Abraham Justified by Faith
(1)What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? (2)For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. (3)For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." (4)Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. (5)And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (6)just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
(7)"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (8)blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
(9)Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. (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. (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, (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 starts off chapter four with a confirmation of his argument that it is by faith that we are justified. Justified is being declared righteous or free of sin which Christ purchased for us by His work on the cross.
Paul uses the most revered person in Old Testament times, Abraham, to prove his point. Abraham was considered to be the father of Judaism. Paul shows them that salvation by faith isn’t something new, but that it has been here since the beginning of time. That Abraham himself was given credit for his righteousness not by his works, which is the following of the law, the law which had not even been established yet, but by his faith.
Genesis 15:6 says this about Abraham, “And he believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness”.
The Jews had thought all this time that they needed to keep the law to be saved, but Paul tells them here that it wasn’t Abraham’s keeping of the law that gave him his righteousness, the law wasn’t even established yet, but it was that he had faith in whatever it was that God was telling him, that he had faith in the hope of the Savior. God could have told him to do anything and Abraham would have done it because his faith in God was strong.
A couple of quick stories about Abraham
Genesis 15:1-6 (1)After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." (2)But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" (3)And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." (4)And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." (5)And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (6)And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Abraham was getting a little worried here. He and his wife had been getting up in age and had not been able to have a child yet. God told him that not only will he and Sarah have a child but that his offspring would be as many as the stars.
Genesis 17:1-5 (1)When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, (2)that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly." (3)Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, (4)"Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. (5)No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
I can tell you this if I was Abraham I would be thinking, God you told me that Sarah and I would have a child and we are still waiting, now this covenant thing, I have to cut what off? It was the covenant of circumcision. At 99yrs old. That is faith. But God here again tells Abraham that he will be the father of a multitude of nations. Not just the father of Israel.
God did finally give Abraham and Sarah a son, his name was Isaac, and Abraham was 100yrs old and Sarah was 90yrs old. Sometimes Gods plan just isn’t the same as our plan.
And Abraham did also become the father of many nations. He is the father of all those who have faith in God and in what God tells us which is in the truth of His Word.
More to the story
(1)After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." (2)He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." (3)So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac.
Abraham does not even question God; he is willing to sacrifice the son he waited 100years for. What faith.
(5)Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you." (6)And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. (7)And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (8)Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
(9)When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (10)Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. (11)But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." (12)He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
(13)And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Ephesians 2:8 says this about faith, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
We can’t even take credit for the faith that we have in God. God provides that for us also. If it had been left up to us we could have never done it on our own. That’s how retched we are. We had no hope whatsoever until God having grace, mercy and love for us put His Son to death on the cross. Then providing us with even the faith to believe in Christ.
(7)"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (8)blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
The fact is this, if we tell ourselves that I just need to clean up my act a little bit more so that Christ will accept me. That is the wrong way to go about it. Christ wants you to come to Him broken and without any hope, so that you will know that it could have only been Him that could have gotten you put back together and heading in the right direction and that it had nothing to do with us. We must rely totally on God for things that are far too big for us to handle. God uses these situations as a testimony of His love and grace and in return it brings Him glory.
(9)Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. (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. (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, (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.
Here is a question for you. Do you walk in the footsteps of faith? It can feel almost like stepping of the edge of a cliff at times, but the difference is that when you step off in faith, God is there to catch you.
Remember monkey theology and cat theology?
If God is the mother monkey and you are a baby monkey you have to hold on to mother monkey while she is jumping from tree to tree and hope that you can hold on tight enough with your weak little arms not to fall to your death.
But if God is the mother cat she grabs you from behind your neck firmly and carries you from place to place and you have faith that she isn’t going to let you drop or fall to your death.
Which theology do you have faith in?
God does have a firm grip on us and our faith secures us from not falling to our death.
