---
title: Romans 4:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-4-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-4-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 4:1
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 4:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered?

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "what will we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes Romans 4:1 as the start of Paul's Abraham example — "what will we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?" The verse is understood as introducing Abraham as the model of faith. JW teaching emphasises Abraham's friendship with God (James 2:23) and reads the chapter as a description of how Abraham's obedient trust was credited as righteousness, providing the pattern for any modern person's standing as God's friend.

## Protestant Usage

Romans 4 is Paul's case study for justification by faith apart from works. He chose Abraham deliberately because Abraham is the founding figure of the covenant people — and Paul will show that even Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised, before the law was given, before any work of obedience. V3: "Abraham put faith in Jehovah, and it was counted to him as righteousness." V4-5: "to the man who works, his wages are counted, not as undeserved kindness, but as something owed. On the other hand, to the man who does not work but puts faith…" The contrast is decisive: works language puts you in a wage relationship; faith language puts you in a gift relationship. Abraham was in the gift relationship.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Doers of the Law — Romans 2:13](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/romans2-13-doers-justified.md) — Paul's principle vs Paul's conclusion [Salvation]