Romans 4 - Justified by Faith

Previously in Romans 3, we saw how there are none righteous, no not one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no difference between the Jew and Gentile, the Law stops everyone’s mouth, and the whole world stands guilty before God. If that were all there was to the story, we all would be doomed and damned for eternity. However, we have been justified freely by His grace through redemption in Christ Jesus. Jesus appeased God’s wrath for us on the cross by shedding His blood to pay for our sins. We have to only receive it by faith. This is a marvelous transition from the wrath of God on sinful man in the first three chapters. Examples are a useful tool when teaching, and Paul will give us a real-life example of someone who was justified by faith.

He turns to Abraham, the most esteemed man in Judaism, to illustrate his point. He asks what Abraham, their father according to the flesh, had found? Abraham was the father of the Jewish people. God had called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and promised to give him the land of Canaan to his descendants. The problem was, he did not have children, and his wife was past child bearing years. However, God promised him a son through his wife Sarah. She did bear him a son, Isaac, whose wife bear him Jacob, who became the patriarch of the nation of Israel. In relation to Abraham’s son, Abraham asked God what He would give him since he was childless and the heir of his house was his servant? God responded that He would give him an heir that would come from his own body. Then the Lord took him outside, told him to look up to the heavens, and to count the stars if he was able. He told Abraham, “So shall your descendants be.” Then it says that Abraham believed in the Lord, and the Lord accounted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:1-6) This is the first time the word “believe” and “righteousness” appear in the Bible, and this passage is quoted four times in the New Testament in support of God’s imputed righteousness based on faith. This is the Gospel in the Old Testament, Abraham believed in (put his trust in) the Lord, and the Lord put this belief to his account for righteousness.

Coming back to Romans, Paul says that if Abraham were justified by works, he would have something to boast about, but not before God. Someone may be impressed by the works of another, but as Paul has already pointed out, there are none righteous or who do good before God. He then quotes from this passage in Genesis, ‘“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”’. The word “accounted” is an accounting term, and means to put down to one’s account or to impute. God imputed His righteousness to Abraham based off his faith. David Guzek writes, “The Apostle Paul does not say that Abraham was made righteous in all of his doings, but God accounted Abraham as righteous. Our justification is not God making us perfectly righteous, but counting us as perfectly righteous. After we are counted righteous, then God begins making us truly righteous, culminating at our resurrection.”

There are two opposing paths one can take here, the first being that of grace. Grace is the unearned favor of God, freely given to us with nothing expected in return. In contrast, to the man who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. It’s like working your tail off all month for a paycheck, but at the end of the month, the employer says, “No, you actually owe me.” There’s no way our works (however good they may be) can erase or somehow make up for our sins before God. As a result, we will owe Him on the day of judgment unless we have believed and have been accounted righteousness for that belief as Abraham was by the God who justifies the ungodly. God doesn’t just save the one who is good by man’s standards, but He saves the ungodly, the worst of the worst.

David understood this when he said, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” David, a man guilty of capital punishment on two accounts (adultery and murder) under Jewish law, understood what it meant to be forgiven. Not only does the Lord not impute our sin to us, He imputes Christ’s righteousness to us in its place. This is a good God who would do this for us.

Lest the Jewish reader should think they are the only recipients of such blessings, Paul makes the case that Abraham was justified before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision, the seal or stamp of the righteousness of the faith that he had prior to his circumcision. Abraham was justified 14 years prior to his circumcision, so the Jew could not argue that circumcision had anything to do with his justification, nor could they argue that Gentiles needed to be circumcised in order to be declared righteous. In so stating, Abraham is the father of all who believe.

