Romans · 25 verses

Romans 4

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

Abraham is nearly a hundred, Sarah’s womb is called lifeless—and this is where faith is said to grow stronger.

A righteousness not bought by the hourvv. 1–12

The chapter opens with Abraham and a question about what he has discovered. If his standing came from works, he could boast before people, though not before God; instead, Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” David joins the argument with blessings for the forgiven, and Abraham’s circumcision turns out to have arrived after the credit, not before it. A remarkably important sign, then, is made to wait its turn.

The promise meets the old bodyvv. 13–22

The promise to Abraham and his offspring is said to come through faith rather than law, so that it may rest on grace and reach all Abraham’s offspring. Then the argument becomes wonderfully physical: Abraham is about a hundred, his body is decrepit, and Sarah’s womb is lifeless. He acknowledges both facts without wavering, remaining fully persuaded that God can do what God has promised. The chapter’s conclusion to this portion is as neat as a seal: “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Written beyond Abrahamvv. 23–25

The words about Abraham are then opened outward, written not only for him but also for those who believe in the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus was delivered over for trespasses and raised for justification; the chapter ends with Abraham’s old promise standing beside Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Rom 4:1What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered?
Rom 4:2If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom 4:3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Rom 4:4Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation.
Rom 4:5However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Rom 4:6And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Rom 4:7“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Rom 4:8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Rom 4:9Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
Rom 4:10In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.
Rom 4:11And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
Rom 4:12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Rom 4:13For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Rom 4:14For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,
Rom 4:15because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Rom 4:16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
Rom 4:17As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist.
Rom 4:18Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
Rom 4:19Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.
Rom 4:20Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
Rom 4:21being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.
Rom 4:22This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Rom 4:23Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham,
Rom 4:24but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Rom 4:25He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 373 passages were voted onto 25 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

7 Psalms 32:1–2Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
17 1 Corinthians 1:28He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,
17 Genesis 17:4–5“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
3 Genesis 15:6Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
17 John 5:21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.
17 Romans 8:29–30For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
13 Galatians 3:29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
21 Luke 1:37For no word from God will ever fail.”
5 Philippians 3:9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.
17 John 6:63The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
17 1 Peter 2:10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
15 Romans 5:13For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
3 James 2:23And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
5 Romans 3:22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,
17 Ephesians 2:1–5And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
17 Romans 8:11And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

Onward

Keep reading

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