Reading through Romans

Reading Through Romans

Chapter 4

In the last section of Romans 3, Paul declares that the gospel of salvation announces a righteousness from God, a righteousness that “is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (3:22). Believers are justified or saved by faith, not by observing the law (3:28).

But some people object: Paul, are you saying that the law is wrong? Paul answers: “Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law” (3:31). Paul began this section by saying the Law and the Prophets testify to this gift of righteousness (3:21). He began the entire letter by saying that his gospel had been promised in the Scriptures (1:2).

The law was designed to lead people to the gospel, and the gospel does not nullify the law in the same way that the Messiah does not nullify the prophecies that predicted his coming. Rather, he fulfills them. Similarly, the gospel fulfills the law, brings it to completion, and accomplishes what the law could only point at.

Paul then illustrates this with an example from the Old Testament. The patriarch Abraham is a great example of what Paul is saying—that salvation is given on the basis of faith, not through the law. In Romans 4, Paul elaborates on the meaning of both justification and faith. He asks in verse 1, What then shall we say that Abraham, the forefather of us Jews, discovered in this matter?

He sharpens the focus of the question by saying, If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God (v. 2). If Abraham was considered righteous because of his works, he would have something he could brag about, even though it would not put him anywhere near to God.

Paul has already said that boasting is excluded (3:27). He is contrasting two approaches to righteousness—one based on what people do and can take credit for, and one that depends on faith, which they cannot brag about but merely accept with thanks. What kind of righteousness did Abraham have?

Paul finds an answer in the Law: What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (4:3, quoting from Gen. 15:6). Abraham’s belief was counted as righteousness. The patriarch, representing the entire nation (and even the world), was declared to be righteous not on the basis of what he did, but on the basis of believing God’s promise.

Paul then begins to reason what this means. He builds the contrast between works and faith: Now to anyone who works, their wages are not credited to them as a gift, but as an obligation (v. 4). Abraham was given his status—if he had earned it through good works, then God would not have to credit his faith as righteousness. Some Jews thought that Abraham was perfect in his behavior, and God was obligated to count him righteous, but Paul is saying that, according to the Scriptures, Abraham had to be counted righteous on the basis of faith.

Paul then says, However, to anyone who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, their faith is credited as righteousness (v. 5). Paul is increasing the contrast—he is not talking about someone who works and has faith, but someone who believes but does not work. Of course, works normally follow faith. But at this point in the story, Abraham had only faith, and no works. He trusted God, and his faith was credited as righteousness.

Paul increases the contrast again by saying that God justifies the wicked. He is using a strong word, one not normally associated with Abraham. But Jews had only two categories of people: the righteous and the wicked. And if God had to intervene in order for Abraham to be counted as righteous, then that meant that he was not righteous beforehand, and he had been in the category of the wicked.

God does not need to rescue the righteous. He saves the wicked; there is no point in saving people who aren’t in any danger. Abraham was a sinner, but because of his faith, he is now counted as righteous.

Paul will return to the example of Abraham in a few verses. But at this point he gives more evidence from the Old Testament that God can count the wicked as righteous. Paul uses Psalm 32, written by David, another highly respected patriarch of the Jewish people: David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed are those whose sin the Lord will never count against them” (4:6-8).

David talks about someone who had sins, who would have to be counted wicked if judged by works, but who had all their sins forgiven. David didn’t mention faith here, but he is talking about a person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. There is a way to be right with God that doesn’t depend on perfect behavior. The sins are not counted against us.

Paul then returns to the example of Abraham, asking, Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? (v. 9). Is the blessing of forgiveness available only to Jews, or also to Gentiles? Can Gentiles be counted among the righteous? We have been saying, he reminds them, that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! (vv. 9-10).

Abraham was circumcised in Genesis 17. So in Genesis 15 (which is 14 years earlier), when his faith was counted as righteousness, he was not circumcised. Not only was Abraham credited with being righteous apart from works in general, he was counted as righteous apart from Jewish works in particular.

Therefore, a person doesn’t have to become Jewish in order to be saved. They don’t have to become circumcised, or keep the laws that distinguished Jews from Gentiles, because Abraham was a Gentile when he was counted as righteous. Abraham shows that God doesn’t mind calling sinners righteous, and he doesn’t require circumcision, or the laws of Moses.

Abraham received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised (v. 11). Abraham became circumcised later, but that doesn’t prove that we also need to become circumcised after we come to faith. Circumcision was simply a sign of the righteousness that he already had. That didn’t add anything to his righteousness and didn’t change his category.