The promise that Abraham and his descendants would be heir of the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. If it were through the law, then faith would be made void and the promise would be of no profit. This is because the law brings about wrath. If we recall from chapters 1-3, the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and that all of mankind is under this sentence of Divine judgment. If the Lord had not given us the law or written it on our hearts, there would be no sentence against us, but because He is a perfectly loving and just God, He has. Therefore, our works can only leave us in debt to God, and therefore subject to His wrath. For this reason, it must be by faith so that we can have access to the grace of God, and it can be made available to all people, Jew or Gentile. This makes Abraham the father of us all, and is a fulfilment of the Scriptures which state, “I have made you a father of many nations”

God is a miracle-working God; He gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist into existence. Abraham believed this. He was in an impossible situation, but in hope (joyful and confident expectation), believed in the promise of God. He did not allow his body which he considered to be as good as dead or the deadness of Sarah’s womb to persuade him otherwise, but was strengthened in his faith. He was fully convinced that God was able to perform what He had promised. It was for this belief that it was accounted to him for righteousness.

This wasn’t written for Abraham’s sake alone, but for ours as well. We too were dead spiritually with no hope of fixing the problem on our own, but by believing in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, God’s righteousness will be credited to our account as well. This is interesting that Paul refers to Him who raised up Jesus: all three members of the trinity are credited with the resurrection, so this could be a reference to the Father or the Holy Spirit. To believe in one person of the trinity is to believe in the others as well. God, as a triune being, is responsible for our imputed righteousness, and it is because of Jesus who died for our sins and who was raised to life again for our justification.

This is such a simple concept that people often like to complicate it further by adding to what we need to do to be saved (e.g. baptism, communion, repentance, public profession of one’s faith, etc.) Although these are all things a true Christian should do, none of them have saving power in and of themselves. The proof is that if you take any one of them alone or all of them together, they are outward acts of obedience that cannot erase sins previously committed, and only leave us fallen short of God’s righteous and holy standards. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that it was by grace that they were saved, through faith (reliance upon Christ for salvation), and not of themselves. It is the gift of God, and not of works, lest anyone should boast. There is nothing that you or I can contribute or offer God for our salvation; it is a free gift. I cannot stop doing enough bad things and do enough good things to make myself right with the Lord. I can only believe in the One who justifies the ungodly and be counted as righteous before Him. Missler writes, “The ransom has been paid. The divine justice has been appeased. The holiness of God has been vindicated. ...And the believing sinner is declared justified from all things. Such is the testimony of Chapter 4. We can’t add to it. It is blasphemy to even try.”

In closing, I want to take a look at one final passage in the Gospel of John. There was a man who came to Jesus by night named Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, part of the strictest sect in Judaism. The Pharisees prided themselves in their own righteousness, keeping the law, and even all the rules in their extra-biblical texts. Jesus did not commend him for this, nor did He even mention it. He cut right to the chase when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” You see, being a Christian is not God reforming or improving the old man, for as we will see in a couple chapters, the old man must die. The true spiritual life is being reborn. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Co 5:17) In explaining how this re-birth takes place, He takes Nicodemus back to an Old Testament passage in numbers. The people murmured against God and against Moses, and as a result, the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them that bit them, killing many of them. After the people repented, the Lord told Moses to make a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole, so that whoever looked upon it would be healed. In the Bible, the serpent represents sin, and bronze represents judgment. Whoever trusted the word of the Lord through Moses looked upon it and was made well. So too, we have been bitten with the poisonous bite of sin, but our sin has been judged on the cross in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:14-15) We look to Jesus by faith, we are born again, and are imputed His righteousness. In the following chapter Paul will finish his discussion on justification by faith, and discuss how our faith in the Lord causes us to triumph in trouble.

Romans 3 - All Have Sinned

Previously in Romans 2, we saw Paul prove both the moralist and the religious man to be law breakers. The Gentiles will perish without the Law, because the Law is written on their hearts. The Jews, who were under the Law, will be judged by the Law. He ended with a radical statement for the Jewish reader, circumcision only profits if you keep the law, otherwise, it is counted uncircumcision. Likewise, if you are uncircumcised and keep the law, it is counted as circumcision. Our tendency in our human nature is to think that we are somehow an exception to the rule. these things apply to everyone else, but my circumstances are different. However, Paul is going to prove this notion to be false as well.

