Questions for Reading:
1. Take a look at Genesis 15-17 and at Psalm 32. What do you think Paul “adds” to the texts he is interpreting, and what do the texts have that he does not take into account?
2. How does Romans 4 grow out of the claims of Romans 1-3 – particularly the turn in 3:21-29?
Questions for Reflection:
1. If the “righteousness of God” is a phrase for the right relationship between God and humankind, how might we understand that relationship in our own time and circumstance?
2. Faith is a crucial part of God’s solution. According to Paul in Romans 4, what is faith? Does he give us any clue as to how we might get some of it?
3. Does the contrast between “faith” and “works” still function today in our churches, families, workplaces? Does Paul’s insistence on the centrality of faith clarify or confuse the good news of Jesus for us?