Chapter 4

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Epistle of St Paul to the Romans — Chapter Four

¹ Chapter Four. What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has whereof to boast, but not before God. For what says the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Having sufficiently established that all have need of faith, he shows this the more greatly by means of Abraham also, inasmuch as he was held in honor among the Jews; and he says that not even this man, who accomplished so many and such great things, was justified by works, but by faith. And he calls him father according to the flesh, casting them out from the kinship that is according to the Spirit; or rather, laying upon them also a necessity of imitating him in all things. If indeed he was justified by works, he has whereof to boast, but not before God—that is, he has wherein to boast, as one who accomplished it out of his own labors; which is not before God, nor does it run back to him. But he who is justified by faith bears his boasting before God, boasting in God, as one saved by his grace and beloved of him. But moreover the believer boasts also in another way, as having glorified God by his believing him, that he is able to do the things that are impossible. He has, therefore, the boasting and the boldness before God, as holding the true opinion concerning him—he who believes him to be able to do all things.

² Now to him that works the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness; even as David also declares the blessedness of the man unto whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. He who works, he says, receives a reward, as a debt rendered to him in return for his labor; and he who believes, even though he works not, yet nevertheless he too brings in faith, which is a great thing. For to be fully assured that God is able, not only to free from unrighteousness the man who has lived in ungodliness, but also to make him righteous, is in truth a great thing. Wherefore also to the believer his faith is reckoned for righteousness—that is, God accepts this faith, not that he may give him a reward, but that he may justify him. So that he too brings in something, namely faith. Having shown, then, from Abraham, that righteousness, or justification, is of faith, and that David blesses the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin, there too he shows the surpassing greatness. For if blessed is he who has received remission, who has been shown grace, much more is he who has received faith, and has been justified out of it. For do not be slothful, and say that he receives the remission according to grace; for the one who is called blessed indeed had this; yet David would not have blessed him, had he not seen him enjoying much glory. For the blessing is a great thing, and greater than righteousness itself, the summit of all the good things that come to us from God.

³ Comes this blessedness then upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. If the blessedness, he says, befits him to whom the Lord will not reckon sin—that is, the one justified—and Abraham was justified, was he then assuredly uncircumcised, or circumcised? Uncircumcised, assuredly. The blessedness, then, falls upon the uncircumcision—that is, it pertains rather to it than to the circumcision.

⁴ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had in his uncircumcision; that he might be the father of all those who believe through uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned to them also; and the father of circumcision to those who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had in his uncircumcision. He resolves an objection that arises; for perhaps someone might say: If Abraham was justified being uncircumcised, for what cause was he circumcised? He says, then, that He received the sign of circumcision, instead of a seal that seals and proclaims that he was justified out of faith—the faith which he displayed beforehand, being uncircumcised. So that, since these two things are observed concerning Abraham, uncircumcision and circumcision, through the uncircumcision he is shown to be the father of the uncircumcised. But of which? Of those who believe in like manner with him, so that to them also their faith may be reckoned for righteousness—that is, unto their becoming righteous. And through the circumcision he is again shown to be the father of the circumcision, that is, of the circumcised. But he is father not to those only who have the circumcision, but also to those who walk in the steps of his faith, which was in uncircumcision. Thus, then, must it be read: And the father of circumcision, not to those who are likened to him out of circumcision only, but also to those who walk in the steps of the faith—that is, to those who believe in like manner with him, unto the resurrection of dead bodies. For he too, being old and dead, believed that God was yet able to show his seed to be life-giving, and to give him a son. The whole sense, then, is of this kind: Abraham, being uncircumcised, believed and was justified, so as to be the father of the uncircumcised faithful. Again he received the circumcision, a seal and sign of the faith that was in his uncircumcision, so as to be the father of those out of circumcision—namely, of those who also walk in the steps of the faith which he had while yet uncircumcised. So that, this faith being absent, in vain do they pride themselves on the circumcision; just as if one should display a purse having only a seal, with nothing laid up within; the Jew, then, is a purse sealed with the circumcision, but not having the faith, of which circumcision is the seal.

