Patriarchs were justified by faith: (chap.4):
After speaking about the absolute doctrine that justification is by faith only, Paul comes straight to the Patriarch Abraham whom the entire Jews are proud to be his children.
- Abraham was justified by faith: (4:1-8):
- Abraham was justified by grace but not by law: (4:9-17).
- Abraham was justified by Resurrection power of Lord Jesus Christ and not by human effort: (4:18-25).
- Abraham was justified by faith: (4:1-8):
The scripture says: “Abraham believed the Lord and He credited it to him as righteousness”(Gen.15:6). Abraham (Abram) defeated Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him. He was already a rich person. He did not take any plunder. On the way he offered a tenth of everything to Melchizedek and received blessings from Melchizedek. Of all things Abraham wanted most was a son and heir. God had promised him a son, but the promise had not yet been fulfilled. God brought him outside and said: “Look up at the heavens and count the stars– So shall your offspring be” (Gen.15:5). Then God made a covenant with Abraham (15:18).
Paul then begins a contrast between works and faith: “Now a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation” (4:4). 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 behaviour, 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.
Abraham did not work for his salvation, he simply trusted God’s Word. It was Jesus Christ who did the work on the cross, and His righteousness was put on Abraham’s account. Further Paul says: “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (4:5) is in other words saying looking at two points:
- God justifies the ungodly! The Law said, it is a startling statement. In OT “I will not acquit the guilty” (Ex 23:7b). Again in OT “Acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty” (Deu.25:1b). When Solomon dedicated the temple, he asked God to condemn the wicked and justify the righteous! (1 Ki. 8:31-32). But God justifies the ungodly, because there are no godly people to justify! He put all our sins on Christ’s account so that Christ might put His righteousness on our account. In other words once we are justified, our record contains Christ’s perfect righteousness and can never contain our sins.
- “His faith is counted for righteousness.” But what amount of righteousness? The righteousness which we must be supposed to have it or which is due to have and is not paid. He who does not work, owes long arrears of righteousness, because he is a sinful man, he is a debtor of a large amount. But when he turns away from sin, and believes in his heart, then his faith, which is a pledge of future righteousness, is graciously credited to him for those long arrears, and the debt remains no more against him. Because “by grace we are saved through faith.”
Again Paul used David as a witness in (Rom.4:6-8), quoting from one of David’s psalms of confession after his terrible sin with Bathsheba (Ps 32:1-2). David made two amazing statements:
- God forgives sins and imputes righteousness apart from works.
- God does not impute our sins.
Christians do sin, and these sins would be forgiven the moment we ask for forgiveness so that we can maintain our fellowship with God (1 Jn.1:5-7,9). God does keep a record of our works, so that He might reward us when Jesus comes, but He is not keeping a record of our sins. To impute righteousness without works is evidently synonymous with forgiveness of sin. It is to treat the one who has not worked as if he had worked. But when we have faith with love, it would produce the fruits of righteousness and the believer would rightly get involved in the righteous acts which is the offshoot of Christ’s righteousness. This is what James in his letter has said. This is evidently seen in Christ’s parable of “prodigal son.” Abraham was not made righteous before he believed, but only after believing he was made righteous.
- Abraham was justified by grace but not by law: (4:9-17):
Abraham was counted righteous because of his faith and God’s grace (Gen.15:6). He did not receive the covenant of circumcision until (Gen.17), which was at least 14 years later. In fact Abraham the father of all those who believe was declared righteous while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore how can anyone say that Gentiles must be circumcised before God would declare them righteous. The Jews in those days thought circumcision meant that they were the true descendants of Abraham.
In fact circumcision was the seal of the covenant, the rite that made a Jewish child a part of the system of law. Yet Abraham, the “Father” of the Jews, was in effect a Gentile that is, uncircumcised when he was saved! Circumcision was merely an outward sign of a spiritual relationship, as baptism is today. No physical ceremony can produce spiritual changes, yet the Jews of Paul’s day trusted in the ceremonies, the outward signs and ignored the saving faith that was required of them. To have Abraham as our father, we must walk in the steps of faith that Abraham walked in. Today also many religious people, the so called Christians who are the members of the churches trust in religious ceremonies viz, sprinkling baptism, baptism classes, adult baptism much before true repentance etc. and declare that they have the right to be the disciples of Christ.
“Our father Abraham” is an important phrase that the ancient Jews jealously guarded. They did not allow a circumcised Gentile convert to Judaism refer to Abraham as “our father” in the synagogue. A Gentile convert had to call Abraham “your father” and only natural born Jews could call Abraham “our father.” Paul throws out that distinction, and says that through faith, all can say, “our father Abraham.”