Paul continued to anticipate the questions of his invisible objector who refused to believe that God's wrath abided on them. They found righteousness in their religious works and wouldn't give that belief up very easily. Paul anticipated a self-righteous response, so he continued to dismantle this wall of self-righteousness that kept them from redemption in Christ. Paul had to bring them to the point where they understand that without Christ, they were without hope.
Chapter 4 is a continuation of Paul making his case to the Church of Rome that salvation is by faith alone, not in keeping the law. He presented Jesus as their propitiation so that God was shown to be both just and the justifier. God did all the work? To cap his argument, he asked where there might be room for boasting? This is like Paul asking, so what part did you play in this? What do you get to boast about since God did it all? Paul answers his own question, "It is excluded." Boasting is excluded.
How is boasting excluded? Is boasting excluded when you claim to keep the law? No, because if you were justified by the keeping of the law it would be your accomplishment and you could boast. Is boasting excluded by works? Again, no! If you could work hard enough and long enough to earn your right standing before God then it would be something to boast about. Boasting is excluded because you, oh man, had nothing to do with it. Paul said, No, but by the law of faith. This faith is a trusting faith. All the work was done by Jesus; all we do is trust in it. We have nothing to boast about.
Paul went on to summarize this conclusion that "we" are saved by faith. Paul is talking primarily to the Jews at this point. God doesn't justify the Jews by the keeping of the law but in the same way he does both Jews and gentiles.
Paul may well have been viewed as someone insignificant and unimportant who had an opinion that didn't jibe with theirs. They couldn't say Paul wasn't a Jew and they would know he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, but they could still say Paul's views were just his opinion and ignore him. If Paul were just a small man pecking away at the wall of self-righteousness that kept these men from God, he's about to up the intensity and break out the wrecking ball.
Romans 4:1-4
It's as though, at the beginning of chapter 4, Paul asks his imaginary objector, "If you don't believe me, would you believe Abraham and King David?
Abraham would surely side with the traditional Jewish belief, wouldn't he? After all, didn't many of their beliefs flow from him? The idea of justification by faith was totally foreign to the Jews and the idea that their law was no longer relevant was not something that would go down easily. As so, Paul's imaginary objector posts a question. What did Abraham find? What did he discover to receive this mark of the flesh? Paul had at least three reasons in bringing Abraham's life as a testimony:
- The Jews held Abraham in high regard. They viewed him as their founder and model of all a Jew should be. Rather than believe what Paul was saying, maybe they would believe Father Abraham.
- Justification by faith apart from works shocked the Jews and they rejected it as something new. Paul wanted to show them it wasn't new at all. Faither Abraham was declared righteous by faith. Would they believe Abraham?
- Faith is hard to comprehend. It's an abstract idea. People better understand a concept like this when they see it lived out in a person. Abraham believed God when it made no sense whatsoever. God's promise was humanly impossible.
Father Abraham, the father of the Jews, was a friend of God. Was Abraham saved by his works? If he was, he would have something to boast about before God. But no man can boast before God. No man can, by his works, stand before God justified. Paul knew the Jews would view Abraham's works as the source of his righteousness. This was what they were taught from the beginning.
- One early writing said, "For Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord, and well-pleasing in righteousness all the days of his life." (The earlier Book of Jubilees 100BC)
- Another book said Abraham was so perfect he never had need of repentance. "Thou, therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the righteous, hast not appointed repentance unto the righteous, unto Abraham." (The Prayer of Manasses)
No wonder they were confused. And if any Jew could find a boast it would be Father Abraham, but no person is righteous by works. It is as if Paul called on Abraham's testimony and life to prove justification by faith. Abraham, would you prepare to step forward and offer your testimony.
There's a passage in the Babylonian Talmud where the rabbis say, "We find that Abraham our father had performed the whole Law before it was given". It goes on to say that "Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord." These rabbis believed and taught that Abraham kept the law perfectly before it was even given. They believed he did this by intuition or anticipation of the law God would give to Moses at a future date.
