Abraham - Justified By Faith (Romans 4:1-8)
INTRODUCTION:
John MacArthur in the introduction to Romans chapter four in his commentary writes, “If there is any doctrine that the chief enemy of man and of God desires to undercut and distort, it is the doctrine of salvation. If Satan can cause confusion and error in regard to that doctrine, he has succeeded in keeping men in their sin and under divine judgment and condemnation, which the unredeemed will one day share with Satan and his demonic angels in the eternal torment of hell.”[1]
As I said last week, Satan has spread a lie across the world that has become the basis of every false religion and cult and has even become the teaching in many churches that would call themselves Christian. This lie is always some form of salvation by works. This lie teaches that by certain works of man’s own doing, he is able to make himself right before God. We have been looking at the impossibility of this lie. Scripture clearly teaches that righteousness is only by faith in Jesus Christ, the free gift of God’s grace to sinful mankind. This entire fourth chapter of Romans is devoted to Abraham; Paul will use this patriarch of the nation of Israel as an illustration of this central biblical truth that justification or being declared righteous by God is by faith in response to His grace and never by works. In verses 6-8 Paul will use David to support the truth that he is teaching about Abraham. Paul uses Abraham because as far as righteousness was concerned even the Jews of Paul’s day would agree that Abraham was the supreme example of a godly, righteous man who was acceptable to God. They would differ on how Abraham attained his righteousness, but Paul will prove from their own Scriptures, the Old Testament that Abraham’s righteousness was by faith alone. If this is true for Abraham, then this must be the only way for anyone else to be justified before God, only by faith. Let’s pray and then read our passage for today.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Romans 4:1-8 our Scripture passage for this morning. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word. Follow along as I read.
Romans 4:1-8,
“What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.’” (Romans 4:1–8, NASB95)[2]
ABRAHAM IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY WORKS (Romans 4:1-2)
Abraham, was a man of flesh and blood, who lived 2000 years before Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome. As I already stated, he was the first of the Jewish patriarchs and he lived 600 years before the institution of God’s covenant through Moses and the giving of the Law. Because of this fact he could not have been justified by obedience to the Law which did not even exist during his lifetime. Paul knew that his Jewish readers were going to accuse him of teaching a new theology contrary to the Old Testament and so Paul reaches all the way back to the first ancestor of the nation of Israel to prove that this doctrine of salvation by faith alone was not new, but was the only way of salvation since sin entered the world.
Paul begins by asking the question, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?” (Romans 4:1, NASB95)[3] In other words, Paul is saying that since we agree that our biological forefather or ancestor is the supreme example of man justified in God’s sight, let’s look at him very carefully so that we can learn and understand the basis of his righteousness or why he is justified in the sight of God.
Understand that Paul is not beginning a new section just because there is a chapter break. This phrase translated “what then” is the same as if Paul said “therefore” so he is tying this illustration of Abraham back to the previous chapter where he had declared that both Jew and Gentile are justified by faith. Paul brings Abraham into this discussion because he knew the patriarch of the nation, the one that Jews claimed as their blood relative was used by the Jewish rabbis as the ultimate example of man being justified by works or obedience to the Law. Paul will teach, contrary to their teaching, that the Scripture clearly teaches that Abraham was justified by faith alone.
In verse two Paul uses a hypothetical argument , “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” (Romans 4:2, NASB95)[4] This argument states that if man could be justified by his works, then he has something to boast about, that by his good works he has merited his own salvation. The argument is true if man could be justified by good works, but because man cannot because man is sinful and all his works are tainted by sin, because of this man does not have anything to boast about before God. Therefore, Abraham as a man, cannot be justified by works, and cannot boast before God, instead he can only stand before God condemned as a sinner unless God does something to justify him.
ABRAHAM JUSTIFIED BY FAITH (Romans 2:3-5)
But there is a positive side to this argument, for the positive side Paul turns to Scripture, Paul understands the Scripture is God breathed and is therefore without error and is infallible truth and so what Scripture says ends all arguments. Paul writes, “For what does the Scripture say,” then quoting from Genesis 15:6 which was in our Scripture reading this morning he writes, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3, NASB95)[5] This is early in the Genesis account of Abraham, Abraham is first called in Genesis 12 and just four chapters later Moses writes that Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrew nation was justified (declared righteous) before God only because of his faith. Moses wrote, Abraham believed God and for no other reason God credited it to him as righteousness. I am not going to review Abraham’s life for you, we have studied it in both Sunday School and when I went through Genesis, you know that Abraham was a sinner and sinned against God many times in his life. But as is true in every case of true belief, the Holy Spirit enlightened the mind and heart of Abraham to recognize the true and only God and enabled Abraham to respond in faith which God credited as righteousness.
This phrase “credited as” is an economic and legal term in Greek with the meaning of crediting something to another’s account. Abraham came to God with his imperfect faith that failed him at times, but by God’s divine grace and mercy, He credited it to Abraham’s spiritual account as righteousness. In this grace and mercy of God we see the heart of God’s redemptive revelation and the focus of both the Old and New Testaments.
Throughout Abraham’s life his faith faltered, and he was disobedient which was sinful and brought harm to himself and others. That these acts of disobedience are recorded testify that in contrast to what the rabbis taught, Abraham was sovereignly chosen by God for His own divine reasons and purposes and not because of Abraham’s faithfulness or righteousness or works. Abraham’s faith was acceptable to God only because God reckoned or credited it as righteousness. It was not because of who Abraham was or any greatness about him that saved him, rather it was who God is and the greatness of the gracious Lord in whom he placed his faith that saved him. Faith is never the reason or the basis for justification, but the channel through which God works His redeeming grace.
