Romans · chapter 4 of 16
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Romans 4 uses Abraham and David to show that justification has always been by faith and not by works. Abraham believed God and his faith was counted to him as righteousness before he was circumcised, so he is the father of all who believe, Jew and Gentile. His faith in the promise, even when his body and Sarah's were as good as dead, is the model of Christians' faith in the God who raised Jesus.
Romans 3 taught that God justifies freely by faith and that the Law and the Prophets bore witness to this. A natural question was whether this contradicted the story of Abraham, the great father of Israel. In chapter 4 Paul answers that Abraham himself is the best example of justification by faith.
Paul asks what Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, found. If he had been justified by works, he would have something to boast about, but not before God. Scripture says that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. To the one who works, wages are counted as a debt; to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. David says the same when he speaks of the blessing of the person whom God does not count sin against and whose iniquities are forgiven.
Paul then asks whether this blessing is only for the circumcised. Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised, and circumcision came afterward as a sign and seal of the righteousness he already had by faith. So he is the father of believers who are uncircumcised and also of the circumcised who walk in the steps of his faith.
The promise that he would inherit the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If heirs were those who rely on the law, faith would be empty, because the law brings wrath; where there is no law there is no transgression. So the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, those of the law and those of the faith of Abraham.
Finally Paul describes that faith: Abraham, nearly a hundred years old, hoped against hope that he would become the father of many nations, without weakening in faith when he considered his own body, as good as dead, and the barrenness of Sarah's womb, and he grew strong in faith, giving glory to God. That was counted to him as righteousness, and it was written for us also, who believe in him who raised Jesus from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Paul quotes Genesis 15 to say that Abraham believed God and that faith was counted to him as righteousness. Righteousness was not wages for good works but a gift received by trusting God's promise.
To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. It is a startling phrase: God justifies the ungodly, and does so not because they deserve it but through faith.
Abraham believed in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. That description of God sums up Christian faith: we trust God's creating and resurrecting power, not our own strength.
Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. The cross and the resurrection form one work: in his death sin is paid for, and in his resurrection it is confirmed that God declares believers righteous.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: His faith: Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. — Romans 4:3
Answer: David, who spoke of the person whose sin the Lord does not count. — Romans 4:6-8
Answer: Before; circumcision came afterward as a sign and seal of the righteousness he had by faith. — Romans 4:10-11
Answer: So that it may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, not only to those of the law. — Romans 4:13-16
Answer: He was nearly a hundred years old and Sarah's womb was barren, yet he did not doubt God's promise. — Romans 4:18-21
Answer: That he was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. — Romans 4:25
Abraham reminds us that faith is not a vague feeling but trust in God's promises even when circumstances look impossible. In a small group you can think about a current situation where it is hard to believe God will do what he said, and what helps us stand firm.
The chapter also removes the pressure to earn God's favor. If God justifies the ungodly by faith, our best works are not the foundation of our salvation, though they can be its grateful fruit. That frees us from both pride and fear.
Romans 4 shows that Abraham, David and the Christians in Rome share the same way of being justified: believing God. Romans 5 explores what follows that justification: peace with God, hope in the midst of suffering and the work of Christ, the last Adam, set against the fall of the first.
Paul and James answer different questions. Paul explains how a sinner is declared righteous before God: by faith, without works. James shows how a genuine faith is recognized: by the works it produces. Both cite Abraham, and both affirm that living faith produces an obedient life.
It is accounting language: God credited to Abraham a righteousness he did not have on his own. It does not mean faith counted as a work but that, by trusting God, Abraham received the righteous standing only God can give. Paul teaches that the same is true of anyone who believes in Christ.
In that his faith is the model and spiritual origin of all who trust God, whether or not they are his physical descendants. Paul explains that he is the father of the circumcised who follow his steps of faith and of the uncircumcised who believe.