Does a literal reading of Romans 4:25 conflict with Reformed theology?

Romans 4:25 is a cautionary tale regarding the Koine preposition, DIA, which behaves differently when paired with an accusative vs a genitive. Also, people tend to see no distinction between a "sin" and a "transgression." A sin is a moral failure, but a transgression is a crime, with sanctions. So when speaking of "transgression" and "vindication," he is talking forensically. In chapter 6 he switches to speak largely about godly behavior.

[Rom 4:25 NET] [25] He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

[Rom 4:25 MGNT] [25] ὃς παρεδόθη διὰ τὰ παραπτώματα [accusative] ἡμῶν καὶ ἠγέρθη διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν [accusative] ἡμῶν

Variants: 25. δικαιωσιν] δικαιωσυνην 17. (δικαιωσινην D rec. Tregelles, S. P., ed. (1857–1879). The Greek New Testament: Apparatus (p. 684). Samuel Bagster and Sons; C. J. Stewart.

He, Messiah, was betrayed to the Romans in order to ensure that not even the Jews had no excuse, or claim of being deserving. As the betrayal/deliverance of Messiah to the the Romans ensured that no Judean had clean hands, so the resurrection of Jesus laid claim that every "truster" had clean hands.

As evidence I set forth this excellent image:

Since both instances of DIA is paired with an accusative, we note the motion "towards, into," not the idea of "because, out of." In other words, the death of Christ was designed to heap upon Jesus' own generation all the wrath that God had been storing up throughout all of Jewish history:

[Mat 23:31-36 NKJV] [31] "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. [32] "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' [guilt]. [33] "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? [34] "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: [some] of them you will kill and crucify, and [some] of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, [35] "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. [36] "Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus is saying that the horrific judgment promised long ago was about to be poured out on his own generation:

[Deu 32:15-36 NKJV] [15] "But Jeshurun [IE: Israel] grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he [IE: Israel] forsook God [who] made him [IE: Israel], And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his [IE: Israel's] salvation. [16] They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign [gods]; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. [17] They sacrificed to demons, not to God, [To gods] they did not know, To new [gods], new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. [18] Of the Rock [who] begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. [19] "And when the LORD saw [it], He spurned [them], Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. [20] And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end [will be], For they [are] a perverse generation, Children in whom [is] no faith. [21] They have provoked Me to jealousy by [what] is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by [those who are] not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation. [22] For a fire is kindled in My anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains. [23] 'I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them. [24] [They shall be] wasted with hunger, Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, With the poison of serpents of the dust. [25] The sword shall destroy outside; [There shall be] terror within For the young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hairs. [26] I would have said, "I will dash them in pieces, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men," [27] Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand, Lest they should say, "Our hand [is] high; And it is not the LORD who has done all this." ' [28] "For they [are] a nation void of counsel, Nor [is there any] understanding in them. [29] Oh, that they were wise, [that] they understood this, [That] they would consider their latter end! [30] How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had surrendered them? [31] For their rock [is] not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves [being] judges. [32] For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes [are] grapes of gall, Their clusters [are] bitter. [33] Their wine [is] the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras. [34] '[Is] this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among My treasures? [35] Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in [due] time; For the day of their calamity [is] at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.' [36] "For the LORD will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that [their] power is gone, And [there is] no one [remaining], bond or free.

In order to ensure that the wrath of God would come upon them to the fullest, God hardened the hearts of the Judeans. He set a trap for them, to ensure that their guilt and transgressions were overflowing !:

[Psa 69:21-28 NKJV] [21] They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. [22] Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap. [23] Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually. [24] Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them. [25] Let their dwelling place be desolate; Let no one live in their tents. [26] For they persecute the [ones] You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded. [27] Add iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness. [28] Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous.

Paul uses the genitive here, but he explains what the law provided:

[Gal 3:19-22 NKJV] [19] What purpose then [does] the law [serve]? It was added because of transgressions [genitive], till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. [20] Now a mediator does not [mediate] for one [only], but God is one. [21] [Is] the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. [22] But [IE: "instead"] the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

This all went down in the first 70 years or so of the first century - Daniel's 70th heptad:

[Dan 12:7 NLT] [7] The man dressed in linen, who was standing above the river, raised both his hands toward heaven and took a solemn oath by the One who lives forever, saying, "It will go on for a time, times, and half a time [IE: 3.5 years]. When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened."

