ACC ~ Romans 4 v13 - 17

OVERVIEW:

The promises made to Abraham have been inherited by those who share Abraham’s faith, not only by those who have received the circumcision given to his physical descendants. Therefore what was promised to Israel has been inherited by the church, and the church will inherit the world.

The law brings not the fulfillment of promises but an awareness of transgression. Origen was aware that transgression existed before the law of Moses was given, and so he applies this verse to the universal law of nature, in spite of the context. The other Fathers concentrate more on the reality of transgression and the hopeless state of those who have nothing but the law of Moses to instruct them. Only faith can bring the fulfillment of God’s promises. Faith is not a human work but a free gift from God. Everyone who has received this gift is a descendant of Abraham, whether he has been circumcised or not.

4:13 | The Promised Inheritance

THE PROMISE. ORIGEN: Long before Moses ever existed, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

CHRIST, THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. AMBROSIASTER: It is clear that the law had not yet been given, neither was there as yet circumcision, when the promise was made to Abraham the believer and to his seed, which is Christ, who would cleanse the sins of all. Therefore Abraham was made heir to the world not by the merit earned from keeping the law but by faith. The heir of the world is the heir of the earth, which he obtained in his children. For Christ is the heir of the nations, as David sings: “I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.” COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

PELAGIUS: Here Paul calls circumcision the law, because every commandment can be regarded as part of the law. Abraham inherited the world, either because in his seed (viz., Christ) all the nations which were given to him by the Father might be blessed or because the nations would sup with him in the kingdom of heaven. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

INHERIT THE WORLD. SEVERIAN: Paul says that the righteous will inherit the world because the ungodly will be thrown out and handed over to punishment on the day of judgment, but the righteous will possess the universe which remains, and will have been renewed, and the good things of heaven and earth will be theirs. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

4:14 | The Promise Comes Through Faith

RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED TO FAITH. ORIGEN: Paul says that the promise given to Abraham that he should inherit the world did not come from the law but by faith, which was reckoned to him as righteousness. It doubtless follows that everyone who hopes that God’s righteousness will be imputed to him hopes for this by faith and not by the law. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

AMBROSIASTER: The apostle shows that there is something wicked in hoping for an inheritance by the law. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE PROMISE MADE VOID. CHRYSOSTOM: To prevent anyone from saying that it is possible to have faith and to keep the law at the same time, Paul shows that this is impracticable. For one who clings to the law as if it were of saving force dishonors the power of faith. This is why Paul says that faith is made void, i.e., that there is no need of salvation by grace. … And without faith, there is no promise of inheritance, which is what scared the Jews most of all, because that is what they really wanted. For the promise was that they should be heirs of the entire world. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 8.

PELAGIUS: If only the circumcised are heirs, God has not fulfilled his promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and it will seem that the nations believed in God without any reason. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

4:15 | The Law Brings Wrath

HOW THE LAW BRINGS WRATH. ORIGEN: Paul says that the law brings wrath in order to underline his point, [made in the previous verse,] that it is not the pathway to the inheritance of the promise.

The law which brings transgression cannot be the law of Moses, because there was plenty of transgression before that came into force. Rather, it is the law which dwells in our members and leads us into sin. This is the same law which the apostle says brings wrath. For without a doubt it brings wrath when it leads its captive into sin. But where the law of sin does not obtain, then of course there is no transgression. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

HOW FAITH BRINGS JOY. AMBROSIASTER: In order to show that no man can be justified before God by the law, nor can the promise be given through the law, Paul says that “the law brings wrath.” It was given in order to make transgressors guilty. But faith is the gift of God’s mercy, so that those who have been made guilty by the law may obtain forgiveness. Therefore faith brings joy. Paul does not speak against the law but gives priority to faith. It is not possible to be saved by the law, but we are saved by God’s grace through faith. Therefore the law itself is not wrath, but it brings wrath, i.e., punishment, to the sinner, for wrath is born from sin. For this reason Paul wants the law to be abandoned so that the sinner will take refuge in faith, which forgives sins, that he may be saved.

Paul says that “where there is no law there is no transgression,” because once the guilty have been removed from the power of the law and given forgiveness, there is no transgression. For those who were sinners because they had transgressed the law are now justified. For the law of works has ceased, that is, the observance of sabbaths, new moons, circumcision, distinction of foods and the expiation by a dead animal or the blood of a weasel. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE OBSTACLE TO INHERITANCE REMOVED. CHRYSOSTOM: The law works wrath and makes those who are under it liable for their transgressions, which is a curse, not a promise! … But when faith comes it brings grace with it, and so the promise takes effect. For where there is grace there is forgiveness, and where there is forgiveness there is no punishment. Once punishment is removed and righteousness takes hold from faith, there is no obstacle to our becoming heirs of the promise. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 8.

AUGUSTINE: This applies to the second state of man, when he is under the law. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 23.

AUGUSTINE: Paul said this because God’s wrath is more severe toward a transgressor who knows sin by the law and still commits it. GRACE AND FREE WILL 10.22.

