Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

An overview of chapter 4 before we go into the verse by verse study.

What does Romans chapter 4 mean?

Romans 4 focuses on the faith of Abraham. Genesis 15:6 says clearly that Abraham believed God and that faith—his trusting belief in God—was counted to Abraham as righteousness. Abraham was not justified by works. God wasn’t paying him back for something. Abraham’s was justified as God’s gift to him. In the same way, David speaks of those whose sins the Lord does not count against them as being blessed by God. They do not earn forgiveness. God gives it (Romans 4:1–8).

This brings up a possible objection: wasn’t Abraham righteous because he obeyed God by being circumcised? That’s what many Jewish people believed. Paul says no, God declared Abraham righteous for his faith long before Abraham was circumcised. Obedience comes after faith; in Abraham’s case, many years passed between the two events! Circumcision became a sign of Israel’s faith in God and seal of the righteousness God had already declared for Abraham. In this way, Abraham became a spiritual father to all who come to God by faith, even those who are not circumcised for religious reasons; in this passage, referred to as the Gentiles. Abraham also became a spiritual father, as well as a physical one, to all the believing Jews who would follow the example of his faith in God (Romans 4:9–12).

God essentially promised Abraham and his offspring “the world,” in a sense. Can that promise be claimed by keeping the law? Paul says no. For one thing, the promise was given centuries before the law existed. If law-keeping was required for the promise, then Abraham’s most immediate descendants would have been left out! Second, nobody can keep the law. This is a point Paul was careful to make very clearly in chapter 3. If receiving the promise depends on keeping the law, the promise is useless and so is faith. No, God’s promises to Abraham’s offspring will be received by faith (Romans 4:13–19).

Abraham’s faith in one specific promise is then held up as a model for us. God told Abraham he would have a natural-born son with his wife, Sarah and become the father of many nations. Abraham believed that and continued to believe it even as the years passed without a child. He remained faithful, even as he approached 100 years old, and Sarah approached 90. In fact, Paul insists, Abraham’s faith grew stronger, not weaker, over time. That is why God counted his faith as righteousness. The same can happen for all of us now. Those who believe in the God who handed over Jesus to pay the price of our sin with His death and then raised Him back to life for our justification will be declared righteous, as well (Romans 4:20–25).

Verse by Verse

Verse 1: What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

At the end of Romans chapter 3, Paul revealed that human beings can be justified by God apart from the law. In fact, he made clear that the only way to be justified—to have our sins paid for, so we can be seen as righteous before God—is through faith in Christ. Without that, each of us will be judged for our own goodness and be found sinful and deserving of God’s angry judgment. Paul insisted that this was true of both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 3:21–26).

Now Paul begins to answer an obvious question: what, then, was the point of God’s special relationship with Abraham and Israel? Was the law pointless? Paul ended Romans 3 by reassuring his readers that his teaching about faith in Christ upholds the law. He does not mean to do away with Israel’s history. He restates the question in this verse. What was gained by Abraham? Paul includes himself with the Jewish people in describing Abraham as their ancestor “according to the flesh.” In other words, all Jewish people, including Paul, were descended from “Father Abraham.”

Paul will show in Romans chapter 4 that both Abraham’s and David’s relationships with God were by faith, and that their examples point to faith in Christ as the way to become right before God.

Verse 2: For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Paul has spent much of this letter to the Romans making the point that nobody can be justified—shown to be righteous—before God by following the works of the law. Nobody can escape God’s angry judgment for their personal sin, since all have sinned (Romans 3:10).

Now Paul has turned to Israel’s primary ancestor, “father” Abraham. He is the ultimate example proving that being made right with God comes through faith and not through works. Hypothetically, Paul says, if Abraham had been justified before God by his works, he would have something to brag about. Of course, nobody can be justified by their works. Even if Abraham were justified in this way, though, meaning that he had never sinned and had only done good works, Abraham would not be able to boast about that to God. God, who is holy and sinless and perfect, would not be impressed with a human being’s good works.

Human beings simply cannot be justified before God based on our own efforts.

