Him Who Justifies the Ungodly

1What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. 3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. 5But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. 6Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works, 7“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.” 9Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them. 12He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.

When Abraham fully believed the word of God, God counted his faith as righteousness. Through faith Abraham was forgiven by God, and he became the father both of the Jews, who inherited his bloodline, and of the Gentiles, who were born again by faith. When an angel came to him, childless as he was, and promised that his descendants would be as many as the stars, he would have been able to believe it, because it was the word of God. Yet he had been in Canaan nearly ten years without a child. For such a man, to have an angel suddenly appear and tell him he would have descendants as many as the stars must have seemed a little strange.

The promise of descendants as many as the stars was certainly a blessing, but when he looked at his own body, as good as dead, it may well have been natural to doubt. Even so, Genesis 15:6 records that Abram believed Yahweh, and Yahweh credited it to him for righteousness. By human reckoning it could never happen, but because God himself had promised it, he believed.

John 8:56-58

56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad.” 57The Jews therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”

Abram believed that countless descendants would be born to him, and he also believed without doubt God’s special promise that Christ would come. God told Abraham of the blessing of many descendants, and he also told him of the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus told the Jews that Abraham, having heard that word of promise, believed that Jesus Christ would come, and rejoiced and was glad.

Because the promise said the Messiah would come through his descendants, Abraham, still childless in his old age, made the mistake of fathering Ishmael. God did not establish Abraham as the father of faith because he offered Isaac; he credited as righteousness Abraham’s faith, which rejoiced to see the day of Jesus Christ. The Jews did not grasp this. Rather than boast that Abraham knew the Messiah and waited for him, they boasted only that they were the chosen people, saved by Abraham’s offering of Isaac and by their bloodline. But the apostle Paul told them that if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. Paul always maintains, in the same way, that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Yet the Jews did not believe in Jesus, and so they rejected the gospel.

Hebrews 11:1-2

1Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. 2For by this, the elders obtained testimony.

This passage shows that the people of the Old Testament also believed that the Messiah would come. Their faith held not the slightest doubt that Jesus Christ would come, and they were sure that God’s promises would be fulfilled. Such faith is the righteousness God acknowledges.

Hebrews 11, the chapter of faith, records that Abel, Enoch [BC 3492], and Noah [BC 3058], none of whom were circumcised, as well as Abraham [BC 2166], Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and many others, lived by faith. Circumcised or not, they all died in faith. They never met the Messiah in person, but they believed he would come; by faith they saw the promise from afar and welcomed it. Of Moses it says that he counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. This is evidence that the saints of the Old Testament, too, were saved by faith.

If you never lose sight of the fact that the heart of Paul’s message is faith, you will come to understand more deeply how rich a grace faith is. Even so, people mix their own merit into salvation and water down a grace that is wholly God’s. Those who stress works do know that salvation is entirely God’s grace and that they received it through Jesus’ sacrifice. Yet they think they received the immense reward of salvation because they, too, made some effort. They believe their dedication and sincerity have given them the right to claim grace boldly, and that since they have paid the price, their salvation is only fair. But we must see how proud and ignorant that very thought is. Salvation is not merchandise to be bought and sold with money. To grasp this grace we must have faith and acknowledge that salvation is the gift of God.

We speak lightly today of being saved or not saved, but before we were saved, God labored for a great length of time; he sacrificed and he endured. Salvation belongs wholly to God, and eternal life is ours only because God sacrificed from beginning to end. Suppose, for example, a son comes home with an award for outstanding grades and says that he earned it by his own effort, so his parents did nothing to help. What would you think? If he insists his parents did nothing, since he studied hard and won the award himself, that son will no longer receive benefits from his parents. It was through their sacrifice, patience, and love that he had a comfortable home that left him free to study, yet he is not the least bit grateful for it. If that hedge of love and sacrifice were taken away, could he really have spent his days studying? Such behavior is wicked, and it springs from a heart that has forgotten gratitude. His parents would be glad enough just to see their son doing his best in his own place, but by withholding even that small thanks he has wounded them. Now suppose another child runs to their parents, hands them the certificate, and thanks them from the heart. Which of the two do you think has a future? If you were God, which child would you bless more? Thanking the parents does not make the award theirs. What God wants is the heart of a child who gives thanks sincerely.

If Abraham had thought that God gave him countless descendants because he had offered Isaac, he would have been a man without faith. Abraham could offer Isaac because he believed God’s covenant and believed that God would accomplish everything. He felt a father’s anguish, but because he knew that God is the living and almighty one, he could resolve willingly to offer Isaac. Abraham was declared righteous because he believed the covenant in this way, and yet the Jews held up only the law and went looking for something to boast of in being Abraham’s descendants.

Romans 4:9

9Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

Abraham was circumcised fourteen years after God counted him righteous. He was not counted righteous because he had been circumcised, as the Jews claimed. Paul makes it unmistakable that circumcision cannot be a condition of justification, for Abraham’s salvation came before his circumcision; he had already been counted righteous by faith before he was circumcised. So the apostle Paul stresses that the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world came not through the law but through the righteousness of faith alone. When Abraham believed the word of God wholeheartedly and acted on it, God approved him as good and made him the father of faith.

Romans 4:4-5

4Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. 5But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

To grasp this word, we must believe that the heart of Christian salvation is faith, and that salvation is a gift given by God alone. Consider the one who works: the reward is not counted as grace. No one thinks of the wages they earn at their job as something handed to them for nothing. They are paid fairly for the work they have done, so rather than give thanks, they weigh whether their salary is large or small. Once we start to think grace is our due, we go looking for things to boast of so that we may receive more grace, and since we think it only right that our sins be forgiven, we give no thanks for grace. Such people measure their faith by their own works, which leads them into the proud thought that God is bound to recognize their dedication. Through this proud faith they turn into a boast the service every child of God owes, and they sin by using it as grounds to demand blessing. But those who rest their salvation on faith know that they have received new life from Christ without having kept any form or law, and so they walk with God in humility.