The Apostle goes on to explain what was true about Abraham’s faith is true about every believer’s faith. He writes, “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,” (Romans 4:4–5, NASB95)[6] Paul explains here that if salvation was by works, then it would be what was due us, just as a wage is earned for work rendered, the same would be true if we were justified by our works, it would be earned. Paul is teaching that faith is not, as some teach, a type of work. Paul is stating in these two verses that saving faith is completely separate from any kind of human works. Faith is required for salvation, but faith in itself has no power to save. The power in salvation is the power of God’s redemptive grace alone, through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If man could save himself by his works, then salvation would be apart from God’s grace, Christ death on the cross would account for nothing, it would have been in vain. Not only would works righteousness, if it were true, do away with God’s grace it would also rob God of His glory, for which all of creation was made, including mankind. The primary purpose of the gospel of salvation is to glorify God.
To name just a few of the reasons that man cannot save himself. First, because of man’s sin he is unable to reach the divine standard of righteousness, which is absolute perfection. Second, it does not matter how generous or beneficial or sacrificial a man’s works might be, they will never atone for his sins. The penalty for sin is death, not more good works. The only person that can be declared righteous is the person who does not trust in his works but trusts in Him who justifies the ungodly. Until a person realizes that he is ungodly and has fallen short of God’s glory he is not a candidate for salvation, because he is still trusting in his own goodness. It is only by God crediting our faith as righteousness that we will be saved. When Paul speaks of our faith being credited as righteousness he is speaking of justification, that act in which God imputes Christ’s perfect righteousness on the sinners account, then declares His verdict that the forgiven one is fully just. God justifies the ungodly by crediting their sin to Christ’s account, and then He can credit Christ’s righteousness to the account of the ungodly who believes in faith. God would have violated His own justice if He had credited righteousness to Abraham had not Abraham’s sin, like every believer’s sin, been paid for by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Before the cross, the believer’s sin was paid for in anticipation of Christ’s atoning death, and since the cross the believer’s sin is paid for in advance. For all who believe in faith, it is credited to us by God’s redeeming grace as righteousness.
THE BLESSING OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH (Romans 4:6-8)
Paul now calls on David and shows that by quoting from the greatest king in Israel’s history that he also understood and taught justification by faith alone. The blessing of which David speaks is the blessing of salvation, the greatest blessing of God offered to fallen, sinful mankind. The only one who can receive this blessing are those to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.
Paul then quotes the words of David, the man after God’s own heart, from Psalm 32:1 and 2 and gets to the real issue when it comes to works righteousness versus righteousness by faith. David writes in Psalm 32, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” (Romans 4:7–8, NASB95)[7] The real issue when it comes to justification is the sin issue. We are condemned by God’s wrath because of our sin, and no amount of works will ever atone for sin and satisfy the wrath of God against sin. These verses quoted by Paul that David wrote remove all question that works have anything to do with justification, being declared righteous can only occur when sin is taken care of.
David was keenly aware of this because he had sinned against God when he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then to cover up his sin, he had Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, murdered. David understood how blessed one is who has his lawless deeds, his sin, forgiven because he had experienced this in his own life when he was confronted with his sin by Nathan the prophet and when he went before the Lord in repentance. David clearly understood God’s grace and that those to whom God credits righteousness has to do with sin and the repentance and confession and forgiveness of that sin. David in his prayer of repentance recorded for us in Psalm 51 prayed, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.” (Psalm 51:1–4, NASB95)[8] David understood that it was only by God’s grace and mercy that he could be forgiven and in anticipation of the cross David sought God’s grace and mercy and was blessed as one whose lawless deeds were forgiven, whose sins were covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, whose sin the Lord will not take into account because that sin was credited to the sinless Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness was credited to David because of his faith in God’s provision of salvation.
Paul in quoting David makes it clear that the issue that we are dealing with here when it come to justification is redemption. It has nothing to do with man’s faithfulness in works or faithfulness in obeying the Law. The blessing of justification can only be received when sinners come in faith believing in God’s grace alone through the death of Jesus Christ to redeem them from sin, believing and being blessed that their sins are forgiven by Christ sacrificial death in their place, believing and being blessed that their sins are forever covered by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ shed at the cross and believing and being blessed that the Lord, the Judge of all the earth will never take into account their sin because it has been fully paid for and they have been declared justified through the redemption found in Jesus Christ, and this all to the glory of God because it is His work alone and penalty for sin has been paid in full by Him.
CONCLUSION:
Paul set out in this chapter to demonstrate through Abraham that justification is through faith alone, completely apart from works. The Scripture clearly says that Abraham was declared righteous before God because of his faith in God and God’s promised provision of salvation. Paul showed that justification cannot be obtained by any amount of work because works can never pay the price required for sin, that price, the penalty for sin is death. Paul showed us that this was true in Abraham’s life and also that this justification by faith was also what David, the greatest king of Israel and the man after God’s own heart believed. He understood that sin had to be atoned for, when sin is atoned for it is forgiven through faith in the atoning sacrifice, it is covered by the blood of the atoning sacrifice and because it is forgiven and covered the Lord will never take it into account because it is gone. David declared of our sin in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12, NASB95)[9] Do you know how far that is? If you travel around the globe going east you will always be going east, if you travel west you will always be going west. There is no end either way and that is how far our sin is removed from us when we in faith believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin on the cross and rose from the dead three day later proving sin was paid for once and for all time. “Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.”[10] May we echo David’s words of praise when we consider the blessing of our salvation, our justification. David’s praise in Psalm 103:1-5, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” (Psalm 103:1–5, NASB95)[11]
[1]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 1-8. Chicago, IL : Moody Press, 1991
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[9]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[10]Webb, Philip, ed., Hymns of Grace. Los Angeles, CA : The Master’s Seminary Press, 2015
[11]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995