Posted by Romans on Saturday, 20 June 2015
Romans 4:1
What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
Paul introduced his illustration of Abraham with the first of six occurrences of the question, What then shall we say? (6:1; 7:7; 8:31; 9:14, 30) He referred to Abraham as our forefather. (“Forefather” is used only here in the NT.) Undoubtedly this was to distinguish Abraham’s physical ancestry from his spiritual fatherhood, mentioned later in 4:11-12, 16. What had this patriarch discovered in this matter? What lesson could Paul’s readers learn from the biblical record of Abraham’s experience?
