Justification Through Faith

INTRO

Here we are in Romans 4! When I first did radio, I taught through the book of Hebrews. I thought Hebrews was tough to teach, but that was because I hadn’t taught through Romans. Romans was Paul’s letter to a group of believers in Rome, whom he longed to be with. Unfortunately, Paul made it to Rome later as a prisoner. Tradition says the letter to the Romans was delivered by Phoebe. Remember at the very beginning of this letter, Paul expressed his desire that everyone would hear about the gospel and that the righteous would live by faith (Romans 1). Those words from Paul set up where we are going to go today.

TEACHING

Romans 4:1-3: Paul writes about Abraham. Why was Abraham important enough for Paul to mention in this lesson? The Jews were given the Word of God and Abraham was mentioned in the Word of God. Wiersbe writes, “Abraham was justified by faith, not works (vv. 1-8).”¹ How can Abraham be justified by faith when Christ technically wasn’t around? Because Abraham believed God’s words; that was enough to justify him through faith.

You can understand this text when you understand the context of who Paul was writing to and what Abraham meant to them. Abraham was the physical ancestor of Israel (John 8:39). Abraham is also the father of “us all” (Romans 4:16). If Abraham was justified through his works, he would have had the right to brag. Constable wrote, “Abraham had no grounds for boasting ‘before God,’ because he received justification by faith, not ‘by works.’”² If Abraham was justified because of his beliefs, what did he believe? Abraham believed he was going to be made into a great nation, that he was going to blessed, and that the prophetic promise would come to fruition (Genesis 12:1-4). He believed he was going to have a child who would lead to an innumerable number of decedents (Genesis 12:7;15:4). To put it simply, he believed the word from the Lord. Constable wrote,

"Trust in God’s promises is what constitutes faith, and what results in justification. The promises of God vary. These promises constitute the content of faith. The object of faith does not vary, however. It is always the person of God. For us, God’s promise is that Jesus Christ died as our Substitute, and satisfied all of God’s demands against sinners (3:24-25). Note God “credited” Abraham’s faith “to him as righteousness” (v. 3). Faith itself is not righteousness. Faith is not meritorious in itself. It is only the vehicle by which God’s righteousness reaches us. However, it is the only vehicle by which it reaches us."³

In verse 3, Paul writes, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.” The word credited has also been translated as accounted. John MacArthur writes, “Credited is used in both financial and legal settings. This word occurs nine times in chapter 4. It means to take something that belongs to someone and credit it to another’s account. It is a one-sided transaction. Abraham did nothing to accumulate it. God simply credited it to him. God took his own righteousness and credited it to Abraham as if it were actually his.”⁴ The only way God was able to credit this righteousness to Abraham was because he believed.

Romans 4:4: Constable writes, “‘Work’ yields wages that the person working deserves or earns. ‘Faith’ receives a gift that the person believing does not deserve or earn.”⁵ There is nothing Abraham could have done to deserve righteousness; it was only given because he believed. Just to clarify where we are as a ministry, let’s read Ephesians 2:8–9: “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” You cannot earn salvation.

Romans 4:5-7: David also seems to be a common thread whom Paul liked to use. David also spoke about God crediting righteousness. David wrote about his blessing of forgiveness because he knew he did not deserve righteousness from God (Psalms 32:1-2).

Romans 4:8: Sin does not cancel justification. Once you have experienced the forgiveness of Christ, of being justified by God, justification cannot be taken away. This is tricky because these words are coming from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, those who believed in God were justified by faith in the Word of God. Today, we are justified through our faith that God sent His Son Jesus to die for us.

Romans 4:9-12: Wiersbe writes, “Abraham was justified by grace, not law.”⁶ All Abraham had heard from the Lord happened before his circumcision. So, a Jewish person cannot say, “Oh, his righteousness is because he kept the Law.” He believed before he was circumcised. Paul knew the timeline. God knows what He is doing. Fourteen years after Abraham received and believed the word of the Lord, he was circumcised. Abraham’s circumcision served as a seal. Abraham was the father of the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles (Galatians 3:29). Abraham was justified through grace.

Romans 4:13-15: It is impossible to keep the law perfectly; that’s why you must receive righteousness through faith.

Romans 4:16-17: These verses summarize the previous verses (vv. 13-15). Constable writes, “God gave His promise, to make Abraham ‘the father of many nations’ (v. 13), unconditionally (‘in accordance with grace’)—after the patriarch stood justified. Abraham obtained the promise simply by believing it (i.e., ‘by faith’), not by keeping the Law.”⁷

Romans 4:18-22: Wiesrsbe writes, “Abraham was justified by resurrection power, not human effort (vv. 18-25).”⁸ Abraham’s faith did not waiver because of his circumstances, which brought glory to God. He fully believed God’s promise. The more Abraham walked it out with God, the stronger his faith became.

Romans 4:23-25: My prayer is that we would start seeing this radical faith in the American church. MacArthur writes, “If Abraham was justified by faith then all other people are justified on same basis.”⁹

CLOSING

Three terms are important to understand:

Today we talked about justification. In the Old Testament, justification came from faith and belief in God, pointing to the promise of salvation coming from Jesus. For us, justification comes through faith in the promise fulfilled in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.