Study Guide on Romans Chapter Four helps you dig deeper into Scripture under the guidance of top New Testament scholars. With thoughtful questions and helpful background and cultural information, they’re designed to help you or your group understand God’s Word more fully.
Paul uses Abraham as the human paradigm of living in a right covenant relationship with God. He argues that this was not the result of law-keeping, but because Abraham trusted God’s promise about his seed.
Abraham’s Faith
The fourth chapter is devoted to the righteousness of Abraham. The Jews were proud to look upon their forefather as the father of all that believe. Paul corrects their faulty views, showing that it is not by circumcision or works that one is declared righteous but that they “believe in God” (4:6). He also shows that Abraham was a father of both the uncircumcised Gentiles and of the Jews who believed (4:9-12).
For Paul, Abraham’s faith is the key to understanding that receiving God’s promises depends not on law-keeping but on believing in Him. This is a crucial truth to understand since the promise was made centuries before any laws existed! If receiving the promise depended on keeping the law, no one would have been able to claim it. But that’s not how God works. He promises and gives gifts based on faith. He is a God who is able to do all that He has promised.
David’s Faith
When it comes to biblical heroes, David may be the greatest of all. He is known for being the slayer of Goliath and as the man after God’s own heart. His story begins when he was still a young man tending his family’s herd of sheep. It was there that he heard Goliath challenge Israel’s army to a fight.
Rather than fleeing the scene like the others did, David decided to fight. He believed that his God could win the battle. He also knew that his experience fighting lions and bears had increased his faith.
He remembered that God had delivered them from those animals, and he believed that his victory over the giant would be no different. His focus was on God’s character and promises and he wasn’t afraid to face down this massive enemy. God rewarded his faith. He became the king of Israel. Redemption ran in his bloodline, as he was descended from Boaz and Ruth.
The Gentiles’ Faith
As Paul concludes chapter four, he brings up one final example of God reaching out to Gentiles. This is the story of Jonah and Nineveh, a great city full of sinful Gentiles who had unknowingly been visited by God’s prophet. He warned them of their sinful ways, and they responded to his message by repenting of their wickedness.
They were saved from destruction because of their faith. They trusted in the promise that a God who can bring life out of dry bones can also give life to dead Gentiles in their sinful ways.
Peter’s interaction with Cornelius is another example of God accepting Gentiles into his church. He demonstrates that old classifications of “clean” and “unclean” do not apply. Abraham is counted as righteous by faith, even though he was uncircumcised (Genesis 15:6). If he could be declared righteous without circumcision, then so can anyone. Paul has emphasized throughout his letter that the gospel of grace is not a gospel for only Jewish people, but it is a gospel for all nations.
Our Faith
Our faith is rooted in God’s promises, not our own performance. This truth is at the heart of Paul’s argument in Romans 4. He uses Abraham, David, and himself to make his case that the only ones who are saved are those who believe in Christ.
This is why he emphasizes that saving faith is future oriented and is trusting in something that has not yet happened, like God’s promise to justify the ungodly by grace alone, apart from works (3:26).
In verse 19, Paul points out that when Abraham believed in God’s promise, it was an “abiding in hope against hope.” It was a “conviction in the presence of a great and terrible trouble,” but he did not waver or weaken in his faith. This is what glorifies God: not merely believing that God will do something in the future, but believing and growing strong that He will do it, even in the face of adversity.