If the Jew is just as much a lawbreaker as the Gentile and their circumcision of no value, what advantage is there to being in Jew, Paul asks? He then answers, “much in every way.” This is primarily because they were given the Word of God. It is this Word that testifies of the coming plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Whether the Jewish people believe it or not, it doesn’t change that God is true and that men are liars. Even though we are unfaithful, He remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13). Charles Spurgeon stated the following about God being true: “It is a strange, strong expression; but it is none too strong. If God says one thing, and every man in the world says another, God is true, and all men are false. God speaks the truth, and cannot lie. God cannot change; his word, like himself, is immutable. We are to believe God’s truth if nobody else believes it. The general consensus of opinion is nothing to a Christian. He believes God’s word, and he thinks more of that than of the universal opinion of men.” This faithfulness is even seen in His judgment in unbelieving and unrepentant man.

Next Paul mentions some possible objections to this truth, and then answers them. First, if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, how can God judge me for my sin? His righteousness reveals our sin, and our unrighteousness reveals His righteousness on the day of judgment. To take it even further, if God’s truth is increased by my lie, and this brings glory to Him, why don’t we then just do evil so good will come? Paul was being falsely accused of teaching this, but he states those who truly teach this are justly condemned. These are objections that are stated out of a proud and unrepentant heart. He is coming back in judgment one day soon, and those who are wise will avoid it through faith in Christ.

Since the Jews were given the word of God, does this mean they are better than everyone else? Paul says, “Not at all.” He had previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles to be under sin. This “under sin” means to be sold under sin, and speaks to our slavery to it before coming to Christ. Next, He will put the nail in the coffin of the universal sinfulness of man.

He then quotes from some Old Testament passages in Psalms and Isaiah, and when you read those passages, it seems like they are referring to a specific group of people (e.g. David’s enemies), but here Paul quotes them as referring to mankind as a whole. He writes, “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Lest we be tempted to think we are the exception to the rule, Paul tells us there is none righteous, no, not one. He repeats it a second time, “There is none who does good, no, not one.” When the Lord repeats something twice, He is wanting to make sure we get the point. Man in his unregenerate state is a slave to his sin, he has no spiritual understanding, and does not even seek after God. He is entirely given to his sin. As we discussed before, it is God who seeks us out and calls us with His Holy Spirit. He opens our understanding to spiritual things (1 Co 2:11-16).

Paul then returns his discussion back to the law. He said that whatever the law says, it says it to those who were under the law, that every mouth would be stopped, and that the whole world would become guilty before God. In my witnessing to others, I have personally observed this happen. When you go through the 10 Commandments with someone (even just a few of them), it stops their mouths. This is especially true when you bring in the words of Jesus who said even if you think it in your heart, you are guilty. It is for this reason that no one can be justified by the deeds of the law. The law can only bring the knowledge of sin, and therefore is our schoolmaster or tutor to bring us to Christ. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal 3:21-24)

This means that man has a fatal disease, and if our hope was in the law, it would be an incurable one. However, this is where the Lord stepped in. Now that Paul has established that man has the fatal disease of sin, he now shifts to its only cure.

He begins by saying, “but now,” signifying a transition between the judgment of God and justification. We see again that the righteousness of God is revealed, apart from the law, that is to say the keeping of the law had nothing to do with this righteousness, the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus to all who believe. So, Paul has come full circle back to justification by faith as he stated in chapter 1, and it is the bad news of sin and God’s wrath discussed in these three chapters that make this justification so glorious. Without these chapters, justification through faith loses its value, and the grace of God is something we would take for granted.

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. However, we have been justified freely (without cost to us) by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This grace is the unearned favor of God. Not only does the Lord not give us what we deserve (eternal punishment in hell), but He gives us salvation and eternal life when we did nothing to deserve it. It is given to us because of our faith in Jesus who paid the price on the cross to buy us back from the slavery of sin.