⁵ For the promise to Abraham and to his seed, that he should be the heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect. He showed that righteousness is not of the law, but of faith; now he shows that the promise also to Abraham was not from the law, but from the justifying faith. And what was the promise? “That he should be the heir of the world”—that is, that in him all the nations of the world should be blessed. For if the law, he says, gave the inheritance, “faith is made void”—that is, it is found to be an empty and useless thing. For who would yet take thought for faith, if the law gave the promise? But this is not so. For Abraham inherited the promise, not through the law (for where then was the law?), but through faith, as it is written: And Abraham believed God.

⁶ For the law works wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there transgression. Now he establishes that through the law the promise is made of none effect; for he says: Transgression follows the law; and the law, being transgressed, “works wrath,” and brings in condemnation and punishment. He, then, who is liable to punishment, how is he worthy to inherit?

⁷ Therefore it is of faith, that it might be according to grace, to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that which is of the law only, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, A father of many nations have I made you), before him whom he believed, even God. Since the law works wrath, for this reason Abraham is said to be justified and to inherit of faith, he says, that all things might be according to grace. “And to what does grace contribute?” “To the end that the promise might be sure.” For does grace have transgression, as the law does, so that the things given should be unsure? But since grace is the whole, and the mercy of God, with reason the things given are sure “to all the seed”—that is, to all who believe; not only to those of the law, that is, the circumcised, but also to the uncircumcised, who are the seed of Abraham, begotten to him out of faith. So that he who has not faith is not even the seed of Abraham, who is the father of us all, that is, of the faithful, “as it is written, A father of many nations have I made you, before him whom he believed, even God.” The sense is of this kind: Abraham is the father of all before God—instead of, in like manner with God. For just as in that respect God is the father of all, so also is he, not according to fleshly kinship, but according to the appropriation of faith. And he added the words, “Whom he believed,” that he might show that he received, as a recompense of his faith, the being father of all. So that, if you do not admit, O Jew, that he is the father of us all, you have lessened his honor, which God gave him.

⁸ Who quickens the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they were. What he said above, this he says now also, that Abraham believed that God was able, not only to quicken a dead body, such as his own was, but also to make it life-giving. For this reason he says now, “Who quickens the dead.” And the words “Who calls the things that are not as though they were,” he added for this cause, that he might show that it is not impossible to God to make the children of Abraham, who were not, to be his children. And he did not say, Who brings into being the things that are not, but, “Who calls.” For just as it is easy for us to call the things that are, so for him it is easy to give subsistence to the things that are not.

⁹ Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations. Do not suppose, he says, that Abraham was honored without cause. For how could he who “against hope”—the human hope—believed “in hope”—the divine—“that he should become the father of many nations,” not of the Ishmaelites (for those are of him not according to faith, but according to nature), but of those who are like him according to faith?

¹⁰ According to that which was spoken: So shall your seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Having said that “Against human hope he believed in the divine hope,” now he establishes this and says, that it was indeed spoken to him, that Your seed shall be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand. And he, “being not weak in faith,” but having it strong, looked not unto his own body, now dead with time, nor unto the twofold deadness of Sarah’s womb (for it was dead both from age and from barrenness); neither did he stagger—instead of, he did not waver or draw back or doubt—“but was strengthened in faith.” And mark how he shows the believer to have need of much power. For many made light of faith, as a thing without labor; but they magnified works, as having sweat, and requiring power. The believer too, then, he says, has need of a great and mighty soul, that he may beat back the reasonings of unbelief; just as Abraham also was strengthened in faith. How? “Giving glory to God”; not believing, he says, human reasonings, but having thought things worthy of the glory of God, and being fully persuaded that he is able to do the things that are impossible; for this is the glory of God. Therefore he who believes not, but is over-curious, does not glorify God. And since Abraham was not fully a hundred years old, for this reason he said with restraint, “Being a hundred years old.”

¹¹ And therefore it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned to him; but for our sake also, to whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Since he said many and great things concerning Abraham, lest anyone should say, And what are these things to us? he says, that It was written for our sake also, and to us faith shall be reckoned for justification, if only we have this, believing on him that raised up Jesus. But if you hesitate, asking how you can be justified, call to mind Jesus, who blotted out all your sins—who also died, not for his own sin, but for the sin of the world. And since, having no sin, he died, so also he rose again. For how was the sinless one to be held fast by Hades? He died, then, and rose again, that he might both free us from sins, and make us righteous. Just as Abraham, then, believed that his own body, being dead, should be made to live; so do you also believe that Jesus died and rose again, and it shall be reckoned to you also for righteousness, even as to the forefather.