Romans 4

Justified by Faith

How many of you have ever been in debt? I’m talking about debt that really straps you financially. Maybe you missed a couple house or rent payments, or you bought a car right before you lost a job and now you’re stuck with the payments. Or maybe you, or someone in your family, has an illness that has put you in financial straits. Whatever the type of debt, any debt can be stressful. During the Christmas season, there is a Christian radio station in my area that has a “Christmas Wish”. It is an opportunity for people to nominate others in need for help during the Christmas season. I was listening one day as they called a woman whose husband had been laid off, they had a new baby and they had missed a few mortgage payments. Talk about stress! Through the many gifts given that year to the Christmas Wish, the radio station was able to support them by paying their mortgage and bills, and give them some things for their new baby. Their debts had been paid off and they were elated. Did they earn this? No way! It was a gift of grace by others around them. This is what it feels like to be justified by faith and not works. We didn’t earn it or work for it, and we can’t possibly pay it back.

Vs. 1-8 What then can we say that Abraham, our physical ancestor, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to brag about—but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness. Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the man God credits righteousness to apart from works: How joyful are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered! How joyful is the man the Lord will never charge with sin!

Paul is using Abraham as an example for what it means to be justified by faith. Abraham is the father of many nations (he had at least 8 sons) and he is specifically the father of the nation of Israel through Isaac and Jacob. In Genesis 15, we find Abraham doubting. He and Sarah were old and had no children. How could he father one nation, let alone many? He wasn’t sure how God’s promise was going to come to pass. In this passage, God tells Abraham he would father a son, and further more, his heirs would number like the stars in the sky. Abraham believed God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). He was justified by his faith in God who promised him a son. The Greek word for justified is dikaioó, which means to show to be righteous. Abraham was not credited with righteous by God because of anything he did – not by his works, but because He believed God – he had faith. The Greek word for credited is logizomai. It is a word used in early documents to show what was credited to your account. An example today would be money in your bank account. That is what is credited toward you when you go to pay something. So, in this instance, God put righteousness (dikaioo) in Abraham’s account (logizomai) because of his faith and not his works.

David also attests to God’s logizomai. In Psalm 32:1-2 it says: How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How joyful is the man the Lord does not charge with sin and in whose spirit is no deceit! Here, God doesn’t charge David’s account with sin, but instead extends him the credit of mercy and forgiveness. David knows and understands that his account should be in a deficit – and one that he couldn’t possibly pay back. He has sinned. But he is joyful in the mercy of God who has forgiven that deficit. It is like a great debt (a huge loan) that has been forgiven. One day you are under that debt and the next day, the bank calls and says someone has paid your debt off. You are free from the stress and stranglehold the debt had on you. This is the relief and joy David is feeling. And this is the joy we have as God has logizomai our account with His wonderful grace.

Vs. 9-12  Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. In what way then was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

There were men in Paul’s day that tried to tell the Gentiles they had to be circumcised before they could really be followers of Christ. Paul addresses this in several of his letters, including the church at Corinth, Galatia, Colossi and several more. I think Galatians 5:6 says it best, “ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.” Apparently the church at Rome was also coming up against this belief, so Paul sets the record straight. Abraham was credited with righteousness by God for his faith before he was circumcised. In fact it would be almost 14 more years before Abraham was circumcised. The act of circumcision did not have anything to do with God’s justification of Abraham. In fact, if he had already been circumcised, we might say it was Abraham’s work of circumcision that credited him. I believe God wants us to pay attention to this. His justification had nothing to do with what Abraham did or didn’t do. It was all about Abraham’s faith in God. This is why Paul points this out. He wanted to make sure they – and we – understand that our works have nothing to do with our justification.

Vs. 13-25 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. If those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made empty and the promise is canceled. For the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all in God’s sight. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. He considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about 100 years old) and also considered the deadness of Sarah’s womb, without weakening in the faith. He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

As we have discussed before, the perfect and holy Law of God was never put into place to save us, but to point us in the direction of the One who can. We will never be justified by the Law. We can even do what the sign above says – Work Harder, but all the Law will do is highlight our glaring inadequacies. No amount of harder work will help us put holiness and righteousness into our own accounts. These have to be gifted to us by our faith in the One who is holy and is righteous – Jesus Christ. Abraham once again proves this out. Not only was he justified before circumcision, he was also justified by his faith in God before the law of Moses was given – several hundred years before in fact. Justification was never going to be by the Law. Paul says in verse 16 “This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants”. The Greek word for guarantee here is bebaios, which means to be secure or firm and unshakable. This is why we are secure in the fact that God will always justify by faith and not by our works. With God, we stand on a firm foundation that will not be shaken.

Right now, everything around us has been shaken. We have just been through, and many are still going through, a worldwide pandemic. I am listening to the news where Russia has invaded the Ukraine and put many lives, both in and around the area, in turmoil. The world markets are going up and down at such a rate, you’re not sure where they are going to land next. In my country, inflation is going up and food, gas and other supplies have risen in cost practically on a daily basis. Nothing is secure anymore – except for God. He is our firm foundation. He was, is and always will be unshakable. We can put our faith in Him and we will also never be shaken – no matter what is going on around us. We can say with David in Psalm 16:5-11 “Lord, You are my portion and my cup of blessing; You hold my future. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I will praise the Lord who counsels me—even at night my conscience instructs me. I keep the Lord in mind always. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my spirit rejoices; my body also rests securely. For You will not abandon me to Sheol; You will not allow Your Faithful One to see decay. You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.” No, we will not be shaken as long as we look to God who justifies us by our faith.