THE LAW WEIGHED SINNERS DOWN. PELAGIUS: The law brings wrath because it was ordained for the unrighteous, and it weighed sinners down rather than set them free. … Where there is no law there is nothing which can be broken. Or perhaps this means that there is nothing to be punished where the law is not necessary. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

4:16 | The Promise Depends on Faith

THE PROMISE RESTS ON GRACE. ORIGEN: It might appear from this that faith is not a free gift of God but that it must first be offered to him by man in order for grace to be given in return. But consider what the apostle teaches about this elsewhere. For when he lists the gifts of the Spirit, which he says are given to believers according to the measure of faith, there among the rest he asserts that the gift of faith is also given. Therefore faith is given by grace. . . .

If the promise rested on works, it would not be guaranteed. But now it is guaranteed because it rests on grace, not on works. I think this can be understood to mean that the things of the law are external to us, but the things of grace are internal … and therefore they have a firmer foundation. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

ONLY BY FAITH IS THE PROMISE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL HUMANITY. AMBROSIASTER: The promise could not be certain to every offspring, that is, to everyone from every nation, unless it was by faith. The source of the promise is faith and not the law, because those who are under the law are guilty, and the promise cannot be given to those who are guilty. For this reason they must first be purified by faith, so that they may become worthy to be called the children of God, so that the promise may be certain. For if they say they are children of God when they are still guilty (that is to say, under the law), then the promise is not certain. First the children of God must be set free from sin. So those who are under the law must be rescued from the law in order to deserve to receive the promise, which is all the greater because it is apart from the law. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF THE BLESSING. CHRYSOSTOM: It is not only the law which faith upholds but the promise also. … But the law when kept after its expiry date makes even faith of no effect and blocks the promise. In saying this Paul shows that faith, far from being superfluous, is necessary to the extent that without it there is no salvation.

Here Paul mentions two blessings. The first is that the things which have been given are secured. The second is that they are given to all Abraham’s descendants, including the Gentiles who believe and excluding the Jews who do not. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 8.

FORGIVEN BY GRACE. PELAGIUS: The law does not forgive sins but condemns them, and therefore it cannot make all nations children of Abraham, because in the end all must be punished since all are found under sin. But faith makes all believers children of Abraham, because their sins have been forgiven by grace. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

SEED OF ABRAHAM NOT MERELY A RACIAL DEFINITION. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul humbled the pride of the Jews by calling all those who imitated Abraham’s faith “the seed of Abraham,” even if they were of a different race. For if the law punishes those who break it, grace gives forgiveness of sins and confirms the promise of God, giving a blessing to the Gentiles. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

4:17 | God Gives Life to the Dead

LIFE TO THE DEAD. ORIGEN: The dead here are those whose souls have sinned, for Scripture says: “The soul that sins will die.” For just as the senses perish in our mortal body so that the body can no longer hear, smell, taste or touch, so also the spiritual senses perish in the soul so that it cannot see God or hear his Word, or sense the sweet odor of Christ, or taste the good Word of God, or handle the word of life. People like that must be said to be dead. This is what we were like when Christ came, but he has given us life by his grace. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

PELAGIUS: Abraham is the father of all believers, not just of the nation of Israel. “Life to the dead” is given to those who are dead for the purpose of bearing children, which is the context of the present discussion. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

FATHER OF MANY NATIONS. AMBROSIASTER: Paul confirms by quoting the law that Abraham is the father of all who believe, and so the promise is firm if they abandon the law on account of their faith, because the promise of the kingdom of heaven is given to the righteous, not to sinners. Those who are under the law are under sin because all have sinned, and it is not possible for anyone who is under the law to receive grace.

In order to teach that there is one God for all, Paul tells the Gentiles that Abraham believed in God himself and was justified in his sight. The Gentiles also believe in him that they may be justified, and so there is no difference between Jew and Greek in faith, for when the circumcision and the uncircumcision are taken away they are made one in Christ.

Paul invites the Gentiles to share the faith of Abraham, who believed God while he was still uncircumcised. Now that that faith is preached in Christ, he has been raised from the dead, along with his wife. For when they were already very old they sprang back to life, so that Abraham did not doubt that he would have a son by Sarah, whom he knew to be sterile and who had long since ceased to have her menstrual period. Paul said this so that they would not worry about circumcision or uncircumcision but that they would respond eagerly because of their faith, secure in the knowledge that the one in whom they believe is no other than the one who gives life to the dead, who has the power to bring things which do not exist into being by his will. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE RELATION OF FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: Is God here referring to the fact that Abraham was the father of the Ishmaelites, or the Amalekites, or the Hagarenes? No … God is a father not by way of natural relationship but by way of the relation of faith. It is in this sense also that Abraham is the father of us all. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 8.

AUGUSTINE: This means that faith is in the inner man, in the sight of God and not in human display, which is what the circumcision of the flesh is. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 24.

OUT OF NOTHING. AUGUSTINE: Everything which God did not beget of himself but made through his Word he made not out of things which already existed but out of what did not exist at all, i.e., out of nothing. THE NATURE OF THE GOOD 26.