Romans 4 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

402 403considered for a right-relationship, 4.6 just as David also pronounces the happiness of the399(...continued)ungodly, who will not turn from their head-long rush to death.Paul's opponents would resent his use of such an adjective in his discussion ofAbraham--whom they considered totally "godly" and "reverent." Paul does not in fact describeAbraham as "godless"; but he does use this word in terms of the kind of God Abraham served--the God who makes the godless rightly-related through gracious forgiveness.And the fact is that the story of Abraham in Genesis reveals throughout that Abrahamwas very "human," and characterized by "fear for the future." Because of that fear, he enteredinto an agreement with his wife to tell people that they were brother and sister (implying thatshe was not his wife), thereby allowing Pharaoh in Egypt, and at a later time the Canaanite /Philistine Abimelech, to take her, out of fear for his own safety, as well as in order to gainwealth.It has been claimed that to describe Abraham's action as those of a "pimp" is totallyunfair. How then should we describe his actions, drawn out so clearly in Genesis? What kindof act is it when a husband gives his wife to another man, claiming she is only his sister--insuch a way as to protect and gain wealth for himself? Is this the act of a "godly" or "ungodly"person? It is true that Paul does not call Abraham a "procurer" or "panderer," or "pimp." Buthe does introduce this matter of the "ungodly," who must relate to God in terms of free gift andgracious favor, instead of in terms of "debt" and "payment owed." What do you think?Cranfield comments that Paul's use of this word "godless" in his description of Abrahamis very important: "To say that Abraham was one who had no claim on God on the ground ofworks...is tantamount to saying that he was ungodly...So the faith which he had in God wasnecessarily faith in the God who justifies the ungodly. That God does do just this is themeaning of His grace...” (P. 232)400The Jewish Bible forbids this matter of "making the ungodly rightly-related." See, forexample, such passages as Exodus 23:7, which says in Hebrew, "...For I will not make awicked person rightly-related!" (See also Proverbs 17:15 (YHWH detests acquittal of theguilty); 24:24 (people will curse and nations denounce one who says to the guilty, “You areinnocent”) and Isaiah 5:23 (woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe).But these passages are forbidding a cheap, easy justifying of the guilty apart from anypenitence on their part; while what God is doing for the ungodly in Jesus (and for Abraham inGenesis 15) is a matter of responding in grace to the genuine trust and obedience that hesees in his people. Taken as a whole, Paul's teaching concerning God's gracious favor is notby any means a cheap forgiveness that condones wickedness (what these biblical passagesare forbidding)--not at all. Rather, it is an unbelievably costly forgiveness, that involves thegiving of his own Son as an eternal sacrifice for the guilty and the sinful. This is what Paulteaches.401Moo holds that the definite article here should be translated by “his” (p. 258).219