Verse 3: For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Paul is making a case that no human being has ever been justified—made right with God—by following the works of the law. This is primarily aimed at Jewish readers and those who have heard the arguments of the Jewish religious leaders.

Now he points to Abraham as a prime example, using Old Testament Scripture as his source. According to Scripture, Abraham was not justified by what he did: by his works. Instead, God credited Abraham as righteous when he believed and for believing (Genesis 15:6). It was faith in God, not his own works, which allowed Abraham to be justified before God.

Paul made this very same argument to the Christians in the region of Galatia (Galatians 3:6). They were being persuaded by a group known as the “Judaizers” that they must be circumcised and follow the law, in addition to believing in Christ, in order to be truly saved. Paul used the example of Abraham in that letter, as well, to show that this argument was false.

Verse 4: Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

Was Abraham justified before God because he earned it by his good works or because he believed what God told him? That’s the question Paul is tackling. His opponents, the Jewish religious leaders, taught that Abraham was especially good. Or, at least, that he was obedient to God’s law. Abraham’s works, in other words, made him acceptable to God. By their logic, then, all people wanting to be called Abraham’s children must follow the same path.

Paul has disagreed, pointing to Genesis 15:6, quoted in the previous verse, to make his case. Abraham was declared righteous by God, in spite of his own personal sin, because he believed God. All of Abraham’s acts of faith came after, and were driven by, his faith in God.

Paul begins here to illustrate the difference between salvation by works and salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ. When we have a job, we get paid. That paycheck is not a gift. It is what our employer owes us in exchange for our work. Clearly, we can’t demand that God “owes” us salvation on the basis of our works. First and foremost, as Paul has already demonstrated, none of us can earn being declared righteous by God. No matter how hard we try—which is not as hard as we could try (Romans 3:10)—we can’t get the job done. God still owes us nothing.

In the following verse, Paul shows the difference of being declared righteous as a gift, as opposed to as a payment for services rendered to God.

Verse 5: And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Paul is showing the difference between being made right with God by works, as opposed to by faith. If we could be justified before God by works, Paul wrote in the previous verse, then God would owe us righteousness. It would be like our paycheck for services rendered: a transaction with the God of heaven. Paul has already demonstrated in Romans, however, that nobody can accomplish this work. Instead, we all sin and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

Now Paul points to the opposite of earning something by work: receiving it as a gift. The difference comes in not laboring with a mind to “earn” or purchase that benefit. The one who receives a gift, as a gift, does not try to earn it. What would be the point? Instead, this person simply believes in the God who justifies the ungodly. His faith is what causes him to be declared righteous by God.

Paul has just given a new descriptor to God: “the one who justifies the ungodly.” This is the entire point of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God does not wait for us to become godly, or righteous on our own apart from Him, before welcoming us into His family. Because of our faith in righteous Jesus, God justifies us in spite of our sinfulness. There is no greater gift than this.

Paul’s point to his opponents, the Jewish religious leaders, is that this is from the teachings of Scripture itself and not something he has invented.

Verse 6: just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

Paul has held up Abraham as an example from Scripture. His intent is to show that God declares people righteous in His sight based on their faith and not on their works (Romans 4:1–5). Paul is not only seeking to prove that salvation comes through faith, not works, but that this idea is not something new. Rather, it’s part of the message God has already established. Now Paul turns to something written by another hero of the Israelites: King David of the golden age of Israel.

Paul writes that David also speaks of those God declares righteous “apart from works,” or in spite of their lack of works. David calls them blessed in the passage Paul will quote in the following verses. In a sense, Paul asks his readers to open their copies of Scripture to the familiar passage of Psalm 32:1–2, to read along as he further proves his point.

 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)

Verse 7: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,and whose sins are covered;

Paul is quoting from King David, a hero of the people of Israel. His purpose is to show that Old Testament Scriptures have always pointed to faith—not good works or deeds—as the path to being declared righteous by God as his gift to those who believe.

David wrote these words in Psalm 32:1–2. He says that those whose lawless deeds or transgressions are forgiven—those whose sin is covered—are “blessed.” In other words, they have received a good thing, as a gift of grace. This forgiveness has not been earned by good works. David makes no mention of earning or working for this result. Forgiveness cannot be earned. Forgiveness can only be given, in this case by God.