God set forth Jesus to be a propitiation by His blood through faith. This word in its classical form refers to making a sacrifice to appease the anger of the Greek gods. Jesus appeased the wrath of God on the cross. This same Greek word is used to refer to the mercy seat, the lid that covered the ark, where blood was sprinkled once a year by the high priest. So then, Jesus is both our atoning sacrifice and our mercy seat.

This demonstrates the righteousness of God, because He had previously passed over the sins that were committed by the Jewish people. The blood of bulls and goats could never truly take away sin, so God in His forbearance covered them until the blood of His Son could remove them. Again, God is just in doing so, because Jesus was a perfect sacrifice. He can legally justify us through our faith in Jesus.

Paul asks the question, “Where is boasting then?” He then answers it that it is excluded, not by works, but by the law of faith. If we could be justified by our works, then we would boast about it. However, since we are all condemned by the law, it is by faith, and our boast can only be in Christ. We must conclude then that we are justified by faith, apart from the deeds of the law. If both Jew and Gentile are condemned by the law with no hope of escape on their own merits, then it would logically follow that both can be justified by faith in Jesus Christ.

Lastly, he asks if faith nullifies the law? His answer is faith establishes it. Faith establishes the law that it reveals our sin, drives us to our knees, and shows us our need for Jesus Christ. In the following chapter Paul will give us an Old Testament example of someone who was justified by faith.

Romans 2 - God's Wrath Against the Moral and Religious Man

 

Last time in Romans,  we saw Paul’s condemnation of the pagan man, the idol worshiper who is given over to sensual pleasures. Mankind chooses to suppress the truth of God’s existence, becomes ungrateful, and then turns to idol worship. This leads to sexual immorality, and eventually to vile passions in the homosexual lifestyle. Along the way the Holy Spirit is bringing conviction, and mankind persists in his rebellion and unbelief. As a result, God begins giving them over to their desires and the destructive consequences of their sin until they reach the point of becoming reprobate. They have rejected God long enough that He finally gives them over to their desire to do so. At this point, pretty much anything goes, and those individuals will eventually face the wrath of God in Hell. In this chapter Paul addresses the moralist and religious man, who as we will see, is self-righteous. Man’s tendency is to think if he at least upholds some moral standard or shows religious devotion that it will cancel out his faults, or that God will somehow overlook them. However, Paul is going to make the case that all three groups (the pagan, moralist, and the religious man) are equally deserving of God’s wrath.

Lest we should somehow think we are better than the pagan man in Romans 1, Paul changes from the general plural to the specific singular (they to you). He says you are inexcusable when you judge, because when you do so, you are doing the same things. The word judge does not mean we are to refrain from discerning between right and wrong, but we are not to judge unto condemnation or judge hypocritically (Matthew 7:1-5, 15-19, and Heb 5:12-14). We are to be in the habit of using the word of God to determine good from evil. God’s judgment or condemnation, however, is according to truth. Having a moral standard and passing judgment on others for not keeping it will not free us from the same condemnation if we are doing the same things. It’s the riches of God’s goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering that holds back His judgment and blesses us in spite of our sins.

These attributes should be what draw us to repentance, but people unfortunately despise it in their ungratefulness. In their hardness and impenitent hearts, they are treasuring up wrath for the day of wrath. We can either be a recipient of God’s goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, or of His wrath, in which He will give everyone according to their deeds (a scary place to be). These people are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth. There will be indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. In contrast, for those who patiently and consistently do good, seeking glory, honor, and immortality, they will have eternal life. They will receive glory, honor, and peace. Here we see reference to the Jew and the Greek, meaning the religious and moral man is across people groups. At first glance it may seem as though Paul is teaching a works-based theology, but he is merely stating that the evidence of those who are desiring eternal life will be that they persist in doing good.

