Romans 4:1-25
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (v. 3, quoting Genesis 15:6) My Study Bible had this to say as a comment on this verse: “Abraham had kept no law, rendered no service, and performed no ritual that earned credit to his account before God. His belief in God, who had made promises to him, was credited to him as righteousness.” This comment sums it up nicely!
Folks, I’m no Bible scholar, but I did spend a fair amount of time last year breaking down these readings and I think both of my sets of comments from last year (both links below) would be good for you to review. I don’t think I could comment further today and add any more clarity to this difficult chapter. Paul uses many words to get across one major point: The just (righteous) shall live by faith. (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38, in addition to the whole of this chapter).
See also: June 15 / Romans 4:1-12; June 16 / Romans 4:13-25