Romans 4 is the fourth chapter of the

Epistle to the Romans The Epistle to the Romans is the sixth book in the New Testament, and the longest of the thirteen Pauline epistles. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by Paul the Apostle to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of J ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. It is authored by

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, while he was in

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

in the mid 50s AD, with the help of an

amanuensis An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...

(secretary), Tertius, who adds his own greeting in Romans 16:22. The focus of this chapter is on

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

, whose faith "was accounted (or imputed) to him for righteousness" ( Romans 4:3). The

Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James Version by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespear ...

's chapter summary states that "ten times in the chapter

aul An aul (; ce, oil; russian: аул) is a type of fortified village or town found throughout the Caucasus mountains and Soviet Central Asia, Central Asia. The word itself is of Turkic origin and simply means ''village'' in many Turkic language ...

beateth upon this word, ''Imputation''.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *

Papyrus 40 Papyrus 40 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by 𝔓40, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. The manuscript paleographically has been assigned to the 3rd century. Description It is a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle t ...

(~AD 250; extant verses 1–8) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...

(330–360) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–440) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...

(~450; complete)

Old Testament references

* Romans 4:3: * :

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

* : * : * :

Abraham's Faith

Verse 3

:''For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'' Heinrich Meyer explains that the citation from ("he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness") is quoted according to the Septuagint (LXX), which renders the

active Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

he, וְיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ ('; "and he counted it")Hebrew Text Analysis: Genesis 15:6
Biblehub by the

passive Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of on ...

gr, και ελογισθη ('' '', "and it was accounted").Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm (1880)
''Commentary on the New Testament.'' Romans 4
Translation by Peter Christie from Meyer's sixth edition. Accessed February 14, 2019. Paul quotes the same verse in the same way in Galatians 3:6. Meyer also disputes the charge from the Protestant theologia
Leopold Immanuel Rückert
that Paul "made an unwarrantable use of the passage for his purpose",Rückert, L. I., Commentary on Romans, 1831, referred to by Meyer in hi

accessed 10 September 2016 because here Paul definitely understood (', "righteousness"
Biblehub) 'in the dogmatic sense', justifiable in doing so, since 'the imputation of faith as (', "for righteousness") was essentially the same judicial act which takes place at the justification of Christians'.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Epistle to the Romans 04