Romans chapter 4 verses 3 through 8. Justification through faith. Romans chapter 4:3. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Here Paul quotes from Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. The context of that verse is that God had just promised Abraham that he would have an heir from his own body, and that his descendants would be so numerous that they would be like the stars of the heavens.
It took tremendous faith for Abraham to believe this prophecy because he was nearly a hundred years old at the time. Furthermore, his aged wife, Sarah, had been barren her whole life. Paul notes," From one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude." Hebrews 11:12, Romans 4:4." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt." Wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. Eternal life is a gift from God.
It is never a debt that God owes us because of our righteous works, whether these works are done before or after baptism. Origen explains that there are no works we can possibly do that would give us a claim on God, such that He would owe us something. That is because our tongue, hands, and legs, and our very lives are all gifts from God. So whatever good we do while we are on earth, we do it with the gifts God has already given us.
Although Paul is speaking about our initial salvation in this passage, the same truth applies to our final salvation. We cannot earn our future salvation. Our final salvation is never owed to us as a debt. It is always a gift. To be sure, God puts conditions on His generous gift of salvation. He expects us to demonstrate our gratitude by walking faithfully with Him. However, our fulfilling His conditions does not somehow turn His gift into wages.
To illustrate, suppose a king asks his son to go to the royal orchard and bring back a basket full of the king's favorite apples. Further suppose that after the Son has complied, the king gives his son half of his kingdom. Is the reward a gift, or does it constitute wages the Son has earned? The answer is that it is a gift. The Son obviously did not earn half of his father's kingdom by performing such a small task.
The fact that the gift was conditioned on the Son's obedience does not change the fact that it is still a gift. Unfortunately, too many Christians today completely misunderstand the meaning of grace. They think that in the subject verse, Paul is giving a definition of grace. So they imagine that if humans do anything toward their own salvation, then salvation is no longer through grace. However, the fact that a gift carries conditions does not somehow turn that gift into wages.
Romans 4:5." But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Romans chapter 4 verses 6 through 8. Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God ascribes righteousness without works, saying," Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not take into account." The blessedness of the man to whom God ascribes righteousness without works.
Paul had conclusively proven that Abraham, the father of the Jews, was justified without circumcision and without the works of the law. Obviously, then the Gentiles can likewise be justified without circumcision and the law. Let us suppose that the Jewish believers grudgingly accepted this fact. Nevertheless, they could still raise another objection.
They might say to Paul," Yes, we acknowledge that our father Abraham was justified without circumcision and the works of the law." And we can now see that the Gentiles can likewise be justified without those things. Nevertheless, Abraham was a godly man when he was justified. He had rejected idolatry and had obeyed God by leaving his homeland and journeying to the land of Canaan Hebrews 11:8. But most Gentiles who come to baptism are just the opposite of Abraham. They are ungodly people.
We can see how people like Cornelius could be justified without the law. He was a God-fearer, a man who prayed and fasted regularly and helped the poor. Peter said about him," In every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by Him." Acts chapter 10: 35." So let the Gentiles first model their lives after righteous Cornelius. Then they can come to baptism, and we will accept them." The Jews would have been presenting a reasonable objection.
Unlike Cornelius, most Gentile converts in Paul's day had not lived godly lives prior to their conversions. Take, for example, the Philippian jailer. More than likely, this jailer had started his day by offering prayers to an idol. He had probably cursed throughout the day, and he may have mistreated his prisoners. Yet Paul baptized him later that night. Acts chapter 16 verses 25 through 33. So the Philippian jailer came to baptism with nothing but faith and repentance.
The same was true of Dionysius, the Areopagite, and Damaris Acts chapter 17: 34. They were pagan Greeks, coming straight from idol worship, with no righteous works to show. In short, Paul is expanding his initial argument to declare that even ungodly Gentiles or Jews can be saved by faith in Christ. Not only do they not need any works of the law, but they do not need works of any kind to receive justification and forgiveness of sins through grace. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not take into account.
To prove that even ungodly Gentiles can be justified through faith and repentance alone, Paul brings forth the words of David:" Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not take into account." Psalm 32:1 and 2. Paul shows that David's words are a prophecy pointing to the period of grace that would be ushered in through the death of Christ.
Theodoret comments," Since Abraham lived before the establishment of the law, it was necessary for Paul to now show that David, who lived under the law, also bore witness to grace." Paul says," The law brought punishment to those who sinned, but the prophet speaks of the blessedness of those who have received forgiveness of their sins." Therefore, it is evident that David is speaking of the blessedness of our own condition and foretelling the gift of grace. And Paul shows that this grace is open to everyone.
To accept God's grace is not only the better way to salvation, it is the only way. We not only need God's grace at our initial salvation, but we also need His help and forgiveness if we are to be declared righteous on the day of our death. So, indeed, blessed is the man whose sins are not imputed to him. At the same time, God does not look unfavorably on our godly works. Indeed, He requires such works after we have been saved. However, we can never save ourselves through our own works.
We can never be saved apart from grace. Yet that is essentially what the Jews were trying to do. Worse than that, the Jews were trying to be saved through the ritualistic works of the law. Yet the law had been fulfilled, and those regulations had ceased. To continue to seek salvation through them was an act of stubborn rejection of Christ. Faith is greater than works. The amazing fact is that in God's eyes, faith is even greater than works.
