Romans 4 — how Abraham was saved (and how you are too)

Through Romans, part 7 · Romans 4

What did Abraham find? (vv. 1–3)

Paul keeps answering the questions a Jewish reader would ask. Here's the biggest one: how was Abraham saved? He's the patriarch of the Jewish people and the Jewish faith. If anyone could have earned a righteous standing with God, in the Jewish mind, it was Abraham. "If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about — but not before God." Nobody is righteous before a holy God. Not even Abraham.

So Paul goes where we should all go: "What does the Scripture say?" Genesis 15:6 — "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness." That word "credited" is a legal and financial term. When Abraham put his faith in God, righteousness was posted to his account.

Here's what that means for us. No one has access to God because of their own righteousness. What makes you a good Christian has more to do with what's in your heart than what's on your calendar. Church attendance and service don't make you a Christian; they happen because you are one. If you're doing things to become worthy in God's sight, you can stop — you can't. If you're doing them to become worthy in other people's eyes, you can stop that too, and find your worth in God. But if you have faith, actions will come. James uses this same Abraham to make that point: his faith produced the works.

Wages versus a gift (vv. 4–5)

"Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness."

You don't thank your employer for your paycheck — you earned it; it's owed. A gift is the opposite: no work is required, or it wouldn't be a gift. When we trust God for salvation and the ledger of our life is reconciled, the account reads "righteous." When we try to work for it, the account will always come up short. Grace can't be applied to an account that's trying to pay its own way.

Witness number two: David (vv. 6–8)

Paul has called Abraham, the father of the nation. Now he calls David, the father of its royalty, and quotes Psalm 32: "Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin."

Psalm 32 follows David's sin with Bathsheba. Adultery, then the murder of Uriah. If the book had been thrown at David, he'd have died. And David realized his standing with God had nothing to do with him and everything to do with God's grace and mercy. What a standing we have — to come before a holy God with no sin charged against us. "There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Or as the hymn says, "No condemnation now I dread."

Before or after? (vv. 9–12)

Is this blessing for Jews only? Paul's used Abraham as the example, so it must be — right? He asks a simple question: when was righteousness credited to Abraham — before or after circumcision? Genesis 15 comes fourteen years before Genesis 17. Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised. He was declared righteous as an uncircumcised man. Circumcision was given as a sign and a seal of the righteousness he already had by faith — not a prerequisite for it. That makes Abraham the father of everyone who believes, circumcised or not. And notice how the same logic applies to baptism today: it's the outward sign of a salvation already received, not the means of receiving it. Infant baptism collapses under Paul's argument.

Promise, not law (vv. 13–15)

"The promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith." The law came 430 years after Abraham. Obviously he didn't live by it. The law was never given for salvation — it was given to bring an already-redeemed people into a healthy, holy life as God's people. "The law produces wrath" (v. 15). It shows failure. Its practical outcome is to condemn, not to save, and it should make us run to the promise.

A word about standards, because this is where it lands in real life. We need to be careful about forcing our convictions on other people. "Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God" (Romans 14:22). The church has standards, and you should build standards for your home and your life — about music, dress, what you watch, where you go. But figure out what you believe and why, and live it for God, not for an audience. Too many people live up to the visible standards of a system — a church, a school, a movement — while doing far worse behind closed doors. A suit on Sunday and pornography on Monday. It's better to have fewer standards and keep them for the Lord than a long list you keep for men. And instead of talking about people who don't meet your standards, build a relationship with them. If someone's been missing church, take them to lunch. They probably need encouragement, not a conversation behind their back. The seal of righteousness that counts is the circumcision of the heart. The outward things are fine — but how is your heart?

Faith that believes God over what it sees (vv. 16–22)

"This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants." Abraham believed God "who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist." God's promises are as sure as if they've already happened, and Abraham believed them that way. So do we — about salvation, eternal life, and Christ's return.

"He believed, hoping against hope." God promised him a son, and he had no son. He was about a hundred; Sarah's womb was dead. "He did not consider" those things — not because he ignored reality, but because he believed God over it. I'm sure Abraham didn't know how God would come through. He just believed He would. Sometimes that's where we are: no idea how, only Who.

"He did not waver in unbelief at God's promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God." Our faith in the middle of uncertainty brings glory to God. Abraham weighed the human impossibility of becoming a father against the divine impossibility of God breaking His word, and concluded that if God is God, nothing is impossible. The God who spoke the stars into being could bring life to two old people. Faith is taking God at His word and letting God be God in every situation. "Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness."

And here's the connection to the gospel: it's when a sinner admits he's spiritually dead and unable to help himself that God can save him. We must become dead to self-reliance to be raised in Christ. Abraham believed in a God who gives life to the dead. So do we.

Written for us (vv. 23–25)

"Now 'it was credited to him' was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

Paul wants the Jewish reader to ask: I'm a natural-born child of Abraham — am I a spiritual child of Abraham? A lot of people in churches need to ask the same thing: I was raised by Christians — but have I been born again? Abraham had to believe in something dead being raised to life, and so do we. That's why it was no struggle for him to believe God could raise Isaac (Hebrews 11:17–19). Abraham looked forward to the cross; we look back at it. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56).

Salvation is not by trying. It's by trusting. Abraham found that. David found that. Paul found that. So must we.

So where does that leave you. If you've been trying — cleaning up the outside, hoping it counts for something, and if you're honest still not sure where you stand with God — hear this. Romans 4 says standing was never earned. Abraham didn't earn it. He believed a God who gives life to the dead, and God credited it to him. You're looking back at what Abraham looked forward to: a cross, a grave, and a Man who came out of it alive. Believe Him. Not the trying, Him. He'll credit it to your account the same way, and it'll be settled before you close this page.

The other one of you settled that years ago. Good. Then ask Abraham's question on yourself this week. Not whether you're in the family — whether you've slid back into trying. The scorekeeping. The guilt when you miss a morning. The quiet sense that God likes you better on your good weeks. Find one place you're doing that, name it, and tell one believer you trust that you're doing it. It doesn't survive daylight.

Salvation is not by trying. Salvation is not by trying.

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