Jesus said the same:

[Luk 21:20-24 NKJV] [20] "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. [21] "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. [22] "For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. [23] "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. [24] "And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles [3.5 years] are fulfilled.

But Paul's clearest explanation is in Romans:

[Rom 4:15 NKJV] [15] because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law [there is] no transgression.

[Rom 5:13 NKJV] [13] (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

So, before the law was given and to those not under the law, sins are not counted/"reckoned." And as soon as someone becomes beholden to the Law, sins are multiplied. So based on context, the thrust of what Paul is saying in Romans 4:25 is:

"Who was delivered [to the executioners] because [God wanted the] transgressions, and, was raised because [God wanted grounds for] justification."

Now, that's peppered with clues from the context, so to be more formally equivalent we can simply tweak the NET. It has:

[Rom 4:25 NET] [25] He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

The clauses are parallel, so why not translate them the same, like this?:

[Rom 4:25 NET] [25] He was given over for the sake of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

That Jesus did not conform to Reformed soteriology is clarified by the context because Paul's point is that just as Abraham was justified by faith[fulness] with no dependence on the Torah, so too the believer is justified freely, without cost:

[Rom 4:20-25 NKJV] [20] He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, [21] and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. [22] And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness." [23] Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, [24] but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, [25] who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Paul teaches that sins are forgiven by God, not paid for by Christ:

[Mat 6:12, 14-15 NKJV] [12] And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. ... [14] "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. [15] "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

[Mat 9:2, 5-6 NKJV] [2] Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." ... [5] "For which is easier, to say, '[Your] sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? [6] "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

[Mat 6:12, 14-15 NKJV] [12] And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. ... [14] "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. [15] "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

[Mat 9:2, 5-6 NKJV] [2] Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." ... [5] "For which is easier, to say, '[Your] sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? [6] "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

[Isa 55:1-3 NKJV] 1 "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. [2] Why do you spend money for [what is] not bread, And your wages for [what] does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat [what is] good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. [3] Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you--The sure mercies of David.

Also, Reformed theology violates basic math: Two wrongs don't make a right. One crime plus one crime doesn't make zero crimes. Hello? Justice is punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous, not the other way around. The gospel is about mercy and grace, not payment. The way that the Reformed read Romans 4:25 is completely hostile to Paul's very detailed explanation of what he means.

However, Calvin and other Reformers were preterists:

*John Calvin (1509-1564)

“This generation shall not pass away. Though Christ employs a general expression, yet he does not extend the discourses to all the miseries which would befall the Church, but merely informs them, that before a single generation shall have been completed, they will learn by experience the truth of what he has said. For within fifty years the city was destroyed and the temple razed, the whole country was reduced to a hideous desert, and the obstinacy of the world rose up against God….Now though the same evils were perpetrated in uninterrupted succession for many ages afterwards, yet what Christ said was true, that, before the close of a single generation, believers would feel in reality, and by undoubted experience, the truth of his prediction.

Matthew Poole (1624-1679)

“There are several notions men have of that term, this generation, some by it understanding mankind; others, the generation of Christians; others, the whole generation of Jews: but doubtless our Savior means the set of men that were at that time in the world: those who were at that time living should not all die until all these things shall be fulfilled, all that he had spoken with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem…”

Matthew Henry (1662-1714)

“As to these things, the wars, seductions, and persecutions, here foretold, and especially the ruin of the Jewish nation; ‘This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled (Mt 24:34); there are those now alive, that shall see Jerusalem destroyed, and the Jewish church brought to an end.’ Because it might seem strange, he backs it with a solemn asseveration; ‘Verily, I say unto you. You may take my word for it, these things are at the door.’ Christ often speaks of the nearness of that desolation, the more to affect people, and quicken them to prepare for it.”

