Romans 4
1 Abraham is the [revered] ancestor of us [Jews]. So think about what we can conclude [from what happened to Abraham about how God can erase the record of our sins]. [RHQ]
What, then, shall we say that Abraham our father has found, as it respects the flesh?
2 If it was because of Abraham’s doing [good] things that the record of his sins was erased {that [God] erased the record of his sins}, Abraham could then have been able to boast [about that to people], but he would not have [had any basis to] boast to God [about it].
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has cause for boasting, but not before God.
3 [Remember that] in the Scriptures it is written {someone wrote} [PRS] that Abraham believed what God [promised] [RHQ], and as a result the record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins}.
For what says the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
4 If we receive wages for work that we do, those wages are not considered to be a gift. Instead, they [are considered] to be what we have earned. [Similarly, if God erases the record of our sins because we did things to earn God’s favor], we would not consider that [God’s erasing the record of our sin] was [a gift. Instead, we would consider it as what we had earned].
Now to him that works, the reward is not counted as a favor, but as a debt:
5 But suppose that we do not do things [to gain God’s acceptance]. Suppose that we instead trust [in God], who erases the record of sins of wicked people. Then the erasing of the record of our sins because of our trusting [in Christ] is considered to be a gift to us, [not something that we earned].
but to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
6 Similarly, it is as David wrote [in the Psalms] about people being happy whose record of sins God has erased even though they have not done things [to earn it. David wrote]:
Even as David also speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God counts righteousness without works, saying:
7 [God] is pleased with people whose sins have been {whose sins [he] has} forgiven, and whose sins he [has decided] to forget [DOU].
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 [God] causes to be happy the people whose sins he no longer keeps a record of.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not charge sin.
9 As for our being happy [because God has erased the record of our sins], (it is not something that [only] we Jews [can experience]./is it [MTY] something that [only] we Jews [can experience]?) [RHQ] [No, it is] also something that non-Jews [can experience] [MTY]. [What is written in the Scriptures], that it was because Abraham trusted [in God] that the record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins}, [also shows that this is true].
Comes this blessedness then on those who are circumcised only, or on those who are uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham for righteousness.
10 ([Think about] when [God erased the record of Abraham’s sins]./When did [God erase the record of Abraham’s sins]?) [RHQ] (Consider whether [it happened] after someone circumcised [Abraham to mark him as one who belonged to God], or before someone circumcised him./[Did it happen] after [Abraham was] circumcised [to be marked as one who belonged to God], or before he was circumcised?) [RHQ] It happened before he was circumcised, not after he was circumcised.
Under what circumstances, then, was it counted? After he was circumcised? Or, while he was uncircumcised? Not after he was circumcised, but while he was uncircumcised.
11 [Many years later, God commanded that] Abraham [be] circumcised. Abraham’s accepting that ritual simply showed [that he knew that God had accepted him]. [He knew that God] had [erased the record of his sins] because he trusted [in God] while he was still, [in effect, a non-Jew because] he had not been circumcised. [So we can understand that] Abraham became (a spiritual ancestor/like an ancestor) to [all] of us whose record of sins has been erased {whose sins [God] has erased the record of} because we believe [in God’s promise, even though some of us] are not circumcised.
And he received the sign of circumcision, as a seal of the righteousness of the faith that he had while he was uncircumcised, in order that he might be the father of all that believe, even in a state of uncircumcision, so that righteousness might be counted to them also;
12 Likewise, Abraham is the [spiritual] ancestor of all us Jews who are not merely circumcised but who, more importantly, [believe in God’s promise] as our ancestor Abraham did, even before he was circumcised.
and the father of circumcision to those who are not only circumcised, but who, also, walk in the steps of that faith which our father Abraham had while he was yet uncircumcised.
13 God promised Abraham and his descendants that they would receive [the blessings that he promised to give to the people in] the world. But when he promised that, it was not because Abraham [obeyed] the laws [that God later gave to Moses]. Instead, it was because Abraham believed [that God would do what he promised that he would do]. As a result, God erased the record of his sins.
For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, nor to his posterity, through law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14 If [we think that] it is those who [obey God’s] laws who will receive [what he has promised], it is useless [for us to trust in him. And what he] promised is worthless. [Remember that] it is [stated] in God’s law [PRS] [that] he will punish [people who do not perfectly obey them], and remember that wherever [MTY] laws exist, [people] disobey them [LIT].
For if they that are of the law be heirs, the faith is made powerless, and the promise is unmeaning;
for the law inflicts punishment; for where no law is, there is no transgression.
16 So it is because [we] trust [in God that we will receive the things that he has promised]. [It is not because we perfectly obey God’s laws. He wants] (to [erase the record of our sins/to declare us no longer guilty]) without our earning it. As a result, what God now promises, he guarantees to give to all people who are [Abraham’s spiritual] descendants. [He promises to do that not only for us Jewish believers], who [have] God’s laws [and trust in him as Abraham did], but also for those [non-Jews who do not have God’s laws but] who trust [in him] as Abraham did. Abraham is the [spiritual] ancestor of all of us [believers].
Therefore, the inheritance is by faith, that it may be according to grace, in order that the promise may be sure to all his posterity, not to those only who are of the law, but to those, also, who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
17 What is written {What [Moses] wrote} [in the Scriptures about what God promised Abraham shows that this is true]. [God said to him], “It is in order that you [(sg)] may be the ancestor of many ethnic groups that I have chosen you.” Romans 4:17b-22 God [guaranteed that he would give Abraham many descendants]. Abraham confidently believed that God [would do that],
(as it is written: I have made you a father of many nations, ) in the sight of him in whom he believed, even God, who makes the dead alive, and calls those things which are not, as though they were.
18 even though there was no physical reason for him to hope [that he would have descendants, because he and his wife were too old to bear children]. But God is the one who causes dead people to live again, and who talks about things that do not yet exist as already existing. [God said to Abraham], “You will have so many descendants that they will be [as impossible to count as the stars].” And Abraham believed that, and he believed that he would become the ancestor of many ethnic groups.
He, against hope, confidently believed that he would become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken: So shall your posterity be.
19 He did not doubt [that God would do what he promised], even though he knew that his body was already [as incapable of begetting children as if he were] dead [MET] because he was about 100 years old. And [even though he realized that] Sarah had never been able to become pregnant [IDM],
And not being weak in faith, he considered not his own body, which was already dead, (for he was about a hundred years old, ) nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb;
20 he did not doubt at all that God [would do what he had] promised. Instead, he trusted [in God] more/very strongly, and he thanked God [for what God was going to do].
and he doubted not, through unbelief, with respect to the promise of God, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,
21 He was also convinced {very sure} that the thing that God promised, God was able to do.
and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform.
22 And that is the reason that the record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins}.
For this reason, it was counted to him for righteousness.
23 The words [in the Scriptures], “The record of his sins was erased {[God] erased the record of his sins},” are not only about Abraham.
But that it was counted to him, was not written for his sake alone,
24 They were also written {[They] also wrote that} for us whose record of sins would be erased {[God] would erase}. They were written {[They] wrote it} for us who believe [God], the one who caused our Lord Jesus to become alive again after he died.
but for our sakes also, to whom it shall be counted, if we believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 Jesus allowed [men] to execute [MTY] him so that [God could forgive] our evil deeds. And [God] caused Jesus to live again because [God wanted to show that because of the death of Jesus he was able to] erase the record of our sins.
who was delivered up for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.
