Abraham in Romans 4

Several earlier posts have dealt with the fact that Abraham, according to the Genesis account, was a worshiper of God and a man of faith prior to being declared just in Genesis 15. I have taken that as evidence that Paul is not primarily concerned with “works righteousness” in a generic sense, but with whether one can be considered “righteous” without doing the “works of Torah” in particular (not in Dunn’s sense; “works of Torah” refers to the whole range of things that Torah requires).

I need to qualify that statement, however. In Rom 4:1-8, Paul is quoting Gen 15 with its context in mind, and what the text shows is this: Although Abraham was an obedient worshiper before he was declared just, the text does NOT say that he was considered righteous because of his good actions. The text says that he was considered righteous because of his faith in God’s promise. Paul is addressing this issue in the first part of Romans 4, insisting that being justified means having sins forgiven and that justification is not on the basis of works. In short, he seems to be rebutting Jewish claims concerning the merit of the fathers, showing that the Scripture says that even Abraham the man of obedience and true worship was justified not by his true worship but by his faith. A Jewish opponent might bring this objection to Paul: “Yes, indeed, Abraham was declared righteous, but that was because he WAS righteous ?Ejust look at Gen 12-13!” Paul would say, “Yes, indeed, Abraham was righteous, doing what God required. But look at Gen 15:6; it says that even righteous Abraham was justified by faith.”