Paul is connecting David’s words about forgiveness with a statement in Genesis 15:6. There, Abraham’s believing God is what caused God to count him as righteous (Romans 4:3). As shown by Paul, both Abraham and David demonstrate that the person being forgiven and declared righteous has earned nothing and has been given everything.

Verse 8: blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Paul completes a quote from Psalm 32:1–2, as begun in the previous verse. David wrote that the one whose sin is covered, whose lawless actions are forgiven, is blessed by God. Now he makes a slight change. Blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not count (or not “reckon”) his sin.

Again, Paul is making the point that God’s decision to not count the sins of which we are guilty against us is a gift of His grace. Paul is rejecting any idea that we somehow pay off our own sins by doing good works to balance them out. That is not a biblical idea. It is false. There is no scale at the gate of heaven on which our good works will be weighed against our sinful choices to determine our eternal fate.

No, God declares us to be righteous (sinless, justified) based only on our faith in Him and not at all on our inadequate works. Without faith in God, all that is left is unforgiven sin and God’s angry judgment for that sin.

Very blessed indeed, then, are those forgiven for their sin based on their faith.

Verse 9: Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

Quoting from Psalm 32:1-2 in the previous verses, Paul has described the great blessing of being forgiven for our sin. This is the joy of not having our sin counted against us by God, available only to those who believe in God. Paul’s main point thus far has been that this gift can only come by faith, not by actions. “Works,” meaning good deeds and obedience, will never be enough to make us righteous in the eyes of God. Both David’s words, and Abraham’s example (Romans 4:1–3), have been used to further this point.

Now Paul asks if that great blessing is only for the circumcised, meaning God’s chosen people Israel. Or, is the blessing of the forgiveness of sin available for all people, even the uncircumcised Gentiles? The implied answer is that this blessing is available to both Jews and Gentiles.

To show this, Paul again refers to what is said of Abraham in Genesis 15:6. God “declared” Abraham righteous because Abraham believed God. In the following verse, Paul will remind his readers that this belief occurred long before Abraham was circumcised. Thus, circumcision must not be required for the blessing of being forgiven for our sin through faith in Christ.

Verse 10: How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

Paul has asked once more whether the blessing of being forgiven for our sin, of being declared righteous by God and welcomed into His family, is only for the circumcised. Or, is it for the uncircumcised, as well? In other words, can Gentiles be saved by faith and not by following the law?

To answer, Paul pointed again to what was said of Abraham in Genesis 15:6. There, we are told that Abraham believed God, and God credited that faith as righteousness. Now Paul asks and answers whether that moment happened before or after Abraham was circumcised in obedience to God’s command. Of course, Abraham’s expression of faith happened before circumcision.

How do we know this? Abraham is declared righteous for his faith in Genesis 15 as God was promising Abraham a son. Sometime later, Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 years old (Genesis 16:16). Abraham was not circumcised until he was 99 years old (Genesis 17:24). So it was at least 13 years after God declared Abraham righteous before he was circumcised.

Paul’s point is that Abraham’s circumcision had nothing to do with Abraham being declared righteous by God for his faith. The two were not connected. So what is there to exclude the uncircumcised non-Jewish world from being justified by God for faith in Christ?

Verse 11: He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,

Was Abraham declared righteous before God because He was circumcised or because of his faith? Paul has already pointed to the Scripture for a clearly-stated answer. Abraham was counted righteous by God for his faith (Genesis 15:6). So what was the point of circumcision if it wasn’t what caused Abraham, or his descendants, to be righteous in God’s eyes?

Circumcision was a sign that served as a seal, Paul writes. It was an outward sign for the Jewish people that they believed what God had told them. Abraham’s righteous standing before God was still by faith. His circumcision sealed—demonstrated and proved—the righteousness he had already been given credit for. God credited righteousness to Abraham when Abraham was yet to be circumcised.

Paul states now that there was a definite reason for that gap of time between when Abraham was declared righteous by God for his faith and when he was circumcised. It caused Abraham to become the father of both the Jews and the believing Gentiles who would follow.

