Discovery BoxRomans 4:1-6 
Context4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, 1 has discovered regarding this matter? 2 4:2 For if Abraham was declared righteous 3 by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God. 4:3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited 4 to him as righteousness.” 5 4:4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. 6 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, 7 his faith is credited as righteousness.
4:6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Romans 4:12
Context4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, 8 who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. 9
1 tn Or “according to natural descent” (BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4).
2 tn Grk “has found?”
3 tn Or “was justified.”
4 tn The term λογίζομαι (logizomai) occurs 11 times in this chapter (vv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24). In secular usage it could (a) refer to deliberations of some sort, or (b) in commercial dealings (as virtually a technical term) to “reckoning” or “charging up a debt.” See H. W. Heidland, TDNT 4:284, 290-92.
5 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
6 tn Grk “not according to grace but according to obligation.”
7 tn Or “who justifies the ungodly.”
8 tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”
9 tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”
