the gospel message. He says “reign in life” to express the practical outcome of gospel reception. It is not just changed perception or mental adjustment; it transforms the entire life of “those who receive” the grace and gift.
5:18 Paul returns to the thought he left at verse 12. Drawing on verses 13–17, he makes a summary inference (“Therefore”) based on the now-established fact that “one trespass led to condemnation for all men.” Eden’s sin led to a calamitous chain reaction that is still with us and ongoing.
But Eden’s baleful consequence has been nullified for believers through Christ’s death, the core of the “one act of righteousness” Paul cites (recall 3:24–25). That act replaces condemnation with justification. It replaces judgment and death with life.
“For all men” cannot be taken to mean universal salvation for all humans, because Paul stresses “faith” (Gk. pistis; 35 times) and “believe” (pisteuō; 20 times) so frequently in Romans. He means “for all persons who believe and receive the gospel message of Christ crucified and risen.” This is confirmed in 5:19, which says “many will be made righteous,” not all.
5:19 Paul succinctly summarizes the Adam-Christ parallel dominating this section. The parallel is not symmetrical, as Adam’s act was disastrous—“the many were made sinners.” Elsewhere Paul has spoken of the effect of Adam’s disobedience not just on “many” but on “all” (vv. 12, 18; see also 3:23).
In contrast to Adam, who disobeyed, Christ perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father. In contrast to woe to all of Adam’s descendants, “the many will be made righteous” through the “one man’s obedience.” To summarize, deserved punishment is offset by the undeserved gift of being “made righteous.”
The two verbs in this sentence (“were made,” “will be made”) are in the passive voice. In both cases the active agent is God. He determined the status of guilty and will also impute the righteousness of the one man Jesus Christ to the many who believe.
5:20 The “law” in its most basic sense is God’s perfect character and will. One reason God gave the law (primarily to and through Moses, though knowledge of God’s will goes back to Eden; cf. v. 13) was to “increase the trespass.” The law makes explicit what people might otherwise excuse or rationalize. It defines and quantifies transgression and in that sense increases it.
Further, due to sin, when people know what God forbids, it may stir them up to pursue that forbidden thing. Call it the “cookie-jar effect”—when a parent bakes fresh cookies, puts them in the jar, and then announces, “I have made fresh cookies. Stay out of the cookie jar,” experience teaches that many children will not rest until they see if they can raid the jar without getting caught. They may know that the wages of this act will be punishment if they are found out. But the prohibition from above (parental authority) stirs them up within to disobey. Paul describes this later in speaking of how “our sinful passions, aroused by the law, . . . work in our members to bear fruit for death” (7:5).
But the exacerbation of sin by the law is not the end of the matter. “Grace abounded all the more.” Sin abounded, but grace superabounded.
5:21 This verse completes the section by setting forth the inevitability of the dominance of sin yet also the promise of the triumph of grace. Sin’s reign is a historical fact stretching back to Eden. Paul writes “might reign” not because grace is uncertain but because many will choose not to believe the message that mediates this grace.
But for all who do believe, grace reigns “through righteousness.” This is the righteousness Christ fulfilled as well as the righteousness God offers based on his sacrifice and resurrection. And this is not only a righteousness that looks back to its establishment; it leads somewhere in the future as well. Namely, the outcome is “eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is correct to think of this “eternal life” both in temporal terms (it never, ever, ends) and in terms of quality of life in the here and now. As Jesus puts it, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
The chapters of Romans ahead correct misunderstandings and sketch more detail of this abundant “eternal life.” Paul will detail ways in which life in Christ through believing in him is vastly preferable to life shut up under the constraints that come with membership solely in the communion of Adam.