First, Abraham is the father to all who believe God without being circumcised. By this, Paul means non-Jewish people around the world, whether they are circumcised for other reasons or not. All non-Jewish people can follow Abraham’s example of being declared righteous before God because of faith and not because of works.

Then, as the following verse will show, Abraham became the father of all the Jews, as well.

Verse 12: and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Paul is showing that Abraham’s faith, and God’s declaration that he was righteous because of it, caused him to become the father of all believers in God, both Gentile and Jewish. In the previous verse, Paul showed that Abraham believed God and was declared righteous long before he was circumcised. This made Abraham a spiritual father to everyone who believes God without being circumcised, referring to all non-Jewish people, whether circumcised for other reasons or not.

Now Paul shows that Abraham was also the father of circumcised people, as well. However, in this case Paul is not referring to all of them. Abraham is, of course, physically the father of all the Jewish people. He is their primary ancestor. They are his descendants. Paul, however, qualifies this second group of the children of Abraham.

He describes them as, yes, circumcised and Jewish, but also as those who walk in his footsteps by having the same faith in God Abraham did before he was circumcised. In other words, Abraham became the spiritual father both of the believing non-Jews and the believing Jews. Paul’s point here is crucial: even under circumcision, faith is what truly separates those who are in God’s family from those who are apart from it. Abraham set the example for all who would follow in faith.

Verse 13: For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Abraham’s relationship with God began with a command and a set of promises. First, God told Abraham to “go” from his country into another land. God promised to make Abraham a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, to bless those who blessed him and curse those who dishonored him, and to bless all of the families of the earth through Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3). Did Abraham believe all these promises from God? He clearly did, because the verse after this list of promises says, “So Abram went” (Genesis 12:4).

Paul seems to be referring to these promises when he mentions that God told Abraham that he and his descendants would be heirs of the world. Paul’s point is that the promises had nothing to do with the giving of or Israel’s keeping of the law. God made the promises centuries before giving the law to Moses. Instead, these promises were given through the righteousness of Abraham’s faith.

Verse 14: For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

Paul is discussing God’s promises to Abraham and his offspring, the Jewish people. These were given by God in Genesis 12:1–3. Those promises, Paul has written, amount to Israel being heirs of the world. Now Paul shows that this inheritance will not come by following the law. First and foremost, those promises were given centuries before the law existed. Paul writes that if the inheritance is to be given to those who follow the law, then faith does not matter. Worse, the promises of God don’t matter—because not all of Abraham’s descendants had the law!

In other words, Paul has already shown that nobody can keep the law. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:10; 3:23). So if God’s promises to Israel are only for those able to follow the law, those promises will not be given. When law is a requirement for salvation, faith serves no purpose.

Verse 15: For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

Paul has said flat out in the previous verse that God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants, Israel, are worthless if they depend on Israel following the law of Moses. For one thing, the promises were made long before the law existed (Romans 4:13–14). For another thing, nobody is able to keep the law (Romans 3:23). So the promises would be empty, based on a condition that cannot be met. Many of Abraham’s descendants never had the law, and even those who did would not be able to keep it!

Paul’s primary point comes across more clearly as this letter continues. The law cannot deliver the promises of God, since nobody can keep the law. Instead, Paul now writes, the law brings God’s wrath in judgment for human sin, for lawbreaking. Without the law, on the other hand, Paul writes that there is no transgression. Nobody can break a law that doesn’t exist, or which doesn’t apply to him.

This is not meant to be understood to mean those not under the law have never sinned. Everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23), and has done so without any valid excuse (Romans 1:18–20). Paul simply means that those who are not under the law have not broken the law, specifically.

Verse 16: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring — not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

Paul restates in this verse what he has said in the previous verses, but he describes it from the positive perspective. He has been talking about God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants. He says once again that receiving the promised inheritance depends on faith, not on following the law. Because it is received by faith, the promise rests on God’s grace. This is critical, since no human effort can secure this inheritance (Romans 3:23). Our own failures to follow God would make us ineligible for that righteousness (Romans 3:10). Salvation comes as a gift, and it is guaranteed to all of Abraham’s offspring: offspring defined by faith, not by legalism.