So then, Paul concludes, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. Abraham is the father of all the Gentiles who believe. He set the precedent for an uncircumcised person being counted as righteous.

And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised (v. 12). As Paul has already argued, a person is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly (2:28). To truly belong to the people of God, a person must be changed in the heart, not necessarily in the flesh. If Jewish people want to be counted among the people of God, they need faith—the same kind of faith that Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The basis of salvation is faith, not flesh. Gentiles don’t need to copy Jews in order to be saved. Instead, Jews need to copy a Gentile—that is, Abraham, before he was circumcised. We all need to copy the Gentile named Abraham.

Paul now brings the word law back into the discussion: It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith (v. 13). The law of Moses wasn’t even around in the days of Abraham, but Paul is saying that the promise wasn’t given by law at all. God didn’t say, If you do this or that, I will bless you. No, he simply said he would bless him. It was an unconditional promise: Abraham, you are going to have descendants enough to fill the earth, and the whole world is going to be blessed through you. Abraham believed that promise, and that is why he was counted as righteous. It was not on the basis of a law.

Because, Paul reasons, if those who depend on the law are heirs, [then] faith means nothing ... (v. 14). It’s either faith or law—it cannot be both. If we are saved by our works, then we are looking to our works, not trusting in God. If Abraham had earned this blessing by keeping a law, then there would be no point in mentioning his faith.

But even more seriously, Paul says that if salvation is by law, then the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath (vv. 14-15). The promise would do us no good because we all fall short of what the law requires. We are sinners, and all the law can do for us is bring wrath and punishment. It cannot deliver the promises, because by its criteria, we fall short.

If salvation is by the law, then we have no hope. The good news, however, is that where there is no law there is no transgression (v. 15). If salvation is not on the basis of the law, then we cannot disqualify ourselves through our transgressions. Since the law is not part of the method by which we are saved, our sins are not part of the picture, either. They don’t take away what God has given to us by a promise (see 8:1).

Therefore, Paul says in Rom. 4:16, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham (v. 16). The promise given to Abraham was for uncountable descendants, and we can share in Abraham’s promise by being one of his descendants, through a spiritual union with Jesus, who descended from Abraham.

The promise of salvation comes to us by faith, by grace, not by works, and it is consequently guaranteed. We don’t have to be afraid that we will lose our salvation through some sin that we have trouble getting rid of. Grace doesn’t keep count of works, either good or bad. In this way, the promise goes not only to the Jews, but to all people.

Abraham is the father of us all, Paul concludes, and he follows it up with a confirming quote from the Torah: As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations” (v. 17, quoting Gen. 17:5 and using the common word for Gentiles). Abraham is the father not just of the Jewish nation, but of many other nations. Gentiles are also his descendants, and they do not have to become Jewish in order to be counted.

Abraham is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not (v. 17). Why does Paul bring this up? Perhaps he is thinking of the spiritually dead—Gentiles and unbelieving Jews. God can rescue them, and he can take people who were alienated, and make them his people. He can take people who are wicked and call them righteous.

Paul concludes with a summary of the story of Abraham. His audience knew the story well, but Paul emphasizes certain points to reinforce what he has been saying:

According to the flesh, Abraham didn’t have any reason to hope, but he had faith in what God had promised, and his faith was a witness to how great God is. Abraham knew that the promise was physically impossible, but he trusted in God’s power and faithfulness rather than in his own abilities.

In our salvation, too, we have no hope according to the flesh, no hope according to our works, but we can trust in the promise of God, given to Abraham and extended through Jesus Christ to all who believe in him. We should not be discouraged by our human inability to be righteous, but we should trust in the promise of God to count us righteous on the basis of faith. Paul reminds us that because Abraham trusted in God, this is why "it was credited to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:5).

As his final point, Paul reasons that the words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us (vv. 22-23). Actually, those words were not written for Abraham at all, for they were written long after he died. They were written primarily for us, so that we will also have faith. We are the ones to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead (v. 24).

No matter whether we are Gentile or Jewish, we will be counted as righteous, as God’s people, if we trust in God. What he did for Jesus, he will do for us: raise us from the dead. He has done it before, and he will do it again.

Paul concludes the chapter with a brief restatement of his gospel message: Jesus Christ was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (v. 25). The deed has been done; the promise has been given. We need to accept his gift—the gift of righteousness—given to those who believe in Jesus Christ. If God can raise the dead, he can save anyone!