John Gill (1679-1771)

“Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass. Not the generation of men in general; as if the sense was, that mankind should not cease, until the accomplishment of these things; nor the generation, or people of the Jews, who should continue to be a people, until all were fulfilled; nor the generation of Christians; as if the meaning was, that there should be always a set of Christians, or believers in Christ in the world, till all these events came to pass; but it respects that present age, or generation of men then living in it; and the sense is, that all the men of that age should not die, but some should live ‘till all these things were fulfilled’; see Matt. xvi. 28. as many did, and as there is reason to believe they might, and must, since all these things had their accomplishment, in and about forty years after this: and certain it is, that John, one of the disciples of Christ, outlived the time by many years; and, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, many of the Jewish doctors now living, when Christ spoke these words, lived until the city was destroyed; as Rabban Simeon, who perished with it, R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ishmael, and others: this is a full and clear proof, that not any thing that is said before, relates to the second coming of Christ, the day of judgment, and end of the world; but that all belong to the coming of the son of man, in the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the end of the Jewish state.”

J.A. Alexander (1809-1860)

“But the critical word in this critical sentence is generation, which some make here synonymous with race or nation, and apply it to the Jews, who are not to lose their separate existence until all these changes have been realized. This gives a wide scope to the prophecy, and readily enables us to transport what is said in vs. 24-27 to an indefinitely distant future. But although some English writers, for this reason, still adhere to that interpretation, others of the same class, and the German philologists almost without exception, treat is as a sheer invention without any authority either in classical or Hellenistic usage, so that some of the best lexicons do not give this definition, even to condemn it. Of the few alleged examples, chiefly in the Septuagint version, all admit of being taken in one of the acknowledged senses, which in the New Testament are three in number, all reducible to one and the same radical idea, that of a contemporary race, or the aggregate of those living at the same time…we must understand our Lord as saying, that the contemporary race or generation, i.e. those then living, should not pass away or die till all these prophecies had been accomplished”

Thomas Scott (1842-1870)

“Our Lord here answers the former part of the apostle’s questions, concerning the time when these events would take place. In general he assured them, that their approach would be as certainly determined by the signs that he had mentioned, as the approach of summer was by the budding and the tender branch of the fig-tree, and that they would all be accomplished before the generation was passed away. This absolutely restricts our primary interpretation of the prophecy to the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place within forty years.”

John Lightfoot (1602-1675)

“This generation shall not pass. Hence it appears plain enough, that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last judgment, but, as we said, of the destruction of Jerusalem. There were some among the disciples (particularly John), who lived to see these things come to pass.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1891) “The King left his followers in no doubt as to when these things should happen: ‘Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.’ It was about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies compassed Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full, and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since. Jesus was a true Prophet; everything that he foretold was literally fulfilled.”

Ezra Palmer Gould (1841-1900)

“This generation,” the word is always used by Jesus to denote the men living at the time. This use is sufficient against the supposition that it means the Jewish race, or the human race, devices introduced to make it possible to interpret the prophecy as applying to the end of the world. But what meaning would either have as marks of time for the general winding of human affairs? No, the statement means that these events are to take place during the lifetime of Jesus’ contemporaries, and the events are, therefore, what the whole prophecy surely indicates, those connected with the fall of the Jewish state and the destruction of Jerusalem.”

Alfred Plummer (1841-1926)

“We need not make ‘all these things’ refer to anything beyond the judgment on Jerusalem and the tribulation which preceded the execution of it. If the Day of Judgment is in any way included, it is as being symbolized by the judgment on the guilty city. It is not satisfactory to extend the meaning of ‘this generation’ to future generations of either the Jewish or the whole human race. ‘This generation’ is an expression of common and definite meaning; ‘the generation which was alive when the words were spoken,’ many of whom did live to see ‘the abomination of desolation’ and the subsequent desolation of Jerusalem.”

Henry Barclay Swete (1835-1917)

“‘he genea haute’ is frequent in the Gospels (cf. e.g., viii. 12 (note), 38, Mt. xi. 16, xii. 41 ff., xxiii. 36, Lc. xvii. 25), referring apparently in every instance to the generation to which the Lord Himself belonged. In the present context it is certainly more natural to take genea in its normal signification; the passage is similar to Mt. xxiii. 36, where there can be no doubt as to the meaning. Men who were then alive would see the fulfillment of the sentence pronounced upon Jerusalem.”