No one would argue that Abraham was just a man, the question is how he was justified. In Paul's previous presentation in chapter 3, all (even Abraham) fall short. Paul said, 'Let's look at what the scriptures say' as he then quoted Genesis 15:6 which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
In Genesis 15, Abraham had just come back from war. The king of Sodom wanted to shower Abraham in wealth. Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought bread and wine and a blessing. Abraham rejected the worldly riches offered by the King of Sodom but accepted the blessing from the king Melchizedek.
God said he was Abraham's shield from retaliation from these kings he had just defeated. Then God gave him a promise of a son. Abraham saw no evidence of this promise coming true. The only heir he saw was his servant Eliezer. God told Abraham he would have a son and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Abraham looked up at the stars and he believed in the Lord, and God accounted it to him for righteousness.
Abraham trusted God. He was not saved by his actions. His actions reflected his trust and faith in God. God's promise was good. This belief in the promises of God credited Abraham with Righteousness or a right standing with God. It wasn't Abraham's own righteousness; it was credited to him by God. This word 'credit' is a banking term meaning 'making a deposit'. Abraham didn't make a deposit of righteousness. God made a deposit for Abraham. This story in Genesis 15 is all part of that little phrase in Romans 4; verse 3. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
Grace and works are opposites. With grace you receive the freely given, undeserved gift of God. Since it is freely given, you owe nothing. You couldn't pay for it if you wanted to. If you try to pay for grace you've received, it is no longer a gift freely given and no longer qualifies as grace. Grace makes us feel indebted and the natural man doesn't like that. We want to be in charge, we want to be the authority and hold debt for others.
Unfortunately, many folks unknowingly rely on works. While they believe most people are bad, they are convinced they are basically good. This means they feel they've done far more good than bad. Imagine standing before a judge, "Yes, I robbed the bank and murdered the teller. But, it's my first time and never done it before. Besides I tithe at church, volunteer at school and am a generally all-around great guy!" By works, we attempt to earn your merit before God by tipping the scales without perceived goodness. This amounts to working so you can look to God and say, "God, you owe me salvation because I did this list of good things." By works you are attempting to put God in debt to you. That's what Paul is saying, to Him who works, he isn't acting in Grace, but as a debt he expects God to pay.
Romans 4:5-8
Back in Genesis 15, Abraham wasn't working to earn a son. He wasn't trying to please God so God would owe him salvation. God gave promises to Abraham. Abraham said, "God, I don't see them, where are they?" Abraham was basically saying he was worried about God's ability to fulfill this promise. He was getting to be an old man and saw nothing happening. God took him outside and reaffirmed the promise by telling him his family would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. And Abraham believed. It was by faith; and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Abraham believed on Him who justifies the ungodly. Abraham would have been accounted among the ungodly. This would have horrified the Jews. However, Abraham was uncircumcised and without works. He was no different than the gentiles.
God gives us many promises throughout the new covenant of Jesus Christ. Many times, we can't see how these promises could possibly work out. They make no sense in our life. Yet we trust God at His word. We trust in those promises; particularly the promise of salvation by grace to those who repent and trust in him; the promise that he will transform our lives; the promise he is always with us and will return again where we'll receive glorified bodies to live forever in His presence. We have many more incredible promises that are too many to mention.
Paul considers Abraham's promise to be very much like ours. If you believe on Him who justifies the ungodly, your faith is accounted for righteousness. He is the God who justifies the ungodly. He isn't looking for the Godly to justify. He's justifying the ungodly in spite of themselves. When you consider that Abraham is the father of all who believe, I'd say the promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky was fulfilled.
Paul likens Abraham's faith to that of David, another Old Testament saint who knew what grace was about. David didn't want to be judged by his works. If he was, he knew he would be in trouble. David knew His sins were against him and the wages of sin were due. How could this incredible debt be paid? David knew the blessedness of a man to whom God imputed righteousness. The word impute means to be reckoned, or accounted as righteous. This was an act that brought great blessing and stood apart from works. In Psalm 32 David described the blessing for the man that receives God's imputed righteousness. Paul quotes from the Psalm in verse seven and eight.
David went on in that Psalm to describe the burden and shame of his sin. It had its physical effect on him as if God himself were crushing him and wring the life and vitality from him. Then he said.
