Romans 4:1

Romans 4:1. What shall we say then! ‘Then' connects with what precedes, but the exact reference is open to discussion. Meyer and others take it as introducing a proof of chap. Romans 3:31, which they consider the proposition of chap. 4. The objection is that Paul is proving, not the agreement of the law and the gospel, but the true method of justification. It seems better to take Romans 3:31 as a transition thought, which is illustrated in this chapter, and taken up again in chap. 6, and to find here a proof of the positions set forth in chap. Romans 3:28-30, to which exception might be taken in view of the Divine origin of the law.

Our forefather. This is the better supported reading.

According to the flesh. This may mean, according to natural descent, or it may have the ethical sense, according to his sinful human nature (see chap. 7). In the former case it must be connected with ‘forefather' in the latter with ‘hath found.' The order of the common Greek text favors the latter; while the best authorities sustain a different order, which throws the emphasis upon ‘hath found,' but separates it from ‘according to the flesh.' It is possible, however, to join it with the verb, even while accepting this reading. The sense then is: what shall we say then that Abraham our forefather hath found (i.e., attained) according to the flesh (i.e., through his own natural efforts as distinct from the grace of God). The opposite would be ‘according to the Spirit,' according to the working of the Spirit of God. This evidently suits the context much better than the other view, which merely adds a seemingly unnecessary definition to the word ‘forefather.'