Romans 4:1-11 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Bible Study & Commentary

Verses 1-11

Romans 4:1-1 Kings : a . The Example of Abraham.

Romans 4:1 . The Jewish objector once more: “ What about Abraham then?” ( mg.) ; if the circumcised Israelite is justified on no more favourable terms than the Gentile outsider, how was it with “ our” great “ forefather” ? Abraham’ s case was the instantia probans for Jewish theology.

Romans 4:2 f. “ If Abraham had been justified by works,” Paul replies, “ he has ground of glorying; but” however great his glory amongst men, “ he has none Godwards, Nay, Scripture says, But Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness” ( cf. Galatians 3:6 f.).

Romans 4:4 f. Arguing on this text in the sense of Romans 3:27 f., Paul contrasts “ the worker” claiming “ his pay of debt” with “ the believer” to whom, “ ungodly” as he doubtless had been, “ righteousness is credited on terms of faith, by way of grace.”

Romans 4:6-Ruth : . The patriarch’ s experience resembled that stated in Psalms 32, “ the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will no longer impute sin.”

Romans 4:9-1 Kings : a . Now, the sentence of justification was pronounced on Abraham before his circumcision. This ceremony was not the basis of a righteousness acquired by works, but the “ seal set upon the righteousness conferred through faith.” Faith antedates Circumcision, as it underlies the Law ( cf. Galatians 3:17). Circumcision was properly a sacrament of faith.

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Arthur Samuel Peake (1865-1929) was an English biblical scholar, born at Leek, Staffordshire, and educated at St John's College, Oxford. He was the first holder of the Rylands Chair of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the University of Manchester, from its establishment as an independent institution in 1904. He was thus the first non-Anglican to become a professor of divinity in an English university.In 1890-92 he was a lecturer at Mansfield College, Oxford, and from 1890 to 1897 held a fellowship at Merton College.In 1892, however, he was invited to become tutor at the Primitive Methodist Theological Institute in Manchester, which was renamed Hartley College in 1906. He was largely responsible for broadening the curriculum which intending Primitive Methodist ministers were required to follow, and for raising the standards of the training.In 1895-1912 he served as lecturer in the Lancashire Independent College, from 1904 to 1912 also in the United Methodist College at Manchester. In 1904 he was appointed Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the (Victoria) University of Manchester. (This chair was in the Faculty of Theology established in that year; it was renamed "Rylands Professor, etc." in 1909.)Peake was also active as a layman in wider Methodist circles, and did a great deal to further the reunion of Methodism which took effect in 1932, three years after his death. In the wider ecumenical sphere Peake worked for the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, serving as president in 1928, and was a member of the World Conference on Faith and Order held in Lausanne in 1927. He published and lectured extensively, but is best remembered for his one-volume commentary on the Bible (1919), which, in its revised form, is still in use.The University of Aberdeen made him an honorary D. D. in 1907. He was a governor of the John Rylands Library.... Show more

First published in 1919, Peake's commentary of the bible was a one-volume commentary that gave special attention to Biblical archaeology and the then-recent discoveries of biblical manuscripts. Biblical quotations in this edition were from the Revised Version of the Bible.... Show more

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