Paul has been careful to show that since Abraham was declared righteous by God for believing God, everyone who comes to God by faith is Abraham’s offspring. This includes both Jews and Gentiles who believe in God. In that way, Abraham is the father of all believers.

Verse 17: as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations” — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Paul wrote at the end of the previous verse that Abraham is the father of all who share in his faith in God. Now, as evidence of this, Paul quotes what God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:5, “I have made you the father of many nations.” These nations include all people whose faith is in God.

Paul then picks up the statement he’d begun just before this quote. Abraham is father of all believers in the sight of God. That is, Abraham is the spiritual father of all believers, not just of those who are under the law, meaning the Jews. Paul describes the God Abraham believed in using very specific terms. This is the God who gives life to the dead, partly referring to God bringing Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies back to life-giving form even at the ages of 100 and 90 respectively, fulfilling His promise to give them a son. It is true, as well, however, that God also brings life to the dead in the sense of resurrection from the dead, as He did when raising Jesus back to life after the crucifixion.

This is also the God who calls into existence things that were not there before. Again, this likely refers to Abraham’s and Sarah’s promised miracle child and the nations that would come through him. Nations that had never been would spring into existence, including the nation of Israel.

It is also possible that Paul is describing God as creator of the universe, tying back to what he wrote about those who reject God in spite of witnessing all He has made (Romans 1:18-20). Those who believe in Him, as Abraham and all of his offspring do, understand and embrace the truth that God is the maker of all things. This is often described as creation ex nihilo, meaning “creation out of nothing.”

Verse 18: In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

God credited Abraham with righteousness because of his faith. Paul has been using this as a strong example of God’s plan for human salvation: one grounded in faith and belief, not in our good works or legalism. One of the things Abraham believed God about was that he and Sarah would have a son. This was not a sensible belief, looking from a purely humans perspective. Abraham and Sarah were outrageously far beyond the age when human beings are capable of having children. And yet, in the end, God honored that faith by providing them with a son, Isaac (Genesis 21:3).

Paul says here, though, that in hope, Abraham believed against all hope, that not only would he finally have a son with Sarah but that God would keep the promise to make him the father of many nations. Paul quotes that promise from Genesis 15:5. As Abraham looked up at the starry host of heaven, God told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Verse 19: He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah ‘s womb.

Paul is describing Abraham’s amazing faith in God. He believed and kept believing that God would keep His promise to give him and Sarah a son. Abraham maintained this faith even as it became more and more unlikely according to human experience. In fact, from a human standpoint, God’s promise was impossible! Abraham was 100 years old, and his body was “as good as dead,” Paul writes. Not only was Abraham’s body far beyond the normal years of fatherhood, he was already beyond the average lifespan of a man (Psalm 90:10)! Sarah was 90 and had been barren her entire life.

Still, Paul says that Abraham’s faith in God did not even weaken. He was always convinced that God would keep His word. We become Abraham’s spiritual children when we believe in God to keep His promises to us, as well. Paul’s point in using this example has been to show that faith, not good works, is what allows us to be called righteous before God.

Verse 20: No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

Abraham waited many, many years for God to keep His promise to give Abraham and Sarah a son. That promise wasn’t given until Abraham was more than 75 years old, and wasn’t fulfilled until Abraham was 100, some 25 years later! Paul wrote in the previous verse that Abraham’s faith did not weaken. He held fast to his faith, even long after the hope of having a natural-born son became impossible according to human experience. Now, Paul writes that Abraham experienced no unbelief. He didn’t waver in trusting God. Just the opposite: He grew stronger in his faith and continued to give glory to God.

Abraham’s faith was undeniably remarkable. He was far from a perfect man. Abraham sinned, as all do. But He believed that the God who spoke to Him would do exactly what He promised even as year after year passed without that promise being fulfilled.

Verse 21: fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Paul defines Abraham’s faith in a very helpful way in this verse. Abraham was “fully convinced” God was able to do as He promised. He remained fully convinced even as the years passed without the promise being fulfilled. Abraham never doubted God could keep His word even through his own “as good as dead” (Romans 4:19) body. In fact, the more time that passed, the stronger Abraham’s faith became. This, of course, was based on Abraham’s experiences with God, which proved that God was trustworthy.

