My own take on Romans 4

I'm not sure about the textual issues or the grammar, but I'm dazzled by the allusion to "what Abe found" in Genesis 18:3. He asks the lord [YHVH]:

"And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:"

And, of course, they do not pass away but instead stay, eat and bless him with a son in his old age, implying that he has **found XARIS**.

So the question is, what did he "find"? Did he find "approval" for his "works" or "law keeping" etc? Well, if he did, then he has something to glory about, right? (Though not while he is standing in front of the lord!)

So we are left to understand that what he "found" was "generosity."

And Paul uses David's assertion that the forgiveness of sins is a "blessing" and not one's due.

If I am correct, that this is the background and logic, the passage is clear, even in the KJV :

1 ¶ What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath "found"?
2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. [ie: "but he wouldn't glory like that before God"]
3 For what saith the scripture? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace ["generosity"], but of debt ["because it is due"].
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
7 Saying, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

This is the immediate argument, but he continues with the passage when he refers to Sarah's conception in their old age:

19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb:
20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

I think this gives tight cohesion to the whole chapter.