Romans 4

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¹What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered? ✦ ²If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. ✦ ³For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ✦ ⁴Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. ✦ ⁵However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. ✦ ⁶And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ✦ ⁷“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ✦ ⁸Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” ✦ 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. ✦ ¹⁰In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before. ✦ 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. ✦ 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. ✦ 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. ✦ ¹⁴For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless, ✦ ¹⁵because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. ✦ 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. ✦ 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. ✦ 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.” ✦ 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. ✦ ²⁰Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ✦ ²¹being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised. ✦ ²²This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” ✦ ²³Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham, ✦ ²⁴but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ✦ ²⁵He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

In this chapter

Person / place Abraham

Where this chapter connects

Rom 4 ·21 Gal 3 ·18 Rom 3 ·13 Rom 9 ·10 Gen 17 ·10 Rom 5 ·8 Rom 10 ·8 Rom 8 ·8

Christ at the center

Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.

How Romans 4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed
Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Romans 4YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Romans 4David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Romans 4Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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