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You are here: Home / Archives for Romans

Romans

When Was Abraham Justified? Part 1

April 7, 2007 by Phil Gons

When was Abraham justified? This might seem like a rather elementary question with an obvious answer: Abraham was justified when he believed the Lord and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness, which is recorded in Genesis 15:6.

Abraham

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:6

Certainly Paul’s use of this text in defense of justification by faith apart from works in Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6 confirms that Genesis 15:6 was the precise point of Abraham’s justification, doesn’t it?

What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:3

So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Galatians 3:6

This is probably what most people assume. It’s what I thought—prior to giving it some careful consideration.

I’m now convinced that Abraham was already justified prior to the events recorded at the beginning of Genesis 15. In this post I’d like to give some arguments in favor of this position, and in the next post I will answer objections and respond to potential problems.

As I see it, the main issue hinges on one central point:

[Read more…] about When Was Abraham Justified? Part 1

Filed Under: Exegesis, Theology Tagged With: Abraham, Brakel, Brian Vickers, Calvin, Eichrodt, faith, Galatians, Galatians 3, Genesis, Genesis 15, Hebrews, imputation, justification, Luther, O. Palmer Robertson, Origen, righteousness, Romans, Romans 4, works

ESV, RSV, and Romans 5:3

February 2, 2007 by Phil Gons

While reading Romans 5 today I was struck with something that I had never seen before in verse 3. At the end of verse 2, Paul says, “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Then in verse 3 he says, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings.” We rejoice more in our sufferings than in the hope of the glory of God? Hmm. Why had I missed that all the previous times I read through Romans? I was curious. I immediately went to the Greek, which reads, “καυχώμεθα ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ. οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν.” The phrase οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ would be literally translated, “And not only [this], but we also . . . .” So Paul is not saying that we rejoice in sufferings more than we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory. He’s simply saying we also rejoice in sufferings.

[Read more…] about ESV, RSV, and Romans 5:3

Filed Under: Exegesis Tagged With: Bible translation, English Standard Version, ESV, Greek, NRSV, Revised Standard Version, Romans, Romans 5:3, RSV

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