Romans 4 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

396 397a gift, but as something owed. 4.5 But then to the one not working (for wages), but395(...continued)services to building hospitals in third-world countries (such as Albert Schweitzer in CentralAfrica), etc. Abraham was such a “worker”–he was constantly obedient to the divine call, butnot in terms of a “hired worker,” saying “I will do this, if you will give me that...” In Genesis15:2-3 Abraham asks YHWH what he will give him, since he has no child, but still, the promisethat Abraham had been given did not come as a payment or reward for work Abraham haddone. No that call with its promise came, as it were, “out of the blue,” as a free gift of God thatAbraham had not and could not earn or deserve. This is, we think, what Paul is talking about.396Moo comments that “...Paul lays down a general principle about the ‘reckoning’ or‘accounting’ of ‘wages’ to a worker. If a person ‘works,’ says Paul, the pay he or she receivesin return is a matter of obligation, or fair compensation; the employer ‘owes’ the worker acertain wage and is not giving it ‘freely,’ or ‘without compulsion’...“The implicit ‘theologic’ of Paul is clear: since work means the reward is given byobligation, the reward of righteousness must not be dependent on work–for God is neverobliged by his creatures; justification is a gift, freely bestowed, not a wage, justly earned. ThatGod acts toward his creatures graciously– without compulsion or necessity–is one of Paul’snon-negotiable theological axioms. He uses it here to show that the faith that gainedrighteousness for Abraham was a faith that excluded works...“It flew in the face of the dominant Jewish theology of the day, which joined faith andworks closely together, resulting in a kind of synergism with respect to salvation. Against this,Paul argues that the ‘reckoning’ of faith for righteousness–in Abraham’s life, or in anyoneelse’s–is a reckoning that is wholly of grace and must be, then, based on faith.” (Pp. 263-64)We appreciate Moo’s great scholarship and amazing attention to detail in his study ofRomans. But we do not see righteousness being depicted as a “reward” bestowed onAbraham in this passage. Rather, we think, the passage depicts God as recognizingAbraham’s faith or trust as constituting a “right-relationship” with God, and as being consideredby God as genuine “righteousness.” It was a faith, a trust, that was placed in God withoutthought of “payment” or “reward,” even though a great reward was part of the promise.We think that here Paul is making a general observation concerning human experience.People who have entered into a labor contract, agreeing to work for a certain time, inconsideration of specified wages agreed upon in a contract, do not look upon their pay as a"gift." Not at all. It is a “commercial contract,” and their payment upon the performance of thework is owed to them; they deserve it, because of the work they have done. There is noconsideration of "gracious favor" or "free gift" involved in such a payment.Cranfield comments that "The sense intended by [‘not working’ or ‘working’] wouldseem to be 'to him who does no works which establish a claim on God' or 'to him who has noclaim on God on the ground of works,' and, by contrast, '...to him who does works whichestablish a claim on God...' Calvin was...right to observe that Paul has no intention ofdiscouraging the doing of good works... 'To the one not working' does not imply that Abrahamdid no good works, but only that he did none which constituted a claim on God.’" (P. 232)(continued...)217