Romans 4
1 Abraham is the [revered] ancestor of us [Jews]. So think about what we can conclude [from what happened to Abraham about how God can erase the record of our sins]. [RHQ]
What then, it may be asked, are we to say about Abraham, the ancestor of our nation?
2 If it was because of Abraham’s doing [good] things that the record of his sins was erased {that [God] erased the record of his sins}, Abraham could then have been able to boast [about that to people], but he would not have [had any basis to] boast to God [about it].
If he was pronounced righteous as the result of obedience, then he has something to boast of. Yes, but not before God.
3 [Remember that] in the Scriptures it is written {someone wrote} [PRS] that Abraham believed what God [promised] [RHQ], and as a result the record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins}.
For what are the words of scripture? “Abraham had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.”
4 If we receive wages for work that we do, those wages are not considered to be a gift. Instead, they [are considered] to be what we have earned. [Similarly, if God erases the record of our sins because we did things to earn God’s favor], we would not consider that [God’s erasing the record of our sin] was [a gift. Instead, we would consider it as what we had earned].
Now wages are regarded as due to the person who works, not as a favour, but as a debt;
5 But suppose that we do not do things [to gain God’s acceptance]. Suppose that we instead trust [in God], who erases the record of sins of wicked people. Then the erasing of the record of our sins because of our trusting [in Christ] is considered to be a gift to us, [not something that we earned].
while, as for the person who does not rely on their obedience, but has faith in him who can pronounce the godless righteous, their faith is regarded by God as righteousness.
6 Similarly, it is as David wrote [in the Psalms] about people being happy whose record of sins God has erased even though they have not done things [to earn it. David wrote]:
In precisely the same way David speaks of the blessing pronounced on the person who is regarded by God as righteous apart from actions –
7 [God] is pleased with people whose sins have been {whose sins [he] has} forgiven, and whose sins he [has decided] to forget [DOU].
“Blessed are those whose wrongdoings have been forgiven and over whose sins a veil has been drawn!
8 [God] causes to be happy the people whose sins he no longer keeps a record of.
Blessed the man whom the Lord will never regard as sinful!”
9 As for our being happy [because God has erased the record of our sins], (it is not something that [only] we Jews [can experience]./is it [MTY] something that [only] we Jews [can experience]?) [RHQ] [No, it is] also something that non-Jews [can experience] [MTY]. [What is written in the Scriptures], that it was because Abraham trusted [in God] that the record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins}, [also shows that this is true].
Is this blessing, then, pronounced on the circumcised only or on the uncircumcised as well? We say that – “Abraham’s faith was regarded by God as righteousness.”
10 ([Think about] when [God erased the record of Abraham’s sins]./When did [God erase the record of Abraham’s sins]?) [RHQ] (Consider whether [it happened] after someone circumcised [Abraham to mark him as one who belonged to God], or before someone circumcised him./[Did it happen] after [Abraham was] circumcised [to be marked as one who belonged to God], or before he was circumcised?) [RHQ] It happened before he was circumcised, not after he was circumcised.
Under what circumstances, then, did this take place? After his circumcision or before it?
11 [Many years later, God commanded that] Abraham [be] circumcised. Abraham’s accepting that ritual simply showed [that he knew that God had accepted him]. [He knew that God] had [erased the record of his sins] because he trusted [in God] while he was still, [in effect, a non-Jew because] he had not been circumcised. [So we can understand that] Abraham became (a spiritual ancestor/like an ancestor) to [all] of us whose record of sins has been erased {whose sins [God] has erased the record of} because we believe [in God’s promise, even though some of us] are not circumcised.
Not after, but before. And it was as a sign of this that he received the rite of circumcision – to show the righteousness due to the faith of an uncircumcised man – in order that he might be the father of all who have faith in God even when uncircumcised, so that they also may be regarded by God as righteous;
12 Likewise, Abraham is the [spiritual] ancestor of all us Jews who are not merely circumcised but who, more importantly, [believe in God’s promise] as our ancestor Abraham did, even before he was circumcised.
as well as father of the circumcised – to those who are not only circumcised, but who also follow our father Abraham in that faith which he had while still uncircumcised.
