Rom. 4:1-25

The gospel tells us what God has done so that He can “justify the ungodly” (4:5).  But there is still a problem: how can sinners, who suppress the truth about God and who break God’s law, going to qualify for this “justification?”

The Bible says that God justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.  Romans 3:27-31 tells us that there is nothing for a man to do but to believe in Jesus.  Man, who has already proven to break God’s law, cannot later be saved by keeping God’s law.  Romans 4 gives us an illustration from the Bible to help us to see this.  The illustration is Abraham!  The Bible says, Abraham believed God and it was accredited to Him as righteousness (4:3).  The story is in Genesis 15.

·       Abraham was not justified by works, 4:1-8.  We are just told, “Abraham believed God.”  He did no special work to earn this righteousness.

·       Abraham was not justified by circumcision, 4:9-12.  God, in Genesis 17, gave Abraham the religious rite of “circumcision” to be performed on all his male descendents as a sign that they were part of God’s chosen people.  This was after Abraham believed God and was counted as righteous.

·       Abraham was not justified by the law, 4:13-15.  Again, the law came through Moses several hundred years later, after Abraham was declared righteous.

·       Abraham was justified by faith, 4:16-22.  Faith is the absence of work.  Instead, it trusts God to do what He promised.  This is the only way our justification can be “freely … by His grace.”

o   Abraham trusted in God, who had created all things out of nothing, that He could also enable him to father a son in his old age.

o   God said He would give Abraham a son and Abraham believed God’s promise.

At the end of the chapter, this illustration of Abraham is applied to anyone who believes the gospel.  (“Imputed” means “counted” or “accredited.”  Abraham’s faith, and our faith, is “imputed as 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.

Like Abraham, we give glory to God when we believe, when we put our faith in Him to do what He promised to do by grace.  If it involves my work then I can boast in myself.  But I have nothing to offer.  Either I believe in the gospel, that Jesus paid the price for my sin, or I cannot be justified in God’s sight.