R.V.G. Tasker (1895-1976)

“Jesus is here saying in effect that it will be as certain that Jerusalem will fall when all these things (i.e. the appearance of the abomination of desolation, and the advent of false Messiahs, etc.) have become apparent, as it is certain that summer will follow when the first leaves are seen on the fig tree’s tender branches. Moreover, the generation He is addressing will live to see it all. So sure is He of this, that He affirms that His words on this, as on other subjects, will be shown to possess everlasting power and validity (32-35).”*

Horatius Bonar (1872) explains the ambiguity in the verse and gives the Reformed explanation:

The manifold blessings flowing from resurrection and ascension are not to be over-looked; but nowhere does Scripture teach justification by these. The one passage sometimes quoted to prove this, declares the opposite (Rom 4:25); for the words truly translated run thus: "He was delivered because we had sinned, and raised again because of our justification." It was because the justifying work was finished that resurrection was possible. Had it not been so, He must have remained under the power of the grave. But the cross had completed the justification of His church. He was raised from the dead. Death could no longer have dominion over Him. The work was finished, the debt paid, and the surety went free: He rose, not in order to justify us, but because we were justified. In raising Him from the dead, God the Father cleared Him from the imputed guilt which had nailed Him to the cross and borne him down to the tomb. "He was justified in the Spirit" (1 Tim 3:16). His resurrection was not His justification, but the declaration that He was "justified"; so that resurrection, in which we are one with Him, does not justify us, but proclaims that we are justified,-justified by His blood and death.

Taken from "The Everlasting Righteousness"

Yes, if you read "because" as indicating a causal relationship, no if it's just giving the reason or purpose.

"Because of our justification" might suggest that some action done by us is the cause of the resurrection. That's a problem for Reformed theology, and probably not just for us either, as it's a bit logically and temporally difficult.

If we read "our justification" more like "the justification that relates to us" or "is done to us" then there is no problem with the responsibility. Something like "for the sake of" instead of "because of" carries the same sort of meaning - indicating purpose rather than causality.

My knowledge of Greek isn't good enough to be sure about this, but from a cursory glance into Liddell-Scott-Jones it looks like dia can carry this meaning (sense B.III.3). Latin propter, as in the Vulgate for Romans 4:25, certainly can have a sense of "this was the reason" without necessarily also indicating logical cause. Compare the Nicene Creed's propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem. (But prepositions are always difficult to translate.)

In Martin Luther's commentary (1515-1516, trans. J. Theodore Mueller 1954) on Romans 4:25, he says:

Christ's death is the death of sin, and His resurrection is the raising up of righteousness. For by His death Christ has atoned for our sins, and through His resurrection He has procured for us righteousness. Christ's death does not merely signify, but has effected the remission of our sins. Christ's resurrection is not merely the pledge of our righteousness, but its cause.

The direction of the causal relationship he sees is obvious. Likewise, in John Calvin's commentary (1540, trans. John Owen 1849), we find:

Expiation depended on the eternal goodwill of God, who purposed to be in this way pacified. [...] The efficacy of justification is ascribed to his resurrection, by which death was overcome; not that the sacrifice of the cross, by which we are reconciled to God, contributes nothing towards our justification, but that the completeness of his favor appears more clear by his coming to life again.¹

Calvin here adds the additional nuance of God's sovereign will. Like Luther, he sees the resurrection as both a sign and a cause, but in addition he emphasises that God is the ultimate cause. This helps the reading of "because of our transgressions" as well: God's grace is freely given, not procured as a necessary result of our sin. In both cases, our transgression and justification supply the reasons why God did what he did, without causing God's action.

^{1. expiato ab aeterno Dei beneplacito pendet, qui hoc modo placere voluit [...] resurrectioni, per quam mors absorpta est, vis iustificandi adscribitur: non quod sacrificium crucis, quo reconciliati sumus Deo, nihil ad iustitiam contulerit: sed quia in nova vita huius gratiae perfectio clarius apparet.}