Faith is not just greater than the works of the law, but even of godly works. Otherwise, the Gentiles would always carry the stigma of having come into the Church as second-class Christians. In other words, even if the Jews begrudgingly accepted the Gentiles as having been saved simply by their faith, the Jews might always feel superior. That is because Jewish Christians had typically come to baptism with godly works, as well as with the works of the law.
So Paul wants the Jews to recognize that as outstanding as were Abraham's works, his faith was even more remarkable. That is because it was his extraordinary faith that led to his extraordinary works. Faith is the seed that brings forth works. Works are not the seed that brings forth faith. To demonstrate this point, Hebrews tells us," By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place that he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 8 and 9. Again, we read," By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son," Hebrews 11:17. So Abraham's faith preceded his works. Therefore, Paul is saying that Abraham's faith was something even greater than his remarkable works.
This explains why the Gentiles could be justified by faith without any works, either godly works or works of the Law. To be sure, as in the case of Abraham, works of faith must follow our initial justification. Origen writes," The beginning of justification from God is having a faith that believes that such justification is possible. And when this faith has brought justification, it is planted in the soil of the soul. It is like a root that has received rainfall.
As a result, when it begins to be cultivated by the law of God, branches will grow that bear the fruits of works. So the works grow from the root of faith, not the other way around. Honoring the context, initial salvation. Unfortunately, many modern Christians take Paul's wonderful words in this passage out of context. They end up turning his joyful message about grace into erroneous doctrine. In this passage, Paul is discussing initial salvation.
He is saying that no works must precede conversion, justification, and baptism. However, many modern Christians try to argue that initial salvation constitutes final salvation. Therefore, they say, works never play a role in our salvation. This has led to a religion of easy believism. However, Paul had already dispelled any such notion by what he said in chapter 2. There he made it absolutely clear that on Judgment Day, we will receive either eternal life or eternal punishment based on our works.
We cannot take the passages in Romans piecemeal. Chapter 2 and chapter 4 are both part of the same great argument. The early Christians had no trouble recognizing this fact. They balanced Paul's words in this passage with what he says in the rest of Romans and in his other letters. They refuse to read Paul's words in a vacuum. For example, Origen gives a hearty Amen to Paul's words about faith in this passage. Yet he goes on to say," Faith has no part with unbelief.
There can be no communion between righteousness and evil, just as there can be no communion between light and darkness." 2 Corinthians 6: 14 and 15. All the early Christians testify similarly. Clement of Alexandria writes," For it is neither the faith nor the love, nor the hope, nor the endurance of one day, but he that endures to the end shall be saved." Matthew chapter 10:22. In short, it is not a matter of once saved, always saved.
Nor is it true that if persons do not endure, it means that they were never saved in the first place. Neither Jesus, the apostles, nor the early Christians taught such a doctrine. Rather, Jesus says that once we become a branch on the vine, we must produce fruit, or else his father will cut us off the vine, John chapter 15 verses 1 through 6. He does not say that if we fail to produce fruit, it means we were never on the vine in the first place.
Likewise, Paul says that even though the Gentiles have been grafted onto the olive tree of Abraham, they will be broken off if they do not continue in faithfulness. Romans chapter 11 verses 20 through 22. The meaning of imputed righteousness. Before leaving this passage, let us revisit this verse Romans 4:6, which in the King James Version reads," Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without works." Because impute is a term that many people do not commonly use.
Various Christians have turned it into a special theological word. The Greek word for impute logizomai simply means to ascribe, count, or consider. In this verse, Paul is saying that we are blessed because at our initial conversion by faith, God considers us to be righteous, even though in reality we are not. However, many Christians today claim that believers never have any righteousness of their own. Instead, in the bookkeeping in heaven, Christ's righteousness is ascribed to them.
However, Paul says nothing about Christ's righteousness being transferred over to humans. The early Christians knew nothing about any such doctrine. Yet millions of Christians today imagine it is the historic faith. John Wesley minced no words in attacking this novel doctrine of imputed righteousness. These false teachers say that His righteousness is imputed to us. Therefore, we need none of our own. Men are supposedly in Christ, although they have not one jot of the mind that was in Christ.
They think they are complete in Him. Although they are as proud, as vain, as covetous, and as lustful as ever, they think they can continue in unrighteousness because Christ has fulfilled all righteousness. O you simple ones. Wesley goes on to quote Paul's words to the Corinthians," Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor Sodomites, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 and 10. So what is Paul saying when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works? He means that at the time of our conversion in baptism, God gives us a righteous standing by forgiving us all our past sins.
We are given a new, clean slate with which to start over. However, from that point on, God expects us to walk faithfully and obediently with Him, bearing godly fruit. John chapter 5 verses 28 and 29, 15 verses 1 through 6, Matthew chapter 7 verse 21, chapter 25 verses 31 through 46. He does not require perfection from us, only faithfulness. This is the original doctrine of imputed righteousness, as taught by the early Christians.
Justin Martyr writes," All who wish for it can obtain mercy from God if they repent." The Scripture foretells that they shall be blessed, saying," Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin." That is, after repenting of his sins, such a man can receive forgiveness of those sins from God. It is not as you Jews deceive yourselves and some others who resemble you in this. For you say that even though they remain sinners, the Lord will not impute sin to them.