Discovery BoxRomans 4:5 
Context4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, 1 his faith is credited as righteousness.
Romans 4:9
Context4:9 Is this blessedness 2 then for 3 the circumcision 4 or also for 5 the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” 6
Romans 4:11
Context4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, 7 so that he would become 8 the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, 9 that they too could have righteousness credited to them.
Romans 4:22-25
Context4:22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham 10 as righteousness.
4:23 But the statement it was credited to him 11 was not written only for Abraham’s 12 sake, 4:24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 4:25 He 13 was given over 14 because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of 15 our justification. 16
1 tn Or “who justifies the ungodly.”
2 tn Or “happiness.”
3 tn Grk “upon.”
4 sn See the note on “circumcision” in 2:25.
5 tn Grk “upon.”
6 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
7 tn Grk “of the faith, the one [existing] in uncircumcision.”
8 tn Grk “that he might be,” giving the purpose of v. 11a.
9 tn Grk “through uncircumcision.”
10 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
12 tn Grk “his”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Grk “who,” referring to Jesus. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
14 tn Or “handed over.”
sn The verb translated given over (παραδίδωμι, paradidwmi) is also used in Rom 1:24, 26, 28 to describe God giving people over to sin. But it is also used frequently in the gospels to describe Jesus being handed over (or delivered up, betrayed) by sinful men for crucifixion (cf., e.g., Matt 26:21; 27:4; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33; 15:15; Luke 20:20; 22:24; 24:7). It is probable that Paul has both ideas in mind: Jesus was handed over by sinners, but even this betrayal was directed by the Father for our sake (because of our transgressions).
15 tn Grk “because of.” However, in light of the unsatisfactory sense that a causal nuance would here suggest, it has been argued that the second διά (dia) is prospective rather than retrospective (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 288-89). The difficulty of this interpretation is the structural balance that both διά phrases provide (“given over because of our transgressions…raised because of our justification”). However the poetic structure of this verse strengthens the likelihood that the clauses each have a different force.
16 sn Many scholars regard Rom 4:25 to be poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage.
