V. Justification’s Roots in Abraham (Romans 4:1-25)

V. Justification’s Roots in Abraham (4:1-25)

4:1-2 Paul reaches back to Abraham to illustrate the way that justification in the gospel functions. Abraham was not justified by works, because if he were, he would have something to boast about. This, in fact, is always the problem with works: they can’t save us because they give us something to brag about. As long as we’re boasting, we aren’t clinging to God’s grace.

4:3 How did Abraham become righteous? Not by circumcision or the law. Abraham believed God, and because of that, he was credited with righteousness. God told Abraham something, and Abraham took him at his word. That’s the essence of faith.

Abraham wasn’t saved simply by believing something, but by believing God. Faith is merely a channel to get to its object. It doesn’t matter how sincere or passionate your faith is if the object is wrong. Back in the 1980s, there was a tragic case in Chicago where some Tylenol had become laced with cyanide. Seven people died. Those involved believed they were just getting pain medicine, but their belief was insufficient: the contents of the bottles couldn’t be trusted. It is the object of our faith, and not our faith itself, that matters.

4:4-5 Salvation is not a transaction; it comes to the one who does not work, the one who believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous (4:5). It’s a gift, plain and simple. If you just reach out your hand and take it, then it’s yours. But if you work for it, you dismiss the gift and treat it as a wage that is earned.

Many people will stand before God and list their credentials: I worked my head off; I went to church every Sunday; I helped the needy; I read my Bible. But God will not grant salvation as something owed (4:4; see Eph 2:8-9).

4:6-8 The Jews revered Abraham as the father of their faith, but Paul brings in an additional witness to solidify his case. David, Israel’s greatest king, also wrote about God crediting righteousness apart from works (4:6). Quoting from the Psalms, Paul shows that assurance of salvation comes from the knowledge that lawless acts are forgiven and sins are covered (4:7). Sins are not overcome by hard work, and lawless acts are not outweighed by good deeds. God does the forgiving; God does the covering; we simply believe it and receive it.

4:9-12 Paul returns to the idea of circumcision to further his point. When was Abraham credited with righteousness—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised (4:10)? Any Jew would have known the answer to that. Abraham believed God’s promise back in Genesis 15, which took place before the sign of circumcision. Circumcision acted as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. It was a confirmation of Abraham’s faith, not the cause of it.

The timing of Abraham’s circumcision was not a historical accident, but an intentional orchestration of God. Since Abraham believed before circumcision, he could become the father of all who believe—Gentile as well as Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised (4:11-12). Again, we see the radical equality of all people before God. Jew and Gentile come to God on the same basis—faith.

4:13-17 All the law can do is reveal our sin. Without it, we wouldn’t know that we had fallen short of the standard. But as it is, the law produces wrath (4:15). This is why faith is so essential: those who are of the law (4:16) are under a just penalty of condemnation because of the law. Trying to escape the penalty of the law by works of the law is like trying to quench your thirst by drinking salt water. You only make the problem worse.

4:18-19 Abraham’s great act of faith actually didn’t have anything to do with circumcision or the law at all. It had to do with God’s promise to give Abraham and Sarah a son, even though Abraham was about a hundred years old and Sarah’s womb was barren (4:19). Trusting that God would make Abraham the father of many nations (4:18) in that circumstance required more than optimism. It required a supernatural level of hope.

4:20-21 Here we see how Abraham could have such incredible hope and faith. Abraham was strengthened in his faith (4:20) because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do (4:21). That’s the best definition of faith ever. Did God say it? Can God pull off what God said? To doubt him is to question whether he tells the truth.

4:22-25 Paul returns to the primary theme of this chapter again: Abraham’s faith was credited to him for righteousness (4:22). Similarly, righteousness will be credited to us (4:24) like it was credited to Abraham—on the basis of faith. But what Abraham only saw in shadows and hints, we see fully. We know that the object of our faith is Jesus our Lord, who was raised from the dead (4:24). Abraham trusted the power of God to bring life from a seemingly dead situation (barrenness). We have seen the power of God bring life from the literal death of the Son.