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Page 36 Reis • Justification by Faith: A “Both-and” and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as right- eousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:1- 8) As it was already mentioned, the NPP has different definitions compared to the traditional view of crucial terms related to the studied topic. However, these new definitions fail to provide a sound interpretation of this passage. The first problem is found in their definition of the term “works of the law.” Once Romans 4:1-8 serves as a kind of “commentary” on Ro- mans 3:27-28, the mentioning of “works” in verse 2 echoes the previous passage, where Paul says that no one is justified by “works of the Law (3:20, 28).” 66 Thus, there is a strong evidence that, when Paul uses the term “works,” he is referring to the Torah in general and not to a more restricted function of the Law serving as boundary markers. When address- ing Abraham, the Apostle is specifically speaking on his merit before God instead of his in- clusion or exclusion from a people group. Also, the covenant of circumcision (Gen. 17) hap- pened after the event echoed in this passage (Gen. 15). This clearly implies that “works”, here, is referring to general obedience and not simply boundary markers. Furthermore, the context of the passage and the previous chapter indicates that Paul was refuting the belief that Abraham was justified before God because of his general obedience, not because of his eagerness and strife to exclude himself from the Gentiles in order to obey the Law. 67 In ad- dition, the idea of “faith” being “reckoned” as “righteousness” (4:3, 5) demonstrates that Abraham received this righteousness as a gift which does not inherently belongs to him. 68 This view suggests that righteousness is not simply a status or declaration but a gift with transformative power since Abraham was reckoned/imputed with a type of alien (not Abraham’s) “righteousness” because of his faith. Thus, he establishes his relationship with God as an act of God’s grace. 69 Finally, an important observation against the NPP view is found in Paul’s use of David’s testimony in verses six through eight. In the words of Gather- cole, “It is crucial to recognize that the New Perspective interpretation of 4:1-8 falls to the ground on this point: that David although circumcised, Sabbatarian, and kosher, is de- scribed as without works because of his disobedience.” 70 The main idea in these two verses is that David, though he kept himself distinct from the Gentiles, is described by Paul as someone who was once ungodly justified by faith apart from works (4:5-6). Here, for- giveness of sin is seen as a vital component of his justification. Therefore, the presence of the Davidic psalm (32:1-2) demonstrates that the “one to whom God counts righteousness 66 Douglas J. Moo, The Epistles to the Romans, The New International Commentary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 259. 67 Pounds, “Romans 4:1-4,” 215. 68 Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, 262. 69 Ibid. {expound here} 70 Gathercole, Where is Boasting? 247.