13 God promised Abraham and his descendants that they would receive [the blessings that he promised to give to the people in] the world. But when he promised that, it was not because Abraham [obeyed] the laws [that God later gave to Moses]. Instead, it was because Abraham believed [that God would do what he promised that he would do]. As a result, God erased the record of his sins.
For the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his descendants through Law, but through the righteousness due to faith.
14 If [we think that] it is those who [obey God’s] laws who will receive [what he has promised], it is useless [for us to trust in him. And what he] promised is worthless. [Remember that] it is [stated] in God’s law [PRS] [that] he will punish [people who do not perfectly obey them], and remember that wherever [MTY] laws exist, [people] disobey them [LIT].
If those who take their stand on Law are to inherit the world, then faith is robbed of its meaning and the promise comes to nothing!
Law entails punishment; but, where no Law exists, no breach of it is possible.
16 So it is because [we] trust [in God that we will receive the things that he has promised]. [It is not because we perfectly obey God’s laws. He wants] (to [erase the record of our sins/to declare us no longer guilty]) without our earning it. As a result, what God now promises, he guarantees to give to all people who are [Abraham’s spiritual] descendants. [He promises to do that not only for us Jewish believers], who [have] God’s laws [and trust in him as Abraham did], but also for those [non-Jews who do not have God’s laws but] who trust [in him] as Abraham did. Abraham is the [spiritual] ancestor of all of us [believers].
That is why everything is made to depend on faith: so that everything may be God’s gift, and in order that the fulfilment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham’s descendants – not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the father of us all;
17 What is written {What [Moses] wrote} [in the Scriptures about what God promised Abraham shows that this is true]. [God said to him], “It is in order that you [(sg)] may be the ancestor of many ethnic groups that I have chosen you.” Romans 4:17b-22 God [guaranteed that he would give Abraham many descendants]. Abraham confidently believed that God [would do that],
as scripture says – “I have made you the father of many nations.”) And this they do in the sight of that God in whom Abraham had faith, and who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what does not yet exist as if it did.
18 even though there was no physical reason for him to hope [that he would have descendants, because he and his wife were too old to bear children]. But God is the one who causes dead people to live again, and who talks about things that do not yet exist as already existing. [God said to Abraham], “You will have so many descendants that they will be [as impossible to count as the stars].” And Abraham believed that, and he believed that he would become the ancestor of many ethnic groups.
With no ground for hope, Abraham, sustained by hope, put faith in God; in order that, in fulfilment of the words – “So many will your descendants be,” he might become “the father of many nations.”
19 He did not doubt [that God would do what he promised], even though he knew that his body was already [as incapable of begetting children as if he were] dead [MET] because he was about 100 years old. And [even though he realized that] Sarah had never been able to become pregnant [IDM],
Though he was nearly a hundred years old, yet his faith did not fail him, even when he thought of his own body, then utterly worn out, and remembered that Sarah was past bearing children.
20 he did not doubt at all that God [would do what he had] promised. Instead, he trusted [in God] more/very strongly, and he thanked God [for what God was going to do].
He was not led by want of faith to doubt God’s promise.
21 He was also convinced {very sure} that the thing that God promised, God was able to do.
On the contrary, his faith gave him strength; and he praised God, in the firm conviction that what God has promised he is also able to carry out.
22 And that is the reason that the record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins}.
And therefore his faith “was regarded as righteousness.”
23 The words [in the Scriptures], “The record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins},” are not only about Abraham.
Now these words – “it was regarded as righteousness” – were not written with reference to Abraham only;
24 They were also written {[They] also wrote that} for us whose record of sins would be erased {[God] would erase}. They were written {[They] wrote it} for us who believe [God], the one who caused our Lord Jesus to become alive again after he died.
but also with reference to us. Our faith, too, will be regarded by God in the same light, if we have faith in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead;
25 Jesus allowed [men] to execute [MTY] him so that [God could forgive] our evil deeds. And [God] caused Jesus to live again because [God wanted to show that because of the death of Jesus he was able to] erase the record of our sins.
for Jesus was given up to death to atone for our offences, and was raised to life that we might be pronounced righteous.
