Romans 4

In his letter to the Romans, Paul focuses on the religious conflict within Judaism on the question of whether or not to accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. At this point, years after Jesus’s death and resurrection, this is a major theological issue that is dividing gentile and Jew. It is for this reason that Paul writes so urgently, that he works through these thoughts in his letter to the Romans. 

In Romans 4, when Paul discusses his interpretation of Genesis’s Abraham, he suggests a less literal take on the Jewish-followed strictures of the Old Testament. Paul sees a future of both Gentile turned Christians and Jewish turned Christians, and with his interpretation, he is reaching out to those who at the time did not live by the specific Leviticus-given legislation in a way that brings people closer to Jesus. As outlined in the lines, “Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned! Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!” in Romans 4:7-8, Paul’s greater message is to not get bogged down in the details of pursuing God necessarily, but to take His broader word of forgiveness. This is Paul’s key to helping form Christianity.