There is no partiality with God. Those who have sinned without the law will perish without the law, and those who have sinned in the law will perish by the law. It’s not enough to just be a hearer of the law, for a lot of people hear the word of God and don’t obey it. In fact, none of us obey it. In order to be justified by the law, a person must be a doer of it perfectly (Gal 5:3 and James 2:10).

Paul tells us something interesting here: the Gentiles will die in their sins because the Gentiles obey the law even though they weren’t taught it. This is because the law is written on their hearts. People have an innate sense of what is right and wrong. The proof of this is when a person is offended by things like murder, theft, adultery etc. It’s not ok unless they’re the ones doing it. However, the more a person does it, the more hardened their heart becomes. Their thoughts either will accuse or excuse themselves when Jesus will judge the secrets of men’s hearts according to Paul’s Gospel. This is proof that God’s wrath is part of the Gospel message. Again, it’s what makes the good news truly good news.

Lastly, Paul will focus specifically on the Jew (the religious man). The Jewish people believed that because God had given them the law, they were His chosen people, and thought that keeping the law ensured their salvation. However, Paul would ask the Jew, do you steal, do you commit adultery, do you profit from the idol’s temple? They who boast in the law, did they dishonor God by breaking the law? The obvious answer to these questions is, yes. We have all broken the law in one form or another, if not outwardly, certainly inwardly, in the heart. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mat 5:27-28) So then, the sins of the heart still make us guilty before God.

Paul quotes from Isaiah in stating the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. When Paul is talking about the law, he is referring primarily to the 10 Commandments, the 10 cannons of God’s law. An interesting fact, all of the 10 Commandments are restated in the NT as valid for us today with one exception, and that is the keeping of the Sabbath. The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our Sabbath rest. The literal keeping of the Sabbath was meant for a sign between God and the Jewish people. Paul will develop this later, but the law was not given to make man righteous, but to reveal to him he cannot be righteous on his own.

He then gets into the topic of circumcision. For the Jew, circumcision was a big deal (Gen 17:1-4). This was the physical sign they were God’s people, and if they refused to be circumcised, they would be cut off from being part of the nation. A Jew would likely have protested to Paul’s argument saying they were saved because they were circumcised. However, Paul said if they, being circumcised, did not keep the law, then it was as though they were not circumcised. Likewise, if an uncircumcised man keeps the law, it would be counted as circumcision, and he would in turn judge them who were breaking the law. He then makes a radical statement if you were a Jew: being a Jew is not outward in the act of circumcision, but being a Jew is being one inwardly, and circumcision was of the heart, in the Spirit. In other words, the true change is not outward in a person’s behavior, but in their heart when they respond to the call of God by faith. Circumcision was merely an outward sign of an inward faith. Paul will later refer to Abraham who was credited righteousness before he was circumcised, and will explain to us what is this circumcision of the heart.

Where might we find those who fit into the category of the moral or religious man? We can find them within the Christian Church, in both Catholic and Protestant denominations. We also can see them in pseudo-Christian sects like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Really, it’s anyone who is trusting in their own righteousness or religious devotion to be in right standing with God, and attempt to condemn others for not doing the same. Many of these are very nice people and moral by man’s standards, but as we have already seen, our own morals or religious devotion cannot make us meet the righteous requirements of the law.

In application, do we have a tendency to be overly critical of others? Do we condemn or pass judgment on others when we are doing the same things? Sometimes the things we are doing are actually just as bad or worse. It is right to properly identify sin as the Bible says it, but we need to be careful that we are not condemning others, for that is the Lord’s job. We also need to be careful not to judge hypocritically. We need to remember where the Lord has brought us from. This will hopefully help us to deal with others in humility. Remember, it’s the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. When we are dealing with the moralist or the religious person, it is important to go back to the 10 Commandments to draw their attention to their own sin in order to show them their need for the Gospel. So far, Paul has proven all of humanity (the pagan, moralist, and the religious man) to be guilty, and just in case we are missing it, he will explain things even more clearly in the next chapter.