"Have We Found Abraham To Be Our Forefather According To the Flesh?" a Reconsideration of Rom 4:1

by S. K. Stowers and C. T. Rhyne have moved the discussion forward significantly by demonstrating that formal considerations require this chapter to be read in a larger context; 2 however, even in these treatments, major obscurities remain concerning the meaning and function of Rom 4:1. This essay seeks to clarify the discussion of Romans 4 by re-examining this verse which introduces Abraham into Paul's argument and offering a new proposal for translating the Greek text. This proposal, if viable, will cast new light on the way in which Paul employs the figure of Abraham in his discussion, and it will consequently make the continuity of the argument in Romans 3 and 4 more readily discernible. Let us consider the evidence.