Romans 4 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

4.23 Now it was not written for him alone that "It was considered in him," 4.24 butrather, also for us, to whom it is about to be considered, to those who are trusting upon theone who raised Jesus the Lord of ours out from dead people–4.25 who was handed over forthe transgressions of ours, and was raised for the declaration of the right-relationship of ours.Romans 4:13-25, Translation with Footnotes425 426 427 4284.13 For not through Law, (did) the promise (come) to the Abraham or to the425Kaesemann comments that "The word 'promise' is the connecting link in verses 13-25.The argument is grouped around three statements. In verses 13-17a the idea that thepromise is attached to the law is contested. In verses 17b-22 the promise is characterized bythe fact that only faith in the resurrection of the dead corresponds to it. The conclusion isdrawn in verses 23-25 that Abraham's faith is an anticipation of Christian faith. HenceScripture really testifies to Paul's thesis by the example of Abraham." (P. 118)Moo in like manner comments that “...The theme of the promise runs throughoutverses 13-22, binding them together in an overall unity. The noun ‘promise’ [evpaggeli,a]which occurs for the first time here in the letter, is used four times in these verses, the verb ‘topromise’ [evpagge,lomai] once. In each case, the reference is to the promise given to Abraham,with Paul emphasizing particularly how it was faith that secured what God had promised...“There is evidence that Paul has built his exposition on the foundation of a traditionalJewish and Jewish-Christian interpretation of Abraham’s faith. This interpretation, whosegeneral outline can be discerned in Philo, Acts 7, Hebrews 11, and 1 Clement 10, focusesparticularly on the miracle-working power of God and the way Abraham (and Sarah)experienced this power by ignoring the ‘facts’ of the situation and trusting rather in the promiseof God...“The first part of Paul’s exposition departs from the traditional interpretation with itspolemical contrast between the law and faith and, to a lesser extent, with its inclusion of theGentiles in the ‘seed’ of Abraham...Verses 13-22 continue, then, Paul’s exposition of faith byway of contrasts: to ‘faith apart from works’ (verses 3-8) and ‘faith apart from circumcision’(verses 9-12), we can add ‘faith apart from the law’ (verses 13-16) and ‘faith apart from sight’(verses 17-21).” (Pp. 272-73)426Moo comments that “As the ‘for’ suggests, the paragraph beginning in verse 13 has anexplanatory function–it explains why Paul made no mention of the law in tracing the spiritualdescendants of Abraham (verses 11-12).” (P. 273)As we have stated, it was the standard Jewish interpretation that Abraham earned hismerit through faithful observance of the Jewish law (Torah), long centuries before that law wasgiven through Moses (see Galatians 3:17, where Paul notes that the law came 430 yearsafter the promise to Abraham), and that therefore only those who kept the Torah could be thelegitimate descendants of Abraham.427Moo, along with the majority of modern English translations (with the exception of NewInternational), interpolates the definite article into the text, translating by “the law,” even(continued...)231