Romans 3:22

22even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,

Just as Abraham was counted righteous by faith, not by works, before he received the covenant of circumcision, God has given all people, equally and without distinction, the opportunity to be declared righteous. For as Romans 5:6 says, while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. The atoning blood reached all humanity, and everyone has been given the opportunity of salvation. Jesus bore the sin of humanity and died on the cross, and he rose again, defeating the power of Satan and of death, to make people righteous; that grace was given without distinction. We did not receive grace because we kept the law or did good works, or because, like the Pharisee, we were not like the tax collector. We did nothing for our salvation and were not godly, yet we were declared righteous through faith, believing that God gave his grace freely, at no cost.

Tell people we are saved by faith alone, and they start asking themselves whether they have faith enough to be saved, or whether they may have sinned. Going a step further, they strive to find something more to boast of, so that their faith will be recognized as saving faith. They agonize in vain over whether they should give more in the offering, attend early morning prayer more faithfully, or serve more. James said in James 2:17 that faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself; to be complete, our faith must be accompanied by works, yet works without faith mean nothing. The very thought of mixing one’s own merit into a salvation freely received is a corrupt faith, one that has missed the deep meaning of being saved by faith.

When our faith is sincere, the holiness of reverent worship and the dedication offered in gratitude show themselves naturally, without any straining. It is as natural as what happens when you love someone: you try to speak and act well to please them more, and you take care to understand their heart so the relationship grows closer. If we know that being saved by faith is a love that comes wholly from God, and yet we stay lazy, cling to bad habits, or fail to speak and act with decency, that shows we have no faith. Just as salvation is God’s love, giving ourselves to him is our response to that love. To make such a response, we must first have faith in God’s love, Christ’s sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit’s protection.

David, who grasped a deep truth, said that blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered, and blessed is the one whom the Lord will not charge with sin. David endured a hard road of suffering by faith alone. However much King Saul tormented him, he believed that God would act. He had chances to kill Saul, yet he did nothing God did not want. He showed only faith. But when God gave him peace, he committed a sin he should never have committed. Unable to master his lust, he took the wife of Uriah, his loyal servant, and killed Uriah, who was faithful to David and to his country. What David did is evidence that human beings cannot shed their sin by themselves. When Nathan confronted him with his sin, David admitted that he was a sinner and fasted, asking God for forgiveness. Forgiven so grave a sin, and coming to know how vast God’s grace is, David confessed that those delivered from sin are blessed. If God does not forgive our sins, we can never be free from Satan’s attacks. When we know this grace and strive in faith, we will come to see how much patience and sacrifice it takes for a holy God to forgive sin.

Matthew 5:10-11

10Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

The blessing Jesus speaks of is not the worldly power, success, and wealth people desire. The blessing is the eternal life and eternal rest he gives to those who are persecuted for holding fast the righteousness God has given, and who persevere even when people revile, mock, and persecute them for their faith in Jesus Christ. The salvation of sinners is the fulfillment of God’s promise. Since heaven is a place sinners can never enter, God caused them to be forgiven through faith in Christ.

2 Corinthians 13:5

5Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

This does not tell us to test and judge other people’s faith; it tells us to show our own faith in the circumstances we are facing now and in our relationships with others. As we strive to overcome suffering and trials by faith, at times we realize that Christ within us is helping us mightily, and at times we discover for ourselves that sin has drawn us away from him. In the course of life we sometimes meet hardships too heavy to bear. Someone we love may leave the faith or die, and we may be tested by all kinds of suffering; yet these can become opportunities to experience God’s abundant grace. If we are with Jesus when we suffer, that experience can make us grow. If in hard times we lean on God and live with perseverance, we can confirm by faith that Christ is working powerfully within us. When we have truly grasped this love, we do not complain of suffering or fear it, whatever trial comes; our faith only grows stronger.

Romans 4:11-12

11He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them. 12He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.

Abraham, the father of faith, was called by God at seventy-five, was afterward told that he was righteous, and at ninety-nine underwent the rite of circumcision. His faith was recognized while he was still uncircumcised, and this shows that he is also the father of the Gentiles who have faith. Abraham thus became both the father of the Gentiles born again by faith and the father of the Jews who receive circumcision. When God commanded Abraham to be circumcised, he was showing him that he, too, was a sinner under the law.

Matthew 1:1

1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

This verse shows that the promise was fulfilled through the genealogy, and that Jesus Christ came, as the covenant foretold, and atoned for every sin. From this single verse we can see that the covenant will surely be fulfilled. We are people who received salvation freely, by grace. We did nothing for our salvation and were not godly, yet God looked only at our faith in Christ and gave us eternal life. Just as God gave us salvation as a gift, without any condition, we too must have a pure faith that obeys the word without any condition. To repay a holy love that shows no partiality, we too are to take on his holy character. Even when life is hard, we must not give up or despair; let us trust the one who keeps his promises and live a life that answers his word, like the five virgins who had their lamps ready. Then, like Abraham, we can experience God’s power and faithfulness.

The faith you hold is a holy faith; I hope you will treasure it. Satan tempted Judas Iscariot and drove Demas away to rob them of that faith, and seeing this, we know how hard it is to hold fast to the faith. As you watch disciples who once gave themselves wholly fail to stand firm in their faith and stumble, may you rely on Jesus Christ by faith alone, whatever trial you meet. If you hold a true and sincere faith so that Christ may work powerfully in you, this world, where evil spirits are at work, will never prevail over you.