Romans 4:9-12
The word translated to impute is 'logizomai' and it is used countless times in the New Testament. It is an accounting term translated to:
- Imputed
- Accounted
- Considered
- Accounted
- Numbered
You can find this word a dozen times in chapter 4 alone. The picture is of an accounting ledger. In Abraham's ledger there was an entry on the credit side. There was only one entry and it said, faith, he believed the promises of God.
The Jews argued strongly that circumcision was required. This can't be stated strong enough. This comes up again and again throughout the New Testament. The Jews placed so much value on it; it was a tough barrier to break through. Most were taught you were not a real Jew until you were circumcised. If a Jew were so bad as to receive condemnation by God, they believed there was an angel who would make you uncircumcised prior to delivering them to judgment. This angel would remove the sign of circumcision to make this man like any other gentile.
The seriousness of this is hard for us to understand, this was a long-standing tradition that was engrained in the Jewish culture. For Paul to now tell them it didn't account for much was not an easy sell. Paul had to come to terms with that himself and he'd been dealing with it ever since, knowing it would stumble them. Paul argued that God declared Abraham righteous in Genesis 15 verse 4, but the covenant of circumcision wasn't given to him until chapter 17; which was over 14 years later!
Paul made it clear, circumcision had nothing to do with righteousness. Abraham's righteousness was declared by faith. The argument that the righteousness only belonged to the circumcised was shattered. In fact, Paul applied a new idea for the Jews, that it was a 'sign'. The Jews saw it as a sign of being under the law and Paul would have agreed in his younger years. Now he understands that the sign was indicating his faith, not the law. He called it a 'seal of righteousness of the faith he had'. The word used for seal is the same used to seal a legal document. It was a mark of authenticity.
Paul came to understand that circumcision was the outward sign of an inward change. The Jews wanted to make it a test or qualifier before you received salvation, but Abraham received that new label, the sign of circumcision, while he was still uncircumcised. He received that sign because of what had already happened on the inside. It was an outward mark of what had already happened. This happened so that Abraham might be the father of all who believe. Righteousness is imputed on all those who believe, whether you are a Jew or gentile. Paul said it was more important that you walk in the steps of faith as father Abraham did, even as their father Abraham did before he was received the sign.
Romans 4:13-15
Paul applied the same argument to law as he did to circumcision. The promise that Abraham would be the father of all who believe wasn't granted because he kept the law. How could it be? The Mosaic Law wouldn't come about for several hundred years. There was no written law for him to keep. God didn't declare Abraham righteous by the law. He was declared righteous by his faith.
There are primarily two word choices Paul had to speak of the Promise:
- Huposchesis: A promise given that has conditions. 'I promise to do deliver this if you do your part.'
- Epaggelia; A promise with no conditions. It is like the promise of a Father to his children. The promise is fulfilled regardless of their goodness or lack of.
It is this second word (epaggelia) that Paul used to speak of the promise of God
Paul argued that if righteousness came about by the law, then faith would have no value because the law brings about wrath. If your hope is in keeping the Ten Commandments, you are in trouble. If you are set on keeping the law as a means to salvation, you will be very disappointed and frustrated. The law can only bring about wrath.
If we are driving down the road and there is no speed limit sign, we can't be held to a particular speed. There is law. But, when the sign is posted, the law is present. Now, with knowledge of the law, we have knowledge of our sin when we exceed that speed limit. We would not be condemned for actions when the law was absent. With the law, we are condemned. If you went 1mph over, you are a lawbreaker. Even if you slow down, you are still a lawbreaker. Keeping the law now doesn't make you innocent for your previous transgressions. There is wrath or punishment due.
The law schools you on your righteousness; teaching you that you aren't capable in keeping the law. If there were no law, there would be no transgression. If the law had any other purpose than to drive you to the cross it would be useless.
- If there is no faith or promise, only the law, the law would serve no purpose and we would be stuck with our sins.
- If there is no faith, there was no reason for God to give a law. Why not just do away with it; because if there is no law, there is no lawbreaker.
Paul is working the argument backwards. This is kind of the way our culture thinks. Since I don't like being a lawbreaker and feeling bad about myself, we should change the rules. That way I'll feel better about myself and have a better standing.