Paul has shown that all of us come to God—that we are declared righteous by Him—only through this very same faith that Abraham had. God calls us to be “fully convinced” that, in Christ, our sins are forgiven and we are welcomed into God’s family. It is this “trust” which saves us from our sins (Hebrews 12:1–2), not good works or legalism.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2)

Verse 22: That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

Paul has described Abraham’s amazing faith. God had promised to give Abraham a son with Sarah, and to make Abraham the father of many nations. Then the clock started. The years passed. Abraham did some good things, and he made some mistakes. He stood for what was right, and he sinned. Time went on and on, and no baby arrived. Even though Abraham was elderly when first called by God (Genesis 12:1–4), he had to wait another 25 years to see the promise completed!

Through all of this, Paul has written, Abraham’s faith in God did not waver. In fact, Abraham’s faith grew stronger, and he continued to give glory to God (Romans 4:20). He continued to be fully convinced that God was able to keep His promise (Romans 4:21), even as he watched his body age and lose function until he was 100 years old and “as good as dead” (Romans 4:19).

Now Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 once more, exclaiming that this was why Abraham’s faith was counted to him by God as righteousness. Abraham believed God. God received his faith and declared him justified. Paul will show in the following verses that the same can happen for us when the focus of our faith is on what God did for us through Christ.

Verse 23: But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,

Paul has just quoted Genesis 15:6 once more. After describing Abraham’s amazing faith in God in spite of the overwhelming unlikeliness of the promise being kept in human terms, Paul declared that this was why his faith was “counted to him” as righteousness. Now Paul writes that this benefit was not just for Abraham alone. He is not the only one in human history who can become righteous in God’s eyes by faith. The path is available to everyone who will believe in what God has done for us through Jesus.

This is central to Paul’s main contention in this passage: that salvation is offered only to those who truly believe (John 3:16–18), and only on the basis of that belief. Good deeds cannot and will not grant us salvation.

Verse 24: but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,

Abraham’s unwavering, rock solid faith in God to keep His promises was “counted to him” by God as righteousness. The words “counted to him” mean something like “credited to his account.” In other words, Abraham’s faith in God was the reason God declared Abraham justified and acceptable to Himself despite Abraham’s sinfulness. Paul has stated, already, that righteousness cannot be earned, like a paycheck (Romans 3:23–24; 4:4–5). Nobody is good enough to deserve this redemption (Romans 3:20).

Now Paul writes that the same thing can happen for us when we believe in God. For the first time, though, Paul gets more specific about what it is God wants us to believe. He is not asking us to believe that we will all have children when we are 100 years old, but He is asking us to believe Him. Specifically, God asks us to believe in Himself as the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He asks us to believe not just in the resurrection of Jesus, but that He, God, is the one who raised Him.

Paul expands on this thought in the following verse.

Verse 25: who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Paul has described the amazing faith of Abraham, who believed God would keep His promises as the years made it seem more and more unlikely in human terms. Abraham always remained fully convinced God was able to keep His promise.

The same can happen for us, Paul has written. Our faith in God can be credited to us as righteousness. God will justify us and welcome us into His family for believing Him, as well. What, though, does God ask us to believe?

In the previous verse, Paul showed that God welcomes those who believe in Him as the one who raised Jesus from the dead. Now Paul continues that Jesus was “delivered up” or handed over by God as the sacrifice to pay for our trespasses or sins. In other words, Jesus’ suffered and died on the cross in our place, to receive the penalty of God’s wrathful judgment on our sin.

After that, God raised Jesus from the dead for our justification. The fact that Jesus was raised after He died showed that God’s justice had been satisfied. Jesus had paid the full price for our sin and had been released from death. His resurrection also makes it possible for Christ’s righteousness to be credited to our account, as well. It is only through Christ that we can be justified, made right with God.

It is our faith in the God who provided for our forgiveness and justification through Christ that allows us to be “counted as righteous” before God, just as the faith of Abraham was the path through which God called Him righteous, as well.