In Latin theology, Romans 4:3–5 is regarded as the classical text of
forensic justification:
For what does the scripture say?‘Abraham believed God, and it was
reckoned to him as righteousness.’Now to one who works, wages are
not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without
works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as
righteousness.The context of this passage is Romans 3:21–4:25, in which Paul
alludes several times to how Abraham was accounted righteous by
God, quoting Gen. 15:6 and Psalm 32:2. Justification is portrayed as
forgiveness in Romans 4:7; in Romans 3:26 Paul says that God
justifies‘the one who has faith in Jesus’. Exegetes commonly assume
that both Abraham’s faith and the believer’s faith in Jesus emphasize
fidelity and trust rather than doxastic belief.^154
Another relevant feature in the passage quoted concerns the dis-
tinction between gift/grace and works/wages. In Paul’s thought world,
law and works belong to the economic, legal, and moral order of
things in which a person should get his due. Justification by faith is
not part of this economic order but of a different order, namely, that
of faith, gift, and grace. At the same time, however, justification takes
place in a law court setting in which justice rather than grace is
assumed. How can the law court situation operate in terms of grace
and gift?
The crucial verb employed by Paul and the Greek Old Testament
(Gen. 15:6) here islogizomai,‘to reckon’, which means counting as
well as more generally‘considering as’. The rootlogosrefers to God’s
mind, which has a capacity to perform and create social reality. In the
act of reckoning, God considers the faithful sinner as righteous. This
promulgation has changed the legal status of the guilty person, who is
acquitted and whose sins are forgiven. This promulgation is more
than amnesty, since an amnesty can be given to completely unre-
pentant criminals or people who are not conscious of what is hap-
pening, but justification by faith assumes some awareness andfidelity
of the guilty person.^155
In some sense, the act of‘considering as’meets the criteria of fairly
elaborate conceptions of downward recognition. While fidelity
(^154) E.g. Wright 2009, 96–8, 181–5.
(^155) Cf. Wright 2009, 69–70, 180–7; Rolf 2008, 21–9.
88 Recognition and Religion