Sadly, many in our world deal with God like this. Instead of finding out who God is and what he requires and finding out who and what we are in relationship to God. We've decided what we are today and we change our understanding of God to fit our lifestyles and pleasures. We've changed faith so we can feel good about ourselves. And many pick and choose the words they like out of the bible so they can keep their favorite sin. This is making a god of our own understanding and departing from the God of the bible.
To rely on the law makes faith void. If we throw out faith, we might as well remove the law or moral guidelines to feel better about ourselves. If we do that, we won't view ourselves bad, judge ourselves poorly and can stay in our sin comfortably. That seems to be completely acceptable to many today. Unfortunately, changing your viewpoint doesn't change the spiritual truth that we are all sinners. It only allows folks to comfortably fool themselves into thinking they are in good standing with God. In reality, they live life any way they choose, then die and go to hell.
Romans 4:16-22
We know Paul is summarizing his argument when we see the 'therefore'. How do we find this blessing David and Abraham knew? It's of faith according to Grace.
It is Sola Fide; in faith alone. It is by this faith that the promise might be sure to all the seed. Abraham is the father of all who believe, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. Paul makes it sound like those of the law are different from those who are of the faith of Abraham. The Jews would flinch at this statement. They viewed Abraham as their father. They believed in Abraham, Moses, the law and circumcision. They would have insisted that to be a Christian one had to first be a Jew and keep the law. Yet they were proven wrong by Abraham himself. What Paul is saying though is Abraham is the father of all who believe by faith and no one was saved by the law. Abraham was given a promise that the whole world would be blessed by him. And the world was blessed through Abraham when Christ was born a Jew. So, in this way, Abraham is the father of all who believe. And the promise is fulfilled to those who receive it.
God made Abraham the father of many nations. Notice the Past tense. He had already made him that. He did this while Abraham was still childless and an old man with an old wife with a dead womb. How could God say this as though it had already happened? It would have made absolutely no sense to Abraham or us. But it made perfect sense to God. He brought Abraham and Sarah to a point in their life where all their own hopes had passed away. They no longer possessed a plan of their own. This promise of offspring was a promise for a young man and a young wife. After all Abraham was 99 years old and had lived a full life. There was no earthly hope of this happening. Physiologically it wasn't possible. A doctor would have said, "Give it up, it's not going to happen." Things just didn't work this way.
It made no sense in the eyes of a man. It made no scientific sense. This promise only made sense when spoken by God. He brought life to a dead womb. God gives life to the dead. God gave life to Abraham and Sarah when their hope of having children was dead. God called those things which do not exist as though they did.
When you study the book of Genesis and the life of Abraham it seems like he did his fair share of wavering at times. But Paul says he did not waver at this promise. Abraham grew in faith to a point of not wavering. Abraham not only didn't waver toward unbelief. He was strengthened in faith and glorifying God. Abraham was convinced that God would perform exactly what He had promised. Because of this it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Romans 4:23-25
Abraham could not do anything to fulfill the promise God gave him. How could his offspring be a multitude if he couldn't have one son? How could he possess a land if there was no family? He spoke these promises, not as possibilities, but as a sure hope. All Abraham had to do was believe and trust that God is true. In the same vein, how can a man rise from the grave? How can we be made righteous if we've been proven unrighteous? God spoke the promise and maintained His character as just while becoming the justifier when Christ died on the cross. Not only that, but He raised Him from the dead, putting to death the wages of sin. With sin debt paid, our negative side of the ledge was cleared. Then the righteousness of Christ was 'imputed' to us. The other side of our ledge posted a major credit of righteousness, not earned in way, but imputed to us.
Just as this righteousness was imputed to Abraham by his faith, the same righteousness can be imputed to us. If we believe that Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses and raised from the dead because of our justification. We have to come to the end of ourselves but understanding our fall, our sinful nature and deep need for a savior. All our work at trying to please God or earn credit with God must cease. As George Muller said, "Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible; there is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends." Salvation is by faith alone. This is trusting in God's promise when we arrived at that place of need and understand it is not humanly possible for us to save ourselves.
